Photos of Adelaide and south eastern South Australia

South Australia has a total land area of 983,482 km² and, with over 1.6 million people, less than 8% of the total Australian population. Most of its people live in the state capital, Adelaide, proclaimed one of the world’s most liveable cities. It was founded in 1836 and named in honour of Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of King William IV. The official settlement of South Australia began on 28 December 1836, when Governor John Hindmarsh proclaimed the colony. The first settlement to be established was Kingscote on Kangaroo Island in July 1836, five months before Adelaide was founded as the capital for free British settlers.

To the city’s south are attractive seashore suburbs, from Glenelg via Port Noarlunga to Aldinga Beach, and east is the Adelaide Hills, with verdant parklands, vineyards and forests with wildlife. There are attractive towns, like Strathalbyn, with its Gilberts Motor Museum, showcasing various classic cars and motorcycles. Another town in the Adelaide hills, Birdwood, houses the National Motor Museum, Australia’s most significant motor museum, with nearly 400 vehicles on display. Nearby is Gawler, the oldest country town on the Australian mainland.

The Murray River, Australia’s longest, enters South Australia from Victoria and flows past, among others, Loxton and Mannum on its way to the Great Australian Bight. Loxton has the wonderful Loxton Historical Village, an open-air museum telling the stories of pioneers who occupied the region between 1890 and 1950; it is set up as a village in the 1900s, with over 45 fully furnished buildings.