Adelaide the heart of South Australia

Adelaide is the capital city; other important cities are Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Whyalla, and Mt. Gambier. Two thirds of the state's population live in the Adelaide metropolitan area. Much of South Australia is inhospitable terrain—deserts, mountains, salt lakes, and swampland. The Musgrave Ranges are in the north, the Flinders Ranges in the east, and the Great Victoria Desert and the Nullarbor Plain in the west.

The only important river is the Murray, in the extreme southeast. The heavily populated southeastern area has a mild and healthful climate, while the north is arid to semiarid. Agriculture, confined almost exclusively to the Murray River area, consists of the raising of barley and grapes (for wine and brandy) and of wheat, oats, and rye.

Livestock are grazed in the northern plains. There are valuable mineral deposits in the state; iron ore, salt, and gypsum are mined, and coal and natural gas are exploited. Industry developed rapidly during and after World War II; the chief products are industrial metals and transportation equipment. South Australia's coastal areas were visited by the Dutch in 1627.

The British explorer Matthew Flinders noted likely settlement sites in 1802. Prompted by the writings of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a British colonial statesman, the English Parliament passed the South Australian Colonization Act in 1834, and in Dec., 1836, the first colonists arrived and proclaimed South Australia a colony. In South Australia, unlike most of Australia, convicts were not admitted as settlers.

In 1901, South Australia was federated as a state of the commonwealth. Northern Territory, which had been included in the state in 1863, was transferred in 1911 to the commonwealth government.

The government of South Australia consists of a premier, a cabinet, and a bicameral state parliament. The nominal chief executive is the governor, appointed by the British crown on advice of the cabinet.

South Australia is a state of Australia, in the southern central part of the country, along the Southern Ocean. It covers an area of 984 377 km˛ (380 070 square miles). The capital of South Australia is Adelaide and is known as the City of Churches.

South Australia became a British colony in 1836 and joined the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The state's population is approximately 1.53 million (2004) and most of those reside in the fertile coastal areas and in the valley of the Murray River.

The first recorded European sighting of the South Australian coast was in 1627 when the Dutch ship the Gulden Zeepaert, skippered by Francois Thijssen, examined the coastline.

Thijssen named his discovery "Pieter Nuyts Land", after the highest ranking individual on board. The coastline of South Australia was first mapped by Matthew Flinders and Nicholas Baudin in 1802.

However, South Australia was only established as a commercial venture in 1831 by the South Australia Company through the sale of land to free settlers. This differed from other Australian states, which were either established as penal colonies or made use of by convict labour.

Colonisation of South Australia was largely driven by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who developed a 'theory of colonisation' and George Fife Angas, the largest landowner in the new colony.

The South Australian terrain consists largely of arid and semi-arid rangelands, with several low mountain ranges in which the most important mountains are the Mt Lofty-Flinders Ranges system which extends north about 800 kilometres from Cape Jervis to the northern end of Lake Torrens and salt lakes.

The western portion of the state consists of the sparsely-inhabited Nullabor Plain. The principal industries and export of South Australia are wheat, wine and wool. More than half of Australia's wines are produced here.

South Australia has boundaries with every other contiguous Australian state and territory except the Australian Capital Territory. The Northern Territory was originally the Northern Territory of South Australia, becoming a separate territory in 1911.

South Australia's south coast is flanked by the Southern Ocean. Its mean temperature range is 29°C in January and 15°C in July. Daily temperatures in parts of the state in January can be up to 48°C (As australian say "enough to fry an egg on the road" a famous advertisment on TV)and if you cross the Nullahbor by road you'll see how hot it can get.