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Bible Encyclopedias
South Australia
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
A British colonial state, forming part of the Commonwealth of Australia. (For map, see Australia). It lies between 129° and 141° E. long., has Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria on the E., Western Australia on the W., and the Southern Ocean on the S. Originally its northern line was L26° S. lat.; by the addition of the Northern Territory the area was extended from 380,070 sq. m. to 903,690, and the northern border carried to the Indian Ocean; but by acts of 1910 this territory was made over to the federal government. It is, however, described below.
The southern coast-line shows two large gulfs, Spencer and St Vincent - the first 180 m. long, the other ioo. Spencer Gulf is open to the ocean, while St Vincent Gulf is partly shielded by Kangaroo Island, with Investigator Straits as its western and Backstairs Passage as its eastern entrance. Yorke Peninsula separates the two gulfs. Eyre's Peninsula is to the west of Spencer Gulf, and at its southern extremity are Port Lincoln, Sleaford Bay and Coffin's Bay, of which the first is the most important. Along the Great Australian Bight are several small bays, and the junction of South and Western Australia is on the Bight. Going eastward from the Gulf of St Vincent is Encounter Bay, through which there is an entrance to Lake Alexandrina, the mouth of the Murray river. The Coorong is the name giver to the narrow sheet of water, nearly 200 m. long, formed by the Murray and separated from the ocean by a very narrow strip of land. Lacepede and]Rivoli Bays are the only other important indentations of this coast. In Northern Territory are several important indentations, Melville, Adam, Arnheim and Raffles Bays, Van Diemen's Gulf, Port Essington and Port Darwin (lat. 12° S.). The Gulf of Carpentaria divides the territory from Cape Yorke Peninsula of Queensland, the more important inlets on the shore of the gulf in Northern Territory being Caledon Bay and Limmen Bight. The principal island belonging to South Australia is Kangaroo Island, situated at the mouth of the Gulf of St Vincent; it is also the longest Australian island, measuring 210 m. by 85 m. at its widest part. Off the north coast of Northern Territory are Melville and Bathurst Islands, the Wessel group, and Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Mountain ranges are not an important feature of the country, which, on the whole, is level where not slightly undulating. In the south of the state the principal ranges run north and south; the Mount Lofty range, beginning at Cape Jervis, runs parallel with St Vincent's Gulf and at one or two points touches 3000 ft., Mount Lofty, near Adelaide, having an elevation of 2330 ft. The Flinders range rises on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf and extends north for several hundred miles, terminating near the so-called Lake Blanche; there are in this range several isolated peaks which attain 3000 ft., the most prominent being Mt Remarkable, 3100 ft., Mt Brown, about the same height, and Mts Arden and Serle, about 3000 ft. The Gawler range, running across Eyre's Peninsula, south of the lakes, attains an elevation of about 2000 ft. at several points. Beyond Lake Torrens the ranges tend in the direction of north-west and afterwards east and westerly; and occasional summits reach 5000 ft. Northern Territory is traversed by several minor ranges, but the country has not been thoroughly explored and the heights and direction of the ranges have not been in all cases determined; no elevation above 2000 ft. has, however, been discovered.
South Australia is by no means a well-watered country, but there are some fine streams in the north of Northern Territory. In South Australia proper the Murray enters the sea at Lake Alexandrina, after having received the drainage of three states. The Torrens, Wakefield, Hindmarsh, Tuman and Gawler are unimportant streams; on the banks of the first named is situated the city of Adelaide. From Queensland flows the Barcoo, or Cooper's Creek, into Lake Eyre, which also receives the Macumba, with its tributary the Alberga, and several other rivers. These are rivers only when they are filled with the torrential rains of the interior, and for the most part are depressions destitute of water. Northern Territory is marked by an absence of water except at the extreme north, where there are several fine rivers, some of which are navigable for over too m.; the most noteworthy are: the Roper, flowing into Limmen Bight in the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Liverpool, the South Alligator, the Adelaide, the Daly and the Victoria. There are numerous lakes shown on the maps of South Australia, but none are permanent; they Lre depressions filled by the rivers in times of flood, but otherwise waterless or containing shallow pools of salt water. (T. A. C.) Geology. - South Australia may be divided geologically into four parts, the geology of each of which is so distinct that they may be conveniently considered apart. These divisions are (t) the Great Valley of South Australia and the adjacent highlands that border it, (2) the Lake Eyre Basin, (3) the Western Plateau, (4) the basin of the Lower Murray, with (5) the Northern Territory.
