{{Short description|Establishment of the colony, 1829–1842}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{use Australian English|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox former subdivision |conventional_long_name = Province of South Australia |common_name = South Australia |subdivision = Colony |nation = United Kingdom |status_text = British Colony |government_type = Limited Self-Governing Province <small>(1836–1842)</small>,<br/>Crown colony <small>(1842–1856)</small>,<br/>Fully Self-Governing Province <small>(1857-1901)</small> |title_leader = Monarch |leader1 = William IV ''first'' |leader2 = Victoria ''last'' |year_leader1 = 1834–1837 |year_leader2 = 1837–1901 |title_deputy = Governor |deputy1 = John Hindmarsh ''first'' |deputy2 = Hallam Tennyson ''last'' |year_deputy1 = 1836–1838 |year_deputy2 = 1899–1901 |legislature = Parliament of South Australia |house1 =Legislative Council <small>(1836-1901)</small> |house2 = House of Assembly <small>(1857-1901)</small> |capital = Adelaide |year_start = 1836 |year_end = 1901 |event_start = Independence from the Colony of New South Wales |event_end = Federation of Australia |image_flag = South Australia Colonial Flag 1876-1904 alternate.svg |flag_type = Flag (1876–1904) |p1 = Colony of New South Wales |flag_p1 = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg |s1 = South Australia |flag_s1 = Flag of South Australia.svg |image_coat = Coat of Arms of South Australia 1936-1984.svg |symbol_type = Coat of Arms }} thumb|"Old Colonists" Festival Dinner on 27 March 1851, in commemoration of the first sale of town land on 27 March 1837. Members of the 1836 government are listed alongside. '''British colonisation of South Australia''' describes the planning and establishment of the colony of South Australia by the British government, covering the period from 1829, when the idea was raised by the then-imprisoned Edward Gibbon Wakefield, to 1842, when the ''South Australia Act 1842'' changed the form of government to a Crown colony.
Ideas espoused and promulgated by Wakefield since 1829 led to the formation of the South Australian Land Company in 1831, but this first attempt failed to achieve its goals, and the company folded.
The South Australian Association was formed in 1833 by Wakefield, Robert Gouger and other supporters, which put forward a proposal less radical than previous ones, which was finally supported and a Bill proposed in Parliament.
The '''British Province of South Australia''' was established by the ''South Australia Act 1834'' in August 1834, and the South Australian Company formed on 9 October 1835 to fulfil the purposes of the Act by forming a new colony financed by land sales. The first settlers arrived on Kangaroo Island in July 1836, with all of the ships later sailing north soon afterwards to anchor in Holdfast Bay on the advice of Surveyor-General, Colonel William Light. The '''foundation of South Australia''' is usually considered to be the proclamation of the new Province by Governor Hindmarsh at Glenelg on 28 December 1836.
However, after the government under the Colonisation Commission set up by the 1834 Act failed to achieve financial self-sufficiency, the ''South Australia Act 1842'' repealed the earlier Act, made South Australia a Crown colony, provided for the formation of an appointed Legislative Assembly and passed greater powers to the Governor of South Australia (then Sir George Grey).
There were moves towards representative self-government in the mid-nineteenth century, and South Australia became a self-governing colony in October 1856.
==Background== The French Nicolas Baudin and the British Matthew Flinders had both made exploratory voyages along the central southern coastline. On 8 April 1802, the vessels of the two explorers met off South Australia, at what is now called Encounter Bay. They each gave names to various places around Kangaroo Island and the two gulfs: Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf. The British Government, not wanting to be pre-empted by the French, sent out expeditions to Port Phillip and northern Tasmania, and set up the first{{clarify|date=December 2019}} free settlement, the Swan River Colony, in 1829.<ref name=dutton146>{{Cite book| last1=Dutton|first1=Geoffrey | title=Founder of a city: the life of Colonel William Light, first Surveyor-General of the colony of South Australia, founder of Adelaide, 1786–1839 | date=1984 | publisher=Rigby | edition=[New] | isbn=978-0-7270-1913-4|pages=146–149 }}</ref>
Historian Geoffrey Dutton suggests three clear phases in the foundation of the colony: first, the practical men, with their discoveries, second, the theorists, in particular Wakefield and Gouger, who had not seen Australia, and, lastly, the settlers, who had to marry fact with ideals.<ref name=dutton146/>
===Previous European settlement=== Prior to the establishment of a formal British colony, Kangaroo Island was inhabited by sealers more or less continuously from 1803, when American sealing captain Isaac Pendleton established an outpost at what was named American River.{{sfn|Taylor|2008|p=14}} The island soon became a target for sealers based in the British colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.{{sfn|Taylor|2008|pp=16–17}}
In 1826, ''The Australian'' estimated that Kangaroo Island had a population of around 200 people, who in addition to sealing also traded in salt and wallaby and kangaroo skins.{{sfn|Taylor|2008|p=23}} However, following the decline of the sealing industry, the island's population had dwindled significantly by 1836.{{sfn|Taylor|2008|pp=72–73}} Several farms were established at Three Well Rivers, with poultry and pigs being reared and barley, wheat and vegetables under cultivation.{{sfn|Taylor|2008|p=25}} Many residents lived with Aboriginal women – either from mainland South Australia or Aboriginal Tasmanians from the sealing colonies on Bass Strait – who were often violently abducted from their homelands and made to work as slaves.{{sfn|Taylor|2008|p=28}}
==1829–1831== ===Wakefield=== {{main|Edward Gibbon Wakefield}} Influenced by prison reformer Elizabeth Fry serving a term in prison for abducting a minor, Wakefield turned his mind to social problems caused by over-population. In 1829, he wrote a series of anonymous "Letters from Sydney" to a London newspaper, ''The Morning Chronicle'', in which he purported to write about his own experiences as a gentleman settler in New South Wales (completely fictitious), outlining his various ideas as a new theory of colonisation.<ref name=dutton146/> He proposed an "Emigration Fund" payable by landlords' taxes and land sales, which would fund labour for the colonies. Gouger, an enthusiastic supporter, edited the letters and published them as a book,<ref name=dutton146/> helping to distribute Wakefield's document.<ref name=samem>{{cite web|website=SA Memory|url=https://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=349&startRow=13|publisher=State Library of South Australia|title=Foundation of the Province|date=5 February 2015|access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref>
