OzPedia- South Australia

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Fact Page
Capital City:
Adelaide

Major Cities:
Broken Hills, Port Pirie

Area:
984,377 sq km

Population:
1,400,656

Did you know?
Adelaide, the capital, is considered as one of the best planned cities inthe world.

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Geography
South Australia is Australia's driest state, with the two northern thirds of South Australia's land being arid or semi-arid country and is only sparsely settled. Natural vegetation is scant in the north and west and consists mainly of saltbush, scrub grasses, small acacias and some eucalyptus. Mount Woodroffe is the state's highest peak (1440m), and is situated in the Musgrave Ranges on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert in South Australia's north-west. In the southwest the barren Nullarbor Plain borders the Great Australian Bight. There is little water in the north-eastern parts of the state and the only regular available water supply for stock is bore water form the Great Artesian Basin. Several depressions below sea level are known as lakes, such as Lake Eyre, Torrens, Gairdner and Frome. These lakes are only occasionally filled with water and are generally dry salt or clay pans.

The southern third of South Australia supports 99 percent of the population and virtually all primary and secondary industry.

The Yorke Peninsula separates the two main gulfs in South Australia, Spencer Gulf (300 km long) and Gulf St Vincent (150 km long). Settlement in concentrated on these gulfs, with the capital Adelaide on Gulf St Vincent; and Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla near the head of Spencer Gulf.

Most of the state is less than 300m above sea level. The Mount Lofty ranges extend north from Kangaroo Island (the small island off Gulf St Vincent) and pass east of Adelaide, and their continuation, the Flinders Ranges, stretch north from the head of Spencer Gulf.

There is only one major river in South Australia and that is the Murray River. It flows in from Victoria and runs west and then south to its mouth at Lake Alexandrina. Water is pumped from it to supply many of the state's towns including Adelaide with water, whilst irrigating thousands of hectares in or near the Murray Valley.

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Climate
South Australians enjoy hot dry summers with mild nights and cool winters. In summer temperatures average 24öC, and in winter the average is 13öC.

South Australia is the driest of the states and territories. Its average annual rainfall is 528 mm, but only 20% of the state receives an annual average of more than 250 mm. The other 80% which receive less than 250 mm can be classified as deserts. Rain is most common during May and the winter months.

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History
Aboriginal people were the first to adapt to the harsh environment of central and southern Australia, long before Dutchman François Thyssen sighted the southern coast in 1627. The Dutch were not interested in the region and was not pursued until 1802 when Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the continent. Although small settlements were established along the coast by sealers from Kangaroo Island and by escaped convicts from Tasmania from about 1804, it wasn't until 1836 that European settlers began permanent settlement in the area. Unlike other parts of the continent, South Australia was never a penal colony. The population increased rapidly during the mid-1800s as disappointed gold miners from Victoria and New South Wales migrated to South Australia to raise sheep and grow wheat.

Little was known about the interior of South Australia and it wasn't until Charles Sturt made his epic voyage down the Murray River to its mouth, that discoveries were made about the land and farming possibilities.

Sometime during the 1930s plans were made for free settlement within the state based on the theories of Edward Gibbon Wakefield.

South Australia became a state in 1901 and detached form the Northern Territory in 1911.

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