The western division consists of a plateau of Archean gneisses, granites and schists, which extend across Australia from the Eyre Peninsula on the south to the northern coasts on Port Darwin. In the south-western corner of the state the Archean plateau is separated from the Southern Ocean by the Cainozoic limestones of the Nullarbor plains, which extend from the shore of the Great Australian Bight to the foot of the great Victorian desert. Thence northward, the Archean rocks form the whole foundation of the country, until they end in a scarp, the " so-called coastal range," to the south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and in the exposures near Palmerston, on Port Darwin. This plateau bears occasional deposits of later age. The chief of these are the Ordovician rocks of the Macdonnell Chain; they there trend approximately west-northwest to east-south-east, and represent part of the old Lower Palaeozoic mountain chain, which appears to have once extended across Australia from Kimberley to Adelaide anti Tasmania. To the north-east of the Ordovician rocks of the Macdonnell Chain are the Cambrian deposits of Tempe Downs and the head of the Herbert river. Some Jurassic fresh-water deposits occur in basins on the plateau, having been proved by a bore, now being put down, in the hope of forming a flowing well at Lake Phillipson.
In contrast to the striking uniformity of the Western Plateau is the geological complexity of the part of South Australia known as " the Counties," including the settled districts in the south of the state around Spencer Gulf. The country is underlain by Archean and granitic rocks; they are exposed in the Gawler Range to the west, in the Archean outcrops near the New South Wales frontier, on the railway to Broken Hill, and at the foot of the highlands, along the western edge of the Murray basin. The highlands of South Australia consist mainly of contorted Lower Palaeozoic rocks, including the best representative in Australia of the Cambrian system. These Cambrian deposits, in addition to yielding a rich Cambrian fauna, contain a long belt of glacial deposits, the discovery of which is due to W. Howchin. These highlands form the whole of the mountainous country to the east of Lake Torrens; they extend southward to the highlands behind Adelaide, and form the axis of Kangaroo Island, while a branch from them forms the backbone of Yorke Peninsula. The highlands end to the north along a line running approximately east and west through Mt Babbage and the Willouran and Hergott ranges, to the south of Lake Eyre. The country to the west of Lake Torrens is a plateau, capped by the Lake Torrens Quartzites, which are apparently of Upper Palaeozoic age. This plateau has been separated from the South Australian highlands by the formation of the rift valley, in which lie Lake Torrens and Spencer Gulf. St Vincent Gulf occupies a foundered area between the Mount Lofty ranges, the Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. The south-eastern corner of South Australia is occupied by the basin of the Lower Murray, which in middle Cainozoic times was occupied by a sea, in which was laid down a thick series of marine sands and limestones. These rocks have yielded a rich fossil fauna from the cliffs beside the Murray. In the southern part of this district there is a western continuation of the basaltic sheets so conspicuous in Victoria. Some of them have been ejected from volcanoes, of which the vents are still well marked. The best extinct crater known is Mt Gambier.
The Lake Eyre basin occupies a vast depression to the north of the South Australian highlands; it is bounded to the west by a line of ridges and mountains of Archean and Lower Palaeozoic rocks, which connect the north-western end of the South Australian highlands with the mountains on the Archean plateau at the head of the Macumba and the Finke rivers. The Lake Eyre basin was occupied in Lower Cretaceous times by a sea, which extended southward from the Gulf of Carpentaria; and it appears to have been bounded to the south by the northern edge of the South Australian highlands. In this sea were laid down sheets of clays, known as the Rolling Downs formation. After the retreat of this sea the clays were covered by the Desert Sandstone, which has been cut up by denudation into isolated plateaux and tent-shaped hills. On the margin of the Desert Sandstone in Queensland there are some marine beds interstratified with the Desert Sandstone, and the fossils fix its age as Upper Cretaceous. The origin of the Desert Sandstone has given rise to considerable discussion; but it is no doubt in the main a terrestrial formation including some lake deposits. The surface is often converted into a vitreous quartzite by deposition of an efflorescent chert. Obsidian buttons are scattered over the central deserts, and have been regarded as of meteoric origin; they have also been considered proof of local volcanic action, but they have probably been scattered by the aborigines. Extensive estuarine deposits of Pliocene or early Pleistocene age, with a rich fauna of extinct marsupials and birds, occur on the plains to the east of Lake Eyre.
