Adelaide

For other uses of the word "Adelaide" see Adelaide (disambiguation)

Adelaide is the capital city of the Australian state of South Australia. It is a coastal city on the Southern Ocean and was named in honour of Queen Adelaide, the consort of King William IV. It is situated near the middle of the curving eastern side of Gulf St. Vincent upon a fertile plain which rises gently from the coast to a curving line of hills located about 15km inland. The population is 1,072,585 (census 2001). In terms of population, it is the fifth-largest of the Australian capital cities.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Culture 3 Infrastructure 4 Economy 5 External link

History

South Australia was officially settled as a new British province on December 28, 1836 (commemorated as a public holiday, Proclamation Day) and the site of the new city was surveyed and laid-out by Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of South Australia. Light chose, not without opposition, a site on rising ground close to the River Torrens, which became the chief early water supply for the fledgling colony. "Light's Vision", as it has been termed, has meant that the initial design of Adelaide required little modification as the city grew and prospered. Usually in an older city, it would be necessary to accommodate larger roads and add parks, whereas Adelaide had them from the start.

Adelaide was established as the centre of a planned colony of free immigrants, promising freedom from religious persecution and civil liberties and as such does not share the convict history of other Australian cities, like Sydney and Hobart. Coincidental to that fact, the name Adelaide comes from the German words meaning “Noble Birth”.

Culture

Adelaide is referred to as the 'City Of Churches', although this is a reflection more on Adelaide's past than its present. Rumour has it that for every church that was built in Adelaide, a public house was also built to serve the less pious. Adelaide's cultural life flourished in the 1970s under the leadership of premier Don Dunstan, removing some of the more puritanical restrictions on cultural activities then prevalent around Australia. Now the city is home to events such as the Barossa Music Festival, the Adelaide Festival of Arts and the Fringe Festival, among others. Adelaide also hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix for 10 years ending in the late 1990s.

Much of the area around Adelaide was once used for wine grape production, so that large wine growing districts (such as the Barossa Valley, for which Adelaide and South Australia are well known) remain within a short drive of the city outskirts.

Adelaide is the home of two Australian Football League (Australia's own football code) teams: the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power. It is also the host of the annual Tour Down Under bicycle race and Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar Race.

Many prominent artists, bands and musicians come from Adelaide. They include film directors Scott Hicks and Rolf de Heer, Jimmy Barnes, John Farnham, The Mark of Cain, The Superjesus, Undertone, Guy Sebastian, Testeagles and Snap to Zero.

Famous people who grew up in Adelaide include Alexander Downer (Australian foreign minister), Sir Mark Oliphant (physicist and Governor of South Australia), Nobel Prize winner William Lawrence Bragg, Lleyton Hewitt (world champion tennis player), Ian, Greg and Trevor Chappell (cricket players) and Andy Thomas (astronaut).

Adelaide was also home to pioneer Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson and Australia's first woman judge, Dame Roma Mitchell.

The local daily newspaper is The Advertiser.

Infrastructure

The city is also home to the University of South Australia (UniSA), the University of Adelaide and the Flinders University, which are all well respected research and teaching institutions. Adelaide has a comprehensive public transport system, known as the Adelaide Metro. It includes the unique Adelaide O-Bahn.

Adelaide is the midpoint of the Indian Pacific railway to Perth and Sydney, as well as the terminus of the Overland to Melbourne and The Ghan via Alice Springs to Darwin. Adelaide is served by Adelaide International Airport.

Economy

Adelaide has large manufacturing and research centres. It contains car manufacturing plants for both General Motors Holden and Mitsubishi, as well as the major military research institution DSTO (the Defence Science and Technology Organisation) at Salisbury (a suburb 20kms north of the Adelaide City centre). Other industries include ore refining, defence, and electronic component production.

Adelaide is also the birthplace of News Corporation which expanded out of the former daily newspaper The News.

The collapse of the State Bank in 1992 resulted in huge levels of state debt, which have only recently been reduced. This has meant that successive governments have enacted lean budgets, cutting spending, which has been a large setback to the further development of the city and state.

External link

• City of Adelaide Homepage

Capital cities of Australia
ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Canberra	Sydney	Darwin	Brisbane	Adelaide	Hobart	Melbourne	Perth
Other Australian cities