The British Parliament’s South Australia Act 1834 established South Australia as a convict-free colony.

The Act was intended to create a colony on the finest qualities of ‘British society’ without unemployment or religious discrimination.

A settlement was temporarily made on Kangaroo Island until the official site of the colony was selected in the area now known as Adelaide.

The first immigrants arrived in November 1836 and the colony was proclaimed on 28 December 1836, now known as Proclamation Day.

The Adelaide City Council, established in 1840, is the oldest municipal authority in Australia.

Image 1: The Proclamation of South Australia, Charles Hill (1836), Art Gallery of South Australia.

Image 2: The Letters Patent establishing the province of South Australia on 19 February 1836 (UK). The Patent included recognition of the rights of any Aboriginal natives or their descendants to the lands they actually occupied or enjoyed.