The Northern Territory includes the mountains of the Macdonnell Chain, and all the country thence to the northern coast. It consists of an Archean plateau, covered in places by Cambrian and Ordovician deposits. To the north of the Victoria river and the Roper River, the country rises into a high, dissected table-land of Archean rocks; but round the coast there is a coastal plain including PermoCarboniferous, Cretaceous and Cainozoic deposits. The Cretaceous deposits include ammonites of the varians type and a species of Aucella. The chief mineral product of South Australia is copper, the mines of which occur in Cambrian limestones along the western edge of the South Australian highlands at Moonta, Wallaroo and Burra Burra. Gold occurs in numerous small mines in the South Australian highlands; and also in the Western Plateau, as in the Tarcoola goldfield; and in the Northern Territory, in the Arltunga goldfield, at the eastern end of the Macdonnell chain. Gold and tin are scattered in the Arnheim Peninsula of the Northern Territory; but hitherto the gold-mines of South Australia have been less important than those of any other of the Australian states. The only coal deposits are those formed in lacustrine deposits of Jurassic age, as at Leigh's Creek, east of Lake Torrens, where they have been mined.
Most of the geological information regarding South Australia is scattered in a series of reports, mainly by H. Y. L. Brown, published in the parliamentary papers of South Australia. There are also numerous reports by R. Tate, W. Howchin, &c. in the Trans. R. Soc. S. Austral. The geology of the Macdonnell range is described in the reports of the Horn Expedition, and the fauna of Lake Callabonna in Memoirs issued by Stirling and Zeitz, published by the Royal Society of South Australia. The literature is catalogued in Gill's Bibliography of South Australia (Adelaide, 1885), and that of the Lake Eyre basin and its adjacent islands in J. W. Gregory, The Dead Heart of Australia (1906). The Miocene marine fauna has been catalogued last by Dennant and Kitson, Records Geol. Survey, Victoria (1905), No. II. (J. W. G.) Fauna.-South Australia is not separated from the neighbouring colonies by any natural boundaries; hence the fauna includes many animals which are also to be found in the land lying to the east and west. The northern half of the colony lies within the tropics, and possesses a tropical fauna, which is, however, practically identical with that of Northern Queensland. In spite of its immense extent north and south, and a corresponding diversity in climate, the colony is poorer in animal life than its neighbours. It possesses thirty-five genera of mammals. These include both genera of the order Monotremata - the Echidna, or spiny ant-eater, and the Ornithorhynchus, or duck-billed platypus, both of which are found also in Eastern Australia and Tasmania. The other order of Mammalia associated with Australia, the Marsupialia, is well represented in South Australia. It contains seven genera of Macropodidae or kangaroos, including the wallaby and kangaroo rat, four genera of Phalangistidae, or opossums, and five species of Dasyuridae, or " native cats." Two genera of this family are peculiar to the region - the Chaetocercus and the Antichinomys; the latter is found in the interior. It is a mouse-like animal with large ears, and is remarkable for the elongation of its fore-arm and hind-foot and for the complete absence of the hallux. The Phascolomys, or wombat, one of the largest of the marsupials, is also found in South Australia, and the curious Myrmecobius, or ant-eater of Western Australia. This remarkable animal is about the size of a squirrel; it possesses fifty-two teeth (a greater number than any known quadruped), and, unlike the other members of its order, the female has no pouch, the young hanging from nipples concealed amongst the hair of her abdomen. The Choeropus, with peculiarly slender limbs and a pouch opening backwards, is found in the interior. The remaining Mammalia consist of the dingo, or native dog, and a few species of Muridae, the mouse family, and Cheiroptera, or bats. There are about 700 species of birds, including 60 species of parrots. Of the 9 families peculiar to the Australian region, 5 are well represented, including the Meliphagidae (honey-suckers), Cacatuidae (cockatoos), Platycercidae (broad-tailed and grass parakeets), Megapodidae (mound-makers) and Casuaridae (cassowaries). The last-named family is represented by the Dromaeus, or emu, which is hunted in some parts of the colony. Reptiles are fairly represented: there are fifteen species of poisonous snakes. The lizards are very peculiar; South and Western Australia contain twelve peculiar genera. No tailed Amphibia exist in the continent, but frogs and toads are plentiful.