Wakefield saw the colonies as "extensions of an old society"; all classes would be represented among the settlers. In addition, the colonies would be more or less self-governing. His ideas were not original, but Wakefield was the one who synthesised a number of theories into one plan of systematic colonisation, and who spread the ideas among the British public and urged the Colonial Office to push forward with such a plan. After his release from prison in 1830, he funded the National Colonization Society, with Gouger as secretary and a large number of enthusiastic members.<ref name=dutton146/> Wakefield's ideas caused much debate in Parliament.<ref name=samem/>
After Charles Sturt discovered the River Murray in 1830, more interest in Wakefield's scheme followed. One key component of the Wakefield Scheme was that the land price should be set high enough to prevent land speculation.<ref name=tourism>{{cite web | title=Brief History: Colony built on a dream| website=Exploring Adelaide|publisher=Tourist Information Distributors Australia | url=http://www.exploringaustralia.com.au/history.php?s=adel | access-date=7 December 2020}}</ref> In 1831 a "Proposal to His Majesty's Government for founding a colony on the Southern Coast of Australia" was prepared under the auspices of Gouger, Anthony Bacon, Jeremy Bentham and Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, but its ideas were considered too radical, and it was unable to attract the required investment.<ref name=samem/>
===South Australian Land Company=== After his first proposal failed, Wakefield published his "Plan of a company to be established for the purpose of founding a colony in Southern Australia, purchasing land therein and preparing the land so purchased for the Reception of Immigrants", and the '''South Australian Land Company''' ('''SALC''') was formed in 1831 to establish a new colony in the area of South Australia.<ref name=samem/> The SALC sought a Royal Charter for the purchase of land for colonisation, which would raise funding for the transport of immigrants, and for the governance of the new colony to be administered by the SALC. The company anticipated that the centre of government would be on Kangaroo Island or at Port Lincoln on the western side of Spencer Gulf, based on reports from Matthew Flinders.<ref>{{cite book |title=Proposal to His Majesty's Government for Founding a Colony on the Southern Coast of Australia |author=South Australian Land Company |date=1831 |ol=20440157M }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | date=1831 | author=South Australian Land Company | title=Plan of a company to be established for the purpose of founding a colony in Southern Australia : purchasing land therein, and preparing the land so purchased for the reception of immigrants | publication-date=1831 | publisher=Ridgway and Sons | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/6901870 | access-date=21 December 2016 }}</ref>
However, the scheme, which included free trade, self-government and the power to select the Governor, was not approved as these ideas were considered too radical and republican.<ref name=samem/>
==1833–1835== ===South Australian Association (1833)===
In 1833, the '''South Australian Association''' was established and began to lobby the government for the establishment of a colony in South Australia, with Crown-appointed governance.<ref name=samem/>
Robert Gouger started setting up the South Australian Association from November 1833. Between that time and August 1834, he corresponded with George Grote, Sir Edward Smith-Stanley, Earl of Derby, William Wolryche-Whitmore, Joseph Hume, Liberal MP Sir William Clay, and Charles Shaw-Lefevre.<ref name=newworlds>{{cite web | title=Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters from the South Australian Association, 1833–1834 |publisher= Adam Matthew Digital | website=Migration to New Worlds | url=https://www.migration.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Entry-Books-of-Correspondence--Letters-from-the-South-Australian-Association--1833-1834/TNA_CO_386_10 | access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref> The aim of the association was to bring to fruition the idea of "systematic colonisation", as proposed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, in the creation of a new colony in South Australia by the British government.<ref name=boundsaa>{{cite web | title=South Australian Association | website=Bound for South Australia 1836 | date=20 February 2011 | url= https://boundforsouthaustralia.history.sa.gov.au/journey-content/south-australian-association.html | access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref> The proposal was for a colony that belonged to the Crown but with its administration run by trustees.<ref name=az>{{cite web | title=Gouger forms South Australian Association with success; chosen as colonial secretary| website=AdelaideAZ | url=https://adelaideaz.com/articles/gouger-forms-south-australian-association-with-success--made-the-colonial-secretary | access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref>
The aim of the Association and details of the planned administration of the proposed colony were published on 11 January 1834 in ''The Spectator'':<ref name=spectator>{{cite journal | title=South Australian Association.|journal=The Spectator|date= 11 Jan 1834|page=10|via=The Spectator Archive |others=Published online=10 June 2013 | url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/11th-january-1834/10/south-australian-association | access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref>{{blockquote|The object of this Association is to found a Colony, under Royal Charter, and without convict labour, at or near Spencer Gulf, on the south coast of Australia, a tract of country far removed from the existing Penal Settlements...}}{{blockquote|...The South Australian Association consists of three classes of members, First, Persons who propose to settle in the Colony. Secondly, Persons willing to aid the Association without taking a responsible part in the proceedings. Thirdly, Persons who may take an active part in the preliminary proceedings of the Association, and may become, under the proposed Charter, Trustees for carrying its provisions into effect. }}
