South Australia - The Festival State

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South Australia (abbreviation: SA) has a size of 983482 square kilometres. Compared with the other six states and two territories of Down Under, South Australia is the forth largest. It covers a large area of arid and semi arid land. It is known as the driest state of Australia. But South Australia has also fertile areas for agriculture. You find these areas along the south east coast and the River Murray. Wine production is practised at many places across the state. Most wineries are concentrated in the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Eden Valley and the Riverland. SA has more superb winery locations around Coonawarra, the Limestone Coast as well as at Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale. There is also great wine production on Kangaroo Island. The “Festival State” covers 44% of Australia’s total wine production.

South Australia has a borderline of 3185 Km with its neighbouring states and territory. Western Australia is located to the west, Northern Territory to the north, Queensland to the north-east and New South Wales and Victoria to the east. The coastline is adjoined to the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean. There is no border to the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania.

The population is a bit more than 1.6 million people, according the estimated figures of March 2009, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1.17 million residents live in Adelaide, the states capital. That is nearly three quarters (73%) of the South Australian population. The next smaller towns, sorted by number of residence (estimated 2008) are Mount Gambier (24928), Whyalla (22801), Gawler (20257), Murray Bridge (19101) and Port Augusta (14542).


South Australia was proclaimed by Governor John Hindmarsch on the 28th of December 1836. The first official settlement (July 1836) was Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, firstly intended to be the capital of the state. The lack of reasonable amounts of drinkable water at Kingscote stopped the development of the town. So the site of Adelaide on the mainland was chosen as the new capital. SA is the only state of the Red Continent which did not emerge from a penal colony; it was populated by free settlers.

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Wednesday 1st of September 2010


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