SOUTH AUSTRALIA 



5454 



SOUTH AUSTRALIA 



stands many historic events occurred. It was 

 here that, according to tradition, Canute, the 

 Danish king of England, commanded the waves 

 to retire. From Southampton Henry V's army 

 embarked for France just before the battle of 

 Agincourt. Population in 1911, 119,012. 



SOUTH AUSTRALIA, awstra'lia, an agri- 

 cultural state of the British Commonwealth of 

 Australia, occupying 380,070 square miles in 

 the south-central part of the continent and 

 bordering on the Southern Ocean and the Great 

 Australian Bight 

 (see colored map, 

 following page 

 488). It is a 

 level or gently- 

 undulating plain, 

 broken by sev- 

 eral mountain 

 ranges. The 

 western plains are 



semi - arid and LOCATION MAP 



treeless, but the The shaded area to the 

 , , north is Northern Territory, 



mountain slopes W hich until 1911 was a part 

 are heavily of South Australia, 

 wooded with the eucalyptus, sugar gum and 

 Indian cedar. The coast is deeply indented 

 and penetrated by gulfs and bays. The largest 

 of these are Spencer and Saint Vincent's gulfs, 

 separated by Yorke's Peninsula. Eyre's Penin- 

 sula lies between Spencer Gulf and the Great 

 Australian Bight on the west. The Gulf of 

 Saint Vincent is partly enclosed by Kangaroo 

 Island, the longest island of Australia. There 

 are few rivers, the only stream of importance 

 being the Murray. The highlands are studded 

 with shallow lakes which are numerous but not 

 permanent. 



The climate, though hot, is healthful and 

 pleasant, as the average humidity is low. 

 Along the south coast and in the highlands 

 there is sufficient rainfall for agricultural pur- 

 poses, but in the interior the annual precipita- 

 tion is only from five to ten inches a year. 



People and Education. According to the cen- 

 sus of 1911 the population numbered 408,558; 

 in 1914 it was estimated to be 438,173. The 

 larger part of the inhabitants are of British or 

 Australian birth ; pther Europeans include Ger- 

 mans and Scandinavians, and there are also 

 several hundred Chinese. 



There is no state Church, and the Church of 

 England, though the largest denomination, has 

 proportionally a smaller following than in any 

 of the other Australian states. The other im- 

 portant religious bodies are the Roman Catho- 



lics, Congregationalists, Church of Christ and 

 Salvation Army. There are also Jewish tem- 

 ples and Mohammedan and Confucian shrines. 



Education is free, secular and compulsory. 

 Much attention has been given to agricultural 

 and technical training. Tree planting and na- 

 ture study have been encouraged by the 

 schools, and Arbor Day has been set aside as an 

 annual holiday. There is a university at Ade- 

 laide, and also a state training school for teach- 

 ers, a school of mines and an agricultural col- 

 lege. 



Industries. Agriculture is the chief occupa- 

 tion. Large crops of wheat, barley, oats, hay 

 and potatoes are raised in the south and east 

 sections. Fruits, especially grapes from which 

 quantities of wines are made, are extensively 

 grown. Pastoral lands are leased by the gov- 

 ernment for the grazing of live stock. South 

 Australia, however, is less devoted to pastoral 

 pursuits than the other large states of the Com- 

 monwealth, and miles of arid grasslands are 

 being converted into vineyards, orchards and 

 orange groves with the introduction of irriga- 

 tion, water for which is furnished by artesian 

 wells. The eastern mountain ranges produce 

 copper, gold, silver and other minerals, and 

 the first gold mine of Australia was in this 

 state. Manufactures are few and unimportant. 



Transportation and Commerce. Besides hav- 

 ing 2,000 miles of state railway, South Australia 

 is to be crossed by 450 miles of the Transconti- 

 nental Railroad which is to connect Brisbane 

 on the east coast of Queensland with Free- 

 mantle on the west coast of. the continent. 

 Adelaide, the capital and largest city, is a 

 great shipping center and is the third largest 

 port of Australasia. The exports include fresh 

 and dried fruits, wheat, flour, wool and copper. 



History and Government. The first colony in 

 this state was established near Adelaide by a 

 private English company in 1836. It later be- 

 came a Crown colony, but self-government was 

 restored in 1856 when the present constitution 

 was adopted. In 1901 South Australia joined 

 the Commonwealth, to which, ten years later, 

 it ceded the Northern Territory. 



The state governor, appointed by the Crown, 

 is assisted by an executive council of six minis- 

 ters and the justice of the supreme court. 

 There is a parliament, consisting of the legisla- 

 tive council and the house of assembly. The 

 former consists of twenty members elected for 

 six years by property owners, teachers, minis- 

 ters, etc. The lower house is composed of 

 forty-six members elected for three years by 