The members of the South Australian Association were men of varied backgrounds, from philanthropists to merchants, including Wakefield, Robert Gouger, Robert Torrens Sr and George Fife Angas.<ref name=samemsac/>
The association organised a huge public meeting at Exeter Hall in London on the 30 June 1834, to spread awareness about the proposal for the new province and emigration scheme, chaired by Wolryche-Whitmore. The meeting was attended by more than 2,500 people, including well-known philosophers and social reformers, and the speeches and discussions continued for seven hours. Afterwards the association received hundreds of enquiries from people interested in emigration.<ref name=tourism/>
===''South Australia Act 1834''=== {{main|South Australia Act 1834}} The Association lobbied the British government for years, taking part in numerous negotiations and submitting plans that underwent many modifications.<ref name=samemsac/> Finally, after intervention by the Duke of Wellington,<ref name=az/> the bill drafted by the Association<ref name=bound/> and presented by Wolryche-Whitmore<ref name=tourism/> was presented to Parliament, which passed the ''South Australia (Foundation) Act'' on 15 August 1834.<ref name=samemsac>{{cite web | publisher=State Library of South Australia | title=South Australian Company | website= SA Memory | date= 29 Oct 2014 | url=https://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1483 | access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref> The Act provided for the settlement as the Province of South Australia, for the sale of lands, for funding of the venture, and for governance.<ref name=bound/>
===South Australian Colonization Commission=== The ''South Australia Act 1834'' set out the governance of the new colony by a new body known as the '''South Australian Colonization Commission''', also known as the '''Colonization Commissioners for South Australia''' (and variant spellings{{#tag:ref|The South Australian Colonization Commission is a standardised name authority used by libraries and represented by OCLC, based on some of the Board's documents and publications;<ref>{{cite web|website=WorldCat|url=http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-nb2010013893/|title=South Australian Colonization Commission|series=OCLC WorldCat Identities|access-date=1 November 2019}}</ref> the board members are referred to in various documents as the Colonization Commissioners for South Australia.<ref>{{Citation | author1=South Australian Colonization Commission | title=Report of the Colonization Commissioners for South Australia to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies|edition= 3rd | date=1838 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/196342710 | access-date=1 November 2019 }}</ref>|group=Note}}), which would be based in London.<ref name=bound>{{cite web|url=http://boundforsouthaustralia.com.au/journey-content/south-australian-colonization-commission.html|website=Bound for South Australia|title=South Australian Colonization Commission|publisher=History Trust of South Australia|others=Creative Commons 3.0|access-date=5 November 2019}} Note: This source says John Pirie was Deputy Chairman, but as yet no other source found to confirm this, so left out of the article for now.</ref><ref name=samem/> However, the Act gave control of the new colony to the Colonial Office as well as the Commissioners, which led to tension between the two and caused problems later.<ref name=dutton146/>
The Act provided that three or more persons could be appointed as Commissioners to be known as Colonization Commissioners for South Australia, to carry out certain parts of the Act. The Commissioners formed a Board, which had responsibilities for:<ref name=staterecs>{{cite web | title=Colonization Commissioners | website=State Records of South Australia | url=https://archives.sa.gov.au/finding-information/discover-our-collection/correspondence/colonization-commissioners | access-date=28 October 2020}} 50px Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/ Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)] licence.</ref> *the disposal of land; *an Emigration Fund which for conveying poor emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland to South Australia; and *appointing a treasurer, assistant surveyors and other officers necessary to carry the Act into execution. thumb|right|1835 advertisement The British government appointed Commissioners to oversee implementation of the Act, to control sales of land and the administration of revenue: thirteen Commissioners were based in London (at 6 Adelphi Terrace in 1840<ref>{{cite book | title=The British Almanac of The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, for the year of our Lord 1840|publisher=Charles Knight & Co. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SjlNAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA59 | date=1840| access-date=10 December 2020 | page=59}}</ref>), with a Resident Commissioner appointed by the board and stationed in the colony. Those first appointed, on 5 May 1835, were Colonel Robert Torrens (Chairman), Rowland Hill (Secretary), G. Barnes (Treasurer), George Fife Angas, Edward Barnard, William Hutt, J. G. Shaw-Lefevre, William Alexander Mackinnon M.P., Samuel Mills, Jacob Barrow Montefiore, Lt Col George Palmer, and John Wright, representing the Colonial Office.<ref name=Majority>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49778332 |title=Majority of the Colony of South Australia. |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXII |issue=3509 |location=South Australia |date=5 January 1858 |access-date=1 November 2019 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref name="samem"/>
Administrative power was divided between a Governor, John Hindmarsh, who represented the Crown, and the Resident Commissioner, who reported to the Colonisation Commissioners and who was responsible for the survey and sale of land as well as for organising migration and funding.<ref name=founding>{{cite web|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-37.html|website=Documenting a Democracy: Australia'a Story|title=South Australia Act, or Foundation Act, of 1834 (UK)|publisher= Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House |access-date=2 November 2019}}</ref><ref name= "SA Act transcript">{{cite web|url=http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/sa1_doc_1834.pdf |title=Transcript of the South Australia Act, 1834 |publisher=Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House|access-date=6 November 2019}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|The transcript as of 6 November 2019 misspells "colonization" as "colonisation" in the long name (as per the long name of the title in the actual document). Throughout the rest of the document, both transcript and original, it is spelt with a Z.|group=Note}} The first Resident Commissioner was James Hurtle Fisher.<ref name=Majority/>