Flora
The plant species resemble those of the eastern colonies and Western .Australia, but are more .limited in variety. The colony, from its dryness, lacks a number known elsewhere. Enormous areas are almost destitute of forests or of timber trees. The Eucalyptus family, so valuable for timber and gum as well as for sanitary reasons, are fairly represented. Acacias are abundant, the bark of some being an article of commerce. Flinders range has much of the valuable sugar-gum, Eucalyptus Corynocalyx, which is being now preserved in forest reserves. Its timber is very hard and strong, not warping, resisting damp and ants. The head-flowered stringybark, Euc. capitellata, has a persistent bark. A sort of stringybark, Euc. tetrodonta, is found in Northern Territory. The gouty-stem tree ( Adansonia ) or monkey-bread of the north is a sort of baobab. About 500 northern plants are Indian. The Tamarindus indica occurs in Arnhem land, with native rice, rattans and wild nutmeg. The cedar is of the Indian variety. Pines are numerous in the south, palms in the north; among the most beautiful is the Kentia acuminata. Banksias are very common in sandy districts. Flowering shrubs are common in the south. There are 130 known grasses in Northern Territory.
Fisheries
Whaling` was formerly an important industry about Encounter Bay, as sealing was in Kangaroo Island. The whales have migrated and the seals are exterminated. On the northern side trepang or beche-de-mer fishery is carried on, and pearl fisheries have been established. Of fish within colonial waters there are forty-two peculiar genera. The tropical north has similar fish to those of north Queensland, while those of southern bays resemble many of the species of Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. There are the barracouta, bonito, bream, carp, catfish, rock cod and Murray cod, conger, crayfish, cuttle, dogfish, eel, flatfish, flathead, flounder, flying-fish, gadfish, grayling, gurnard, hake, John Dory, ray, salmon (so-called), schnapper, seahorse, shark, sole, squid, swordfish, whiting, &c. Though called by English names, the fish do not always correspond to those in Europe. The Murray cod is a noble fresh-water fish.
Climate
The climate of South Australia proper is, on the whole, extremely healthy, and in many respects' resembles that of southern Europe. In the south-eastern corner of the state the spring and winter seasons are most pleasant, and although the thermometer occasionally registers high in summer, the heat is dry and much more endurable than a much lesser heat in a moist climate. In the interior districts, however, the heat is sometimes very trying to Europeans. In Northern Territory the climate is of a tropical character, except on the table-lands where it is comparatively cool. Observation has determined the area of the state adapted by reason of seasonal rains to the growth of wheat, and in this area crops are almost certain; agriculture outside this area is, however, purely speculative. The average rainfall at Adelaide taken for a period of 52 years was 21.204 in. As the rain falls at seasonable times the quantity -is sufficient for cereal cultivation. The maximum shade temperature recorded at Adelaide Observatory in 1905 was 109.7 - the highest for any Australian city; the minimum was 34.8 and the mean temperature 61.1.
Population
The population of South Australia in 1860 was 124,112, and the province was third in importance among the states forming the Australasian group. In 1870 the population stood at 183,797, and in 1880 at 267,573; in 1890 it was 319,414; in 1901, 362,604; and at the end of 1905, 378,208. These figures are inclusive of the population of Northern Territory, the province of South Australia, properly so-called, containing 374,398 inhabitants, and Northern Territory, 3810, the respective density of the two divisions being one person per square mile and one per 128 sq. m. The estimated population of Adelaide in 1905 was 175,000. The number of males in 1905 was 197,487, and the females 180,721. The births in the same year were 8868 and the deaths 3804, representing 23.44 and 10.05 per 1000 of population respectively. The birth-rate has declined greatly.
Period. | Births per moo of Population. | Period. | Births per 1000 of Population. | 1861-1865 | 44'14 | 1886-1890 | 34'48 | 1866-1870 | 40.60 | 1891-1895 | 31.24 | 1871-1875 | 37.24 | 1896--1900 | 26.59 | 1876-1880 | 38.28 | 1900-1905 | 24.46 | 1881-1885 | 38.52 |
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