South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent and with a total land area of 984 377km² (380 070 sq mi), it is the fourth largest of Australia's states and territories. It is bordered to the west by Western Australia, to the north by the Northern Territory and Queensland, to the east by Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and along the south by the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean. With 1.5 million people, the state comprises less than 10 per cent of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the states and territories. The majority of its people reside in the capital city Adelaide, with most of the remainder settled in fertile areas along the south-eastern coast and River Murray.
The state's origins were unique in Australia as a freely-settled, planned British province. Official settlement began on 28 December1836 when the state was proclaimed at The Old Gum Tree by Governor Hindmarsh. The guiding principle behind settlement was that of systematic colonisation, a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon Wakefield that was later employed by New Zealand. The aim was to establish the province as a centre of civilisation for free immigrants, promising civil liberties and religious tolerance. Although its history is marked by economic hardship, South Australia has remained politically innovative and culturally vibrant. Today, the state is known as a state of festivals, and of fine wine.
Jan 17: Alliance Resources announces that it will begin a uranium mining trial at the Four Mile uranium project near Arkaroola by the middle of the year, which could make South Australia home to four of Australia's five uranium mines.
Jan 14: A fall in university and TAFE applications for 2008, with young South Australians opting for unskilled positions instead, raises warnings that the state's greatest problem over the next decade could be an under-educated workforce.
...that the town of Booleroo Centre, located in the southern Flinders Ranges region of South Australia, is home to one of Australia's largest collections of tractors and steam engines?