The Commissioner of Public Lands was appointed to act under the orders of the Commissioners. All monies were to be submitted to the Lord of His Majesty's Treasury, and be audited in the same manner as other public accounts. A report was required to be submitted to the Secretary of State at least once a year.<ref name=staterecs/>
Robert Gouger was Colonial Secretary to the Commission,<ref name=bound/> John Hindmarsh was appointed Governor and William Light Surveyor-General. The Commission was responsible for land sales and for land surveying, including choosing the site for the capital city. However, the Act did not clarify the powers of the Commission ''vis-à-vis'' the Governor, which led to discord for some years.<ref name=bound/>
===South Australian Company (1835)=== {{Main|South Australian Company}} The South Australian Commission Land Sale Regulations 1835, authored by the Colonization Commission in 1835, stipulated that surveys were to be undertaken and maps to be made available prior to sale of the land. Land could be bought at a uniform price per acre, but it would go to auction in the case of more than one potential buyer. Leases of up to three years could be granted "for pasturage" on unsold lands. All proceeds were to go to the Emigration Fund, set up to help poorer people to migrate to the colony. These regulations were of great significance; the success of the Wakefield scheme to populate and fund the new Province hinged on land development, so land law and regulations governing it were fundamental.<ref name=regs>{{cite web|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-40.html|website=Museum of Australian Democracy|series=Documenting a democracy|title=South Australian Commission Land Sale Regulations 1835 (issued by the Commissioners in the UK)|access-date=16 November 2019}}</ref>
Sales of land had proved difficult; buyers did not rush to buy an acre of wild land for 20 shillings. It was left to the South Australian Company (formed on 15 October 1835, after talented businessman George Fife Angas resigned as Commissioner<ref name=dutton146/>) to purchase the remaining portion of the £35,000 worth of land that was required for settlement to proceed.<ref name=sacompany>{{cite web|website=SA Memory|url=http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1483|title= History of the South Australian Company|publisher=State Library of South Australia|date= 29 October 2014|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref><ref name=Board>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31749623 |title=The South Australian Company. |newspaper=South Australian Gazette And Colonial Register |location=South Australia |date=18 June 1836 |access-date=6 December 2019 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The South Australian Company acted as a "third power" in the control of the colony and the one which saved it.<ref name=dutton149>{{Cite book| last1=Dutton|first1=Geoffrey | title=Founder of a city: the life of Colonel William Light, first Surveyor-General of the colony of South Australia, founder of Adelaide, 1786–1839 | date=1984 | publisher=Rigby | edition=[New] | isbn=978-0-7270-1913-4|pages=149–152 }}</ref>
===Official appointments=== The ''South Australia Act'' was finally ratified on 19 February 1836 and the first appointments made.<ref name=tourism/>
The appointment of Governor of South Australia, as the most well-paid position and the most important one, proved complex. Sir Charles Napier (who had written a book about the colonisation of South Australia in 1835) was first approached by a group of emigrants, while the Colonial Office was considering Sir John Franklin. Franklin withdrew in favour of Napier, but Napier quarrelled with the emigrants and made two requests (for access to Treasury funds, and for troops to act as police) which were not met, and he resigned.<ref name=dutton149/>
Napier favoured Light as Governor; however, the ambitious John Hindmarsh had got wind of the forthcoming appointment, and set out first to see Napier, then woo some powerful supporters in London, including the Lords of the Admiralty before approaching the Colonial Secretary (Gouger). Light was appointed Surveyor-General on 14 December 1835, and on 21 January 1836 Captain Hindmarsh was appointed the first Governor of South Australia.<ref name=Majority/><ref name=dutton149/> Hindmarsh was rewarded handsomely, while the salaries for the other men were small. Hindmarsh reported to the Colonial Office, while James Hurtle Fisher, Resident Commissioner, was paid far less, despite having practical control of the colony. Not only did Fisher head up the board of Commissioners, but the Treasurer, Emigration Agent, the Surveyor-General and the storekeeper were responsible to him.<ref name=dutton149/>
Hindmarsh and Fisher quarrelled frequently and could not work together harmoniously, so in 1838 both were recalled to London and a new Governor (George Gawler) appointed, who would also act as Resident Commissioner.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/en/About-Parliament/Establishing-Government| title=Establishing Representative Government | website =Parliament of South Australia |access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref>
==1836== ===Letters Patent and the Order-in-Council=== {{further|Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia}} The procedure for the founding of the South Australian province was unclear to the Board of Commissioners, so Letters Patent, specifically Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom erecting and establishing the Province of South Australia and fixing the boundaries thereof, were presented to the government on 19 February 1836, and with its adoption along with an Order-in-Council on 23 February 1836 the foundation of the South Australian province was achieved.<ref name=adelaidialp>{{cite web|url=http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/subjects/letters-patent|website=Adelaidia|title=Letters Patent|first=Mandy|last=Paul|date=9 December 2013|access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref>
The main changes in the Letters Patent were to amend the wording in the 1834 document which referred to the land as "unoccupied", and to recognise the rights of the "Aboriginal Natives" to live unhindered within the lands of the Province of South Australia. The first migrant ship, the ''John Pirie'', set sail for the colony three days later. An amendment to the 1834 Act (the ''South Australia Government Act 1838'' (1 & 2 Vict. c. 60), passed 31 July 1838) incorporated the changes.<ref name=adelaidialp/>
