South Australia

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 km² (380 070 square miles). South Australia is known as both the Festival State and the Wine State and its capital is Adelaide. South Australia became a British province in 1836 and joined the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The state's population is approximately 1.53 million (2004). Most of those reside in the fertile coastal areas and in the valley of the Murray River.

Government

Main article: Government of South Australia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South Australia is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of Australia as the head of state. Its bicameral parliament is made up of a House of Assembly (lower house) and a Legislative Council (upper house). The current Premier of South Australia is Mike Rann, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Related Topics:
Constitutional monarchy - Head of state - Parliament - House of Assembly - Legislative Council - Premier of South Australia - Mike Rann - Australian Labor Party

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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. He was only accountable to the British Colonial Office and thus democracy did not exist in the colony. A new body was created to advise the Governor on the administration of South Australia was created in 1843 called the Legislative Council. It was made up of three representatives of the British Government and four colonists appointed by the Governor. The Governor retained total executive power.

Related Topics:
Captain John Hindmarsh - 1843

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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. Eight members continued to be appointed by the Governor.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The main responsibility of this body was to draft a Constitution for South Australia. The body drafted the most democratic constitution ever before seen in the British Empire and provided for manhood suffrage. It created the bicameral Parliament of South Australia and the two houses of parliament. For the first time in the colony, the executive was elected by the people and the colony used the Westminster system where the government is the party or coalition that exerts a majority in the House of Assembly. In 1894, South Australia was the first Australian colony to allow women to vote and it had the first Parliament in the world to allow women to be elected as members. Catherine Helen Spence was the first woman in the 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.

Related Topics:
Suffrage - Parliament of South Australia - Westminster system - 1894 - Catherine Helen Spence - 1 January - 1901

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The flag of South Australia was adopted on January 13, 1904; it is a British Blue Ensign faced with the state badge. The badge is described as a piping shrike with wings outstretched on a yellow disc. While the term piping shrike in scientific circles is unknown it is colloquially referred to as the piping shrike in South Australia. It's more widely accepted name is the Magpie-lark. The state badge is believed to have been designed by Robert Craig of the Adelaide School of Arts.

Related Topics:
January 13 - 1904 - Magpie-lark - Robert Craig - Adelaide School of Arts

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~