South Australia - Economy, Government, Sport, Notable places

pop (2000e) 1 548 000; area 984 000 km²/379 900 sq mi. State in S Australia; established as a British Crown Colony, 1836; became a state, 1901; included most of Northern Territory, 1863–1901; composed of seven statistical divisions; bordered S by the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean; largely desert, notably the Great Victoria Desert and Nullarbor Plain; fertile land in the SE corner irrigated by the Murray R; coastline dissected by the Spencer and St Vincent Gulfs; dry salt lakes inland (Eyre, Torrens, Gairdner, Frome); the Gawler Ranges in the S, Flinders and Mt Lofty Ranges in the E; highest point, Mt Woodroffe (1440 m/4724 ft); Murray R enters the ocean in the SE; Woomera Prohibited Area (weapons-testing range) extends across the Great Victoria Desert into Western Australia; 9600 km/6000 mi-long Dingo Fence protects S grazing sheep from wild dogs (possession of a dingo is illegal in this state); capital, Adelaide; principal towns Whyalla, Mount Gambier, Port Pirie, Port Augusta; wheat, barley, fruit, wool, meat, wine, oil refining, natural gas; copper, silver, lead mining; supplies 95% of world's opals; oranges and other citrus fruit in irrigated orchards along the Murray R; almost half of Australia's wine produced from the Barossa Valley N of Adelaide; state holidays Labour Day (Oct), Proclamation Day (Dec).

South Australia

(Flag) (Coat of Arms)
Emblems: Hairy-Nosed Wombat (faunal); Opal (gemstone)
Motto:
Slogan or Nickname: Festival State
Other Australian states and territories
Capital	Adelaide
Government	Const. Monarchy
Governor	Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
Premier	Mike Rann (ALP)
Federal representation
- House seats	11
- Senate seats	12
Gross State Product (2004-05)
- Product ($m)	$59,819 (5th)
- Product per capita	$38,838/person (7th)
Population (End of March 2005)
- Population	1,540,200 (5th)
- Density	1.57/km² (6th)
Area
- Total	1,043,514 km² (4th)
- Land	983,482 km²
- Water	60,032 km² (5.75%)
Elevation
- Highest	Mt. Woodroffe 1,435 m
- Lowest	Lake Eyre -16 m
Time zone	UTC+9:30 (+10:30 DST)
Abbreviations
- Postal	SA
- ISO 3166-2	AU-SA
Website	www.sa.gov.au

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. 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.

In 1834, the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act 1834, which enabled the province of South Australia to be established.

The flag of South Australia was adopted on January 13, 1904, and is a British blue ensign faced with the state badge.

South Australia has boundaries with every other Australian state and territory except the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. South Australia's south coast is flanked by the Southern Ocean.

Lowest minimum temperature: -8.2C (17.2F), Yongala, 20 July 1976

Economy

The manufacturing industry plays a very important role in South Australia's economy, generating 15% of the state's Gross State Product and playing a large part in exports. South Australia's economy relies on exports more than any other state in Australia.

South Australia's economic growth has lagged behind the rest of Australia for some time (2.1% from 2002 to 2003), but performance seems to be improving (4.3% from 2003 to 2004).

South Australia's economy is made of the following industries:

Services - 66.7% Manufacturing - 14.2% Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing - 4.5% Mining - 2.2% Other - 10.7%

Government

South Australia is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of Australia as the head of state.

Initially, the Governor of South Australia (the first was Captain John Hindmarsh) held almost total power that he derived from the Letters Patent created by the Imperial Government to create the colony.

In 1851, the Imperial Parliament enacted the Australian Colonies Government Act which allowed for the election of representatives to each of the colonial legislatures and the drafting of a Constitution to properly create representative and responsible Government in South Australia and later that year, wealthy male colonists were allowed to vote for 16 members on a new 24 seat Legislative Council. Catherine Helen Spence was the first woman in Australia to be a candidate for political office when she nominated to be one of South Australia's delegates to the constitutional conventions that drafted the Constitution. South Australia became an original state of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901.

There are three universities in South Australia: University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of South Australia.

Tertiary vocational education is provided by TAFE South Australia colleges throughout the state.

Sport

Australian rules football is the most popular sport in South Australia.

Notable places

Regions: Adelaide Hills Barossa Valley Clare Valley Eyre Peninsula Fleurieu Peninsula Flinders Ranges Limestone Coast Nullarbor Plain Riverland Yorke Peninsula Rivers: Cooper Creek Marne River Murray River Onkaparinga River Port River River Torrens

Lakes: Lake Albert Lake Alexandrina Lake Eyre Lake Frome Lake Gairdner Lake Torrens Islands: Granite Island Hindmarsh Island Kangaroo Island Neptune Island Nuyts Archipelago Flinders Island Pearson Isles

Main Highways: Barrier Highway Barossa Valley Highway Barrier Highway Dukes Highway Eyre Highway Flinders Highway Lincoln Highway Main North Road Mallee Highway Princes Highway Riddoch Highway Stuart Highway Sturt Highway