===First settlers and Proclamation=== thumb|450px|''The Proclamation of South Australia 1836'', Charles Hill. [[Image:Portrait of col william light.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Colonel William Light.]] {{further|First Fleet of South Australia|History of Adelaide#British settlement (1836)|William Light}}
Under the emigration scheme, "worthy" labourers and their families received free passage.<ref name=libguide>{{cite web | title=Immigration to South Australia | website=LibGuides|publisher=State Library of South Australia | date=20 Nov 2020 | url=https://guides.slsa.sa.gov.au/c.php?g=410226&p=2795202 | access-date=7 December 2020}}</ref> They had to be between 15 and 30 years of age, preferably married, and needed two references. Steerage passengers paid £15–20, middle berth £35–40, and cabin class £70. Children under 14 years were charged £3 while those under 1 year were free.<ref name=findmypast>{{cite web | title=Emigrants seeking free passage to South Australia 1836–1841 | website=findmypast.com.au | url=https://www.findmypast.com.au/articles/world-records/full-list-of-australia-and-new-zealand-records/travel-and-migration/emigrants-seeking-free-passage-to-south-australia-18361841|first= Graham|last= Jaunay| access-date=7 December 2020}}</ref>
Montefiore and Lt-Col Palmer helped Colonel Light to prepare two of the ships, ''Rapid'' and ''Cygnet''. They proposed a new code for emigrant ships carrying more than 100 passengers, which meant having a minimum deck height and including a medical practitioner on board. These reforms reduced mortality and were later adopted by all British emigrant ships.<ref name=adelaidia>{{cite web|last1=Elton|first1=Jude|title=Montefiore Hill|url=http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/places/montefiore-hill|website=Adelaidia|date=7 December 2020 |publisher=History SA|access-date=7 Dec 2020}}</ref>
Four ships chartered by the South Australia Company set sail for South Australia in early 1836:<ref name=ships>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44579008 |title=The infancy of South Australian settlement. |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=LI |issue=2,387 |location=South Australia |date=27 July 1886 |access-date=6 December 2019 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *On 22 February, just days after the Letters Patent had been adopted, the ship ''John Pirie'' set sail with 24 passengers on board; *The ship ''Duke of York'' set sail with 42 passengers on 24 February. *On 30 March the ship ''Lady Mary Pelham'' departed London with 29 passengers. *The fourth ship was the ''Emma'', which left London with 22 passengers on 21 April. All four ships of the South Australia Company arrived at Nepean Bay on Kangaroo Island: the ''Duke of York'' on 27 July, ''Lady Mary Pelham'' on 30 July, ''John Pirie'' on 16 August and ''Emma'' on 5 October. More ships left in the coming months, making a total of at least nine, which for convenience can be regarded as the First Fleet of South Australia. Apart from the last one, HMS ''Buffalo'', all went to Nepean Bay first.<ref name=ships/>
A settlement was started at Kingscote, at Reeves Point on Kangaroo Island (now a heritage-listed site, as the earliest formal European settlement in South Australia),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;search=place_name%3Dreeves%2520point%3Bcountry%3DAustralia%3Bkeyword_PD%3Don%3Bkeyword_SS%3Don%3Bkeyword_PH%3Don%3Blatitude_1dir%3DS%3Blongitude_1dir%3DE%3Blongitude_2dir%3DE%3Blatitude_2dir%3DS%3Bin_region%3Dpart;place_id=15625|website=Australian Heritage Database|publisher=Australian Government. Dept of the Environment and Energy|title=Reeves Point Settlement Site, Seaview Rd, Kingscote, SA, Australia|access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> on 27 July 1836, but this was soon abandoned in favour of a settlement on the mainland. Some of the original ships sailed on to Holdfast Bay in November and December, with Gouger, now Colonial Secretary and Chief Magistrate, arriving on the {{ship||Africaine|1832 ship|2}} on 8 November 1836. The settlers set up camp, to be joined by the ''Buffalo'' on 28 December.<ref name=ships/><ref name=Steuart>{{Cite book | last=Steuart|first=Archibald Francis | title=A short sketch of the lives of Francis and William Light: the founders of Penang and Adelaide, with extracts from their journals | date=1901 | publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Co. | url=https://archive.org/details/ashortsketchliv00steugoog/page/n10 }}</ref>
The foundation of South Australia is usually considered to be Governor Hindmarsh's Proclamation of South Australia at Glenelg on 28 December 1836.<ref name=oic>{{cite web|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-did-3.html|website=Museum of Australian Democracy|series=Documenting a democracy|title=Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK)|access-date=16 November 2019}}</ref>
Colonel Light was given two months to locate the most advantageous location for the main colony. He was required to find a site with a harbour, arable land, fresh water, ready internal and external communications, building materials and drainage. Light rejected potential locations for the new main settlement, including Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln and Encounter Bay. Light decided that the Adelaide plains were the best location for settlement.<ref name=Steuart/>
The River Torrens was discovered to the south and Light and his team set about determining the city's precise location and layout. The survey was completed on 11 March 1837. Light's poorly paid and ill-equipped surveying team were expected to begin another massive task of surveying at least {{convert|405|km2}} of rural land. Light, despite slowly succumbing to tuberculosis,<ref name=Steuart/> managed to survey {{convert|605.7|km2}} (or {{convert|150000| acres|ha}}) by June 1838.<ref name=adb>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=David F. |last=Elder|id2=light-william-2359|title= Light, William (1786–1839)|quote=This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, (MUP), 1967|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref>
