1. Blue background with yellow green and blue blow and dashed lines spiraling across the blue.

    Americans in South Australia

    The first Americans who arrived in South Australia were whalers and seal hunters. 

    Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1880s, late twentieth century, Second World War

  2. Auditor-General

    Independent auditing of Government is established in the position of the colonies first auditor general

    Historical Subject | By Brendan Moran | 1830s, 1840s, 1930s

  3. Image: crowds on jetty

    Beaches

    With their carnivals and regattas, bathing-beauty competitions, amusements, sea and sand, beaches were one of the key gathering places for South Australians from the 1870s to the 1950s. 

    Historical Subject | By Marie Boland | 1880s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s

  4. Image: View of Victoria Square showing motorcars, a motorbike rider and the electric trams navigating the flooded streets through Victoria Square in 1925

    Climate

    Climate was and still is an important factor in how and where South Australia first settled. 

    Historical Subject | By Peter Schwerdtfeger | 1800-1810, 1830s

  5. Colonial Laws Validity Act

    The powers of colonial legislatures to create courts, alter local constitutions and authenticate laws were confirmed by the British statute.

    Historical Subject | By Peter Moore | 1860s, 1930s

  6. Image: a man sits cross legged on a chair, holding a newspaper

    Elder Family

    Elder Family of Scots merchants and ship owners saw the infant South Australia as an opportunity to expand their business interests. Alexander Lang Elder (1815–1885), the pioneer, arrived in 1839 and established a trading business. 

    Historical Subject | By Carol Fort | North Terrace | 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s

  7. Image: A group of Caucasian men with film equipment observe a conversation between two other men, one of whom is elderly and dressed in Afghan attire

    Film

    In October 1896, within one year of the Lumière brothers’ first public screening of film in Paris, the first public film screening in South Australia occurred at the Theatre Royal in Hindley Street

    Historical Subject | By Dylan Walker | 1890s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010, 2010s

  8. Image: A tall gum tree stands near the bank of a river, which is visible in the distant background. The trunk of the tree is adorned with several small signs showing the year in which a major flood occurred and its water level height

    Floods

    Paradoxically, the only parts of South Australia to experience occasional serious disruption of by flooding are the far distant sparsely populated deserts around Lake Eyre

    Historical Subject | By CR Twidale, University of Adelaide | River Torrens | 1840s, 1860s, 1870s, 1890s, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, 2010s

  9. Image: man in formal regalia

    Freemasonry

    The first South Australian Freemasons lodge formed in England, before the colony of South Australia was settled. 

    Historical Subject | By David Hilliard | North Terrace | 1830s, 1840s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, late twentieth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

  10. Blue background with yellow green and blue blow and dashed lines spiraling across the blue.

    Germans in South Australia

    Germans have been arriving in South Australia since the beginnings of the new colony in 1836

    Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1860s, late nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

  11. Image: two men washing a large van

    Hawker Vans

    There is evidence that hawkers were active in Australia as early as the 1820s. 

    Historical Subject | By Michelle Toft, National Motor Museum | 1820s, 1830s, early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, mid nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

  12. Image: view from above of man amongst large pipes

    Improved sewerage system for Adelaide

    In 1881 Adelaide became the first Australian capital city to be connected to a water-borne sewerage system. 

    Historical Subject | By Corinne Ball, Migration Museum | 1870s, 1880s, 1890s

  13. Image: Seven bewigged and robed supreme court judges, seated and posing for photograph, 1915

    Legal Profession

    The evolving profession in South Australia retained some centuries-old practices.

    Historical Subject | By Peter Moore | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1900-1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1980s

  14. Blue background with yellow green and blue blow and dashed lines spiraling across the blue.

    Lithuanians in South Australia

    Lithuanian migrants came to South Australia as early as the 1840s, numbers expanded significantly following the Second World War. 

    Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1840s, 1930s, mid twentieth century

  15. Image: protesters on King William Street

    Radicalism

    Radicalism has been inherent in South Australian history from its founding as a free settlement.  Based upon the English radical liberal thought of its founders, the State's reputation grew as a progressive colony and the first to entirely separate church from state.

    Historical Subject | By Brendan Moran | 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1890s, 1900-1910, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s

  16. Image: two bumper stickers

    Refugees

    In general refugees have enriched and diversified South Australia’s religions, universities and schools, food, the arts, newspapers, clubs and sports.

    Historical Subject | By Kate Walsh | 1830s, 1840s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late nineteenth century, mid twentieth century

  17. Blue background with yellow green and blue blow and dashed lines spiraling across the blue.

    Slovaks in South Australia

    The first known Slovak to arrive in Australia was Brother Jakub Longa, a Jesuit, who was sent to Australia in 1888 to help found an Aboriginal mission at Daly Waters in the Northern Territory

    Historical Subject | By Migration Museum | 1880s, early twentieth century, early twenty–first century, late twentieth century, mid twentieth century

  18. Image: Printed document headed ’Proclamation’

    The Proclamation

    South Australia’s first vice-regal proclamation was read at Holdfast Bay on 28 December 1836

    Historical Subject | By Margaret Anderson, History Trust of South Australia | 1830s

  19. Torrens Title

    The Torrens title system for land ownership was inaugurated in South Australia  has led the world in the computerisation of real property title information.

    Historical Subject | By Peter Moore | 1830s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s

  20. Image: People walking and others fishing with hand rods from a wooden jetty

    Tourism

    The South Australian Tourism Commission, established in 1993, focuses on marketing South Australia as a tourist destination to interstate and overseas markets.

    Historical Subject | By Lyn Leader-Elliot | North Terrace, Parklands | 1880s, 1900-1910, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-2010