British colonisation of South Australia

Province of South Australia
British Colony
1836–1901
Flag (1876-1904)
Government
• Type	Self-governing colony (1836–1842); Crown colony (1842–1901)
Monarch
• 1834–1837	William IV first
• 1837–1901	Victoria last
Governor
• 1836–1838	John Hindmarsh first
• 1899–1901	Hallam Tennyson last
History
• Independence from the Colony of New South Wales	1836
• Federation of Australia	1901
Preceded by Succeeded by Colony of New South Wales South Australia

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Commission set up by the 1834 Act failed to achieve financial self-sufficiency, the South Australia Act 1842 repealed the earlier Act, made South Australia a Crown colony, provided for the formation of an appointed Legislative Assembly and passed greater powers to the Governor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.