==Settlement growth== The settlement grew steadily. In 1836 the South Australian Company imported pure merinos from the German region of Saxony, and cows and goats were also shipped over. Sheep and other livestock were brought in from Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales. The wool industry was the basis of South Australia's economy for the first few years, with the first wool auction held in Adelaide in 1840.<ref>{{cite web|website=SA History Hub|url=https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au:443/subjects/wool?hh=1&|title=Wool|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/overview.htm|website=Flinders Ranges Research|title=The Early South Australian Pastoral Industry: An Overview|access-date=6 December 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330222653/https://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/overview.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The settlers were mostly British, but some German settlers, mainly "Old Lutherans", also emigrated in the early years. The first large group of Germans arrived in 1838, with the financial assistance of the Emigration Fund. Most moved out of Adelaide and to the Barossa Valley and settlements in the Adelaide Hills such as Hahndorf, living in socially closed communities, by 1842, and did not participate in government until responsible government was granted 15 years later in 1857.<ref>{{cite web|website=Adelaidia|title=Germans|url=http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/subjects/germans|first=Ian|last=Harmstorf|others="First published in ''The Wakefield companion to South Australian history'', edited by Wilfrid Prest, Kerrie Round and Carol Fort (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2001). Edited lightly and references updated"|date=5 June 2015|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref>
==1840: Adelaide City Council== Established in 1840, with its first meeting held on 4 November 1840,<ref name=accadel>{{cite web| website=Adelaide| url=http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/organisations/adelaide-city-council| title=Adelaide City Council|first=Corinne |last=Ball|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref> the City of Adelaide Municipal Corporation was the first municipal authority in Australia. At its time of establishment, Adelaide's (and Australia's) first mayor, James Hurtle Fisher, was elected.<ref name=AdelHist>{{cite web|url=http://www.adelaidecitycouncil.com/council/history.html|title= History|website=Adelaide Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228002103/http://www.adelaidecitycouncil.com/council/history.html |archive-date=28 February 2011 }}</ref> However, the new corporation suffered financial woes, after several of its actions were unauthorised or reversed by the British government, leading to considerable debt and, so it wound up as insolvent in 1843.<ref name=accadel/>
==Architecture and engineering== <!---Colonial Architect of South Australia redirects to this section---> The office of Colonial Architect was established by July 1840, with George Strickland Kingston the first appointee to the role.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441647 |title=The last gazette. |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=III |issue=130 |location=South Australia |date=18 July 1840 |access-date=18 January 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165920493 |title=Digging up the past. |newspaper=Observer (Adelaide) |volume=LXXXI |issue=6,040 |location=South Australia |date=1 November 1924 |access-date=18 January 2023 |page=49 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Other architects who served in this role included Richard Lambeth;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7295156 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=3730 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 May 1858 |access-date=18 January 2023 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> William Bennett Hays;<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=42 |title=Hamilton, Edward Angus |work=Architects Database |publisher=University of South Australia |first= Julie| last= Collins}}</ref> and Edward Hamilton, with George Soward acting in the position for six months after Hamilton's resignation in 1860.<ref name=archdb>{{cite web |website=Architects Database| url=https://architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=66| publisher = University of South Australia|title=Architect Personal Details: Soward, George Klewitz|first= Julie| last= Collins|access-date=17 January 2023}}</ref>
Engineering and architecture departments changed in structure and naming over the years, with the names including:<ref>{{cite web | publisher=Swinburne University of Technology| title=South Australian Colonial Engineering and Architecture Departments | website=Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation | date=19 November 2019 | url=https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P006707b.htm|first=Elizabeth| last= Daniels| access-date=18 January 2023}}</ref> * Colonial Engineer's Office (1841–1852) * Colonial Architects Department [I] (1852–1854) * Public Works Department (1854–1857) * Colonial Architects Department [II] (1854–1860) * Engineer and Architect's Department (1860–1867)
From 1867, the functions were split into separate entities: *Engineer in Chief's Department (1867–1906) *Architect in Chief's Department (1867–1960)
=={{anchor|demise}}Demise of the Colonization Commission== As it became evident that the colonial administration had brought the province of South Australia to near bankruptcy in 1840,<ref name=mad1842>{{cite web|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-41.html|website=Museum of Australian Democracy|series=Documenting a democracy|title=South Australia Act 1842 (UK)|access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> the South Australian Colonization Commission was stripped of its powers.<ref name=rda/> Torrens wrote a report "intended to have been given to the Committee on the Affairs of South Australia, as part of his evidence" on 30 March 1841, outlining how the financial administration of the colony had been mishandled, and how it would not have happened had a proposed loan of £120,000 been raised in June 1840 to the emigration fund, and "a cautious stream of emigration been kept up", and by various means the "calamitous crisis" may have been averted.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Torrens, R. | author2=Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the affairs of South Australia. | author3=South Australian Colonization Commission. | title=Paper intended to have been given to the Committee on the Affairs of South Australia, as part of his evidence, by Colonel Torrens, on Tuesday, the 30th of March, 1841| year=1841 | section=42 pages; 22 cm. | location=London | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-33431217 | id=nla.obj-33431217 | access-date=28 October 2020 | via=Trove }}</ref> Records in the State Records of South Australia include a document in which the "Colonization commissioners defend their position as regards responsibility for the crisis" on 17 July 1841.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archives.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/public/documents/GRG56_68_2_Colonisation%20Commissioner%27s%20Assistant%20Commissioner%20Index%20to%20Papers_A-K_0.pdf|title=GRG 56/ 68/2Index to early correspondence relating to colonization |page=18|quote= (JUlY 17,1841) [667 I P.59}}</ref>
