About South Australia:

South Australia is a state of Australia - located in the southern central part of the Australian continent, and comprises some of the most arid parts of the Australian continent... With a total land area of 984,377 square kilometers (380,070 square miles), it is the fourth largest of Australia's eight states and territories.

South Australia is bordered to the west by Western Australia, to the north by the Northern Territory, Queensland to the north east, New South Wales and Victoria, to the south east - and along the south by both the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean.

With a total of approximately 1.9 million residents, South Australia comprises less than 10% of the entire Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the states and territories. The majority of its people reside in the state capital, Adelaide - with most of the remainder settled in fertile areas along the south-eastern coast and River Murray.

The state's origins were unique in Australia as a freely-settled, planned British province rather than a convict settlement. Official settlement began on 28 December, 1836 when the state was proclaimed at The Old Gum Tree by Governor Hindmarsh. The guiding principle behind settlement was that of systematic colonization, a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon Wakefield that was later employed by the nation of New Zealand.

The aim was to establish the province as a center of civilization for free immigrants, promising civil liberties and religious tolerance. Although its history is marked by economic hardship, South Australia has remained politically innovative and culturally vibrant.

Today, the state is known as a state of festivals, and of fine wine.

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