The post of Agent General for Emigration (covering emigration to all colonies) existed from 1837 to 1840, with Thomas Frederick Elliot, youngest son of Hugh Elliot, appointed to the position.<ref name=elliotadb>{{cite book | last=Hayden | first=Albert A. | title=Thomas Frederick Elliot | chapter=Thomas Frederick Elliot (1808–1880) | website= Australian Dictionary of Biography | publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University | chapter-url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/elliot-thomas-frederick-2022 | access-date=5 December 2020|quote=This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966}}</ref><ref name=stats1838>{{cite journal|title=Emigration from the United Kingdom|journal=Journal of the Statistical Society of London|volume= 1|issue= 3 |date=July 1838|pages=156–157| doi=10.2307/2337910|jstor=2337910|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2337910.pdf}}</ref> After the South Australian Colonization Commission was abolished,<ref name=bound/> the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission (which had been established by a Commission from Queen Victoria on 14 January 1840), also known as the Colonial Land and Emigration Board, took over its functions, along with those of the Agent-General for Emigration. Although the new Commission was established in 1840, the amalgamation of the South Australian Commission was not completed until early 1843.<ref name=rda>{{cite web | title=The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners | website=Research Data Australia |publisher=Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)| url=https://researchdata.edu.au/colonial-land-emigration-commissioners/166070 | access-date=28 October 2020}} 50px Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)] licence (see [https://ardc.edu.au/terms-conditions/ here]).</ref> SA records shows "Copies of letters from the Colonization Commissioners to the Colonial Office, 1841–1842, and from the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners to the Colonial Office, 1842–1843 (GRG 48/2)".<ref name=staterecs/><ref>{{cite web | title=Colonization Commissioners | website=State Records of South Australia | url=https://archives.sa.gov.au/finding-information/discover-our-collection/correspondence/colonization-commissioners | access-date=28 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/search/display?dbid=auth&id=35972073|website=Libraries Australia|title=Libraries Australia Authorities – Full view [Heading: South Australian Colonization Commission]|access-date=28 Oct 2020}} Note: This ref is added for completeness, but as of October 2020, the end date it gives doesn't accord with the other sources. To be investigated.</ref>
(The Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was wound up in 1855, succeeded by the Emigration Commission, which was abolished in 1878.<ref name="natarchive">{{cite web |title=Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc. |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4577 |access-date=5 December 2020 |website=The National Archives}} Text may have been copied from this source, which is published under an Open Government Licence [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/] "compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0". 50x50px</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Hayden | first=Albert A. | title=Thomas Frederick Elliot | website=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=ANU | date=28 October 2020 | url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/elliot-thomas-frederick-2022 | access-date=28 October 2020|quote=This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966.}}</ref>)
==''South Australia Act 1842'': Crown colony== {{main|South Australia Act 1842}} The ''South Australia Act 1842'' (5 & 6 Vict c. 61) is the short title of an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the long title "An Act to provide for the better Government of South Australia".
The Act was passed on 30 July 1842. It repealed the ''South Australia Act 1834'' and the amendments made to that Act, and instituted a different form of Government over the colony. The Act was introduced as a result of recommendations by a British Parliamentary Enquiry into the failure of the colonial administration which had brought the province of South Australia near bankruptcy in 1840,<ref name=mad1842/> and gave the British Government full control of South Australia as a Crown Colony.<ref name=bound/>
==Moves towards independence== By the mid 19th century, there was a strong desire for representative and responsible government in the colonies of Australia. The Australian Colonies Government Act 1850 was a landmark piece of legislation, granting representative constitutions to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, and the colonies enthusiastically set about writing constitutions which produced democratically progressive parliaments with the British monarch as the symbolic head of state.<ref>[http://aec.gov.au/Elections/Australian_Electoral_History/righttovote.htm The Right to Vote in Australia]. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 March 2012.</ref> In 1850 and elections for legislative councils were held in the colonies of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.<ref name="aec">(28 January 2011). [http://aec.gov.au/Elections/Australian_Electoral_History/reform.htm Australia’s major electoral developments Timeline: 1788–1899]. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 March 2012.</ref>
thumb|Old Parliament House in 1872 In 1855, limited self-government was granted by London to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. An innovative secret ballot was introduced in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in 1856, in which the government supplied voting paper containing the names of candidates and voters could select in private. This system was adopted around the world, becoming known as the "Australian Ballot". In the same year, all male British subjects ages 21 or over were granted the right to vote.
===Self-governing colony (1856)=== {{further|Government of South Australia}} South Australia became a self-governing colony in October 1856 with the ratification of a new constitution by the British parliament via the Constitution Act 1856 (UK).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/num_act/ca2o19v18556265/ |title=Constitution Act (No 2 of 19 Vic, 1855–6) |date=4 January 1856 |access-date=6 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/CONSTITUTION%20ACT%201934.aspx|author =Government of South Australia|title=Constitution Act 1934|date =22 November 2021|access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref> This Act provided for a bicameral Parliament with full authority to enact laws, apart from a few Acts requiring Royal Assent. The Legislative Council was elected by property owners only, while the 37-member House of Assembly was elected on a broad male franchise.<ref>{{cite web|website=Museum of Australian Democracy|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-42.html|title=Constitution Act 1856 (SA)|access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref> A parliament was elected by secret ballot on 9 March 1857, by which time 109,917 people lived in the province.<ref>{{cite web | title=South Australia: Brief history | website=The British Empire | url=https://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/southaustralia.htm | access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref>
Several decades after the federation of Australia in 1901, the ''Constitution Act 1856'' was replaced by the ''Constitution Act 1934''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/CONSTITUTION%20ACT%201934/CURRENT/1934.2151.AUTH.PDF|author = Government of South Australia|title=Constitution Act 1934|access-date=9 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/consol_act/ca1934188/notes.html |title=Constitution Act 1934 – Notes|author = Government of South Australia|access-date=9 March 2022| via=Austlii}}</ref>
==See also== * History of Adelaide * History of Australia (1788–1850) * History of South Australia * William Light
==Footnotes== {{reflist|group=Note}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Hamilton, Reg. ''Colony : strange origins of one of the earliest modern democracies'' (2010) [https://archive.org/details/colonystrangeori0000hami online] * Hastings, W. K. "The Wakefield colonisation plan and constitutional development in South Australia, Canada and New Zealand." ''Journal of Legal History'' 11.2 (1990): 279–299. * Langley, Michael. "Wakefield and South Australia." ''History Today'' (Oct 1969), Vol. 19 Issue 10, pp 704–712; online. * Mills, Richard Charles. ''The colonization of Australia (1829–42): the Wakefield experiment in empire building'' (1915). [https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.94135 online] *{{cite journal |last1=Muller |first1=Charli |title=The Capitalist and Colonial Logics of Rowland Hill's Postal Reforms: Terra Nullius, Uniform Pricing, and 'Conveyance at the Lowest Rate' |journal=Monde(s) |date=2024 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=51–73 |doi=10.3917/mond1.226.0051 |url=https://shs.cairn.info/journal-monde-s-2024-2-page-51?lang=en|url-access=subscription }} * Garnett, Richard. ''Edward Gibbon Wakefield: The Colonization of South Australia and New Zealand'' (1898) [https://archive.org/details/cihm_12515 online] *{{cite book|title=The History of South Australia: From Its Foundation to the Year of Its Jubilee: Volume I.]|first=Edwin |last=Hodder|place=London|publisher= Sampson Low, Marston & Co.|date=1893|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1302721h.html|series=A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook (posted 2013)|others=With much material gathered by George Fife Angas used as the basis of this history.}} *{{cite book|title=The Founding of South Australia, as Recorded in the Journals of Mr. Robert Gouger, First Colonial Secretary|editor-first=Edwin |editor-last=Hodder|place=London|publisher= Sampson Low, Marston & Co.|date=1898|first=Robert|last=Gouger|author-link=Robert Gouger|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1306571h.html|others=A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook (posted 2013)|quote= (Preface): It fell to my lot to write the "History of South Australia," and in that work it was stated: "Honours are divided among the claimants to be founders of South Australia. Edward Gibbon Wakefield was the first to set forth the principles of the new form of Colonisation; Mr. Gouger, the Secretary of the South Australian Association, took up the idea, and worked it into practical shape; Colonel Robert Torrens brought experience and influence to bear to make the scheme popular, and ensure its acceptance by the Government; while Mr. George Fife Angas made the working of the Act of Parliament possible.}} *{{Cite book | first1=Douglas|last1= Pike | title=Paradise of dissent: South Australia 1829–1857 | date=1967 | publisher=Melbourne University Press | edition=[2nd] | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10713883 | access-date=19 November 2019 }} (Also available to borrow on the [https://archive.org/details/paradiseofdissen0000pike Internet archive]) *{{cite web | last=Richards | first=Eric | title=Migration | website=SA History Hub | url=https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/subjects/migration-0|quote=This entry was first published in The ''Wakefield companion to South Australian history'' edited by Wilfrid Prest, Kerrie Round and Carol Fort (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2001). Edited lightly. Uploaded 12 August 2015.}} *{{cite book|first=Rebe|last=Taylor|year=2008|edition=2nd|title=Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo island|publisher=Wakefield Press|isbn=978-1862545526}}
{{Aboriginal South Australians}}
Category:1831 establishments in Australia Category:Settlers of South Australia Category:Demographics of South Australia Category:Settlement schemes in Australia Category:British colonisation in Oceania