Aboriginal Australians of various nations or tribes have lived in South Australia for at least thirty thousand years, while British colonists arrived in the 19th century to establish a free colony.

Meanwhile, European explorers went deep into the interior, discovering some pastoral land, but mainly large tracts of desert terrain.

[3] Temporary campsites in the Roxby dunefields have been dated to 19,000 years ago, and Aboriginal people have continuously occupied South Australian deserts since at least that time.

[4] Conservative estimates of the Aboriginal population of South Australia by the time of European contact are around 15,000 with a larger concentration in the southern part of the region.

[5] According to mitochondrial DNA research, Aboriginal people reached Eyre Peninsula 49,000-45,000 years ago from both the east (clockwise, along the coast, from northern Australia) and the west (anti-clockwise).

[9] For example, for the Ngarrindjeri of the lower Murray River, the ancestral hero Ngurunderi fashioned the physical world and gave the people their laws.

[11] The first Europeans to explore South Australia were the crew of a Dutch vessel, the Gulden Zeepaert, led by Captain François Thijssen in 1627.

[12] In 1801–02 Matthew Flinders led the first circumnavigation of Australia aboard HMS Investigator, a Royal Navy survey ship to verify that the eastern colony of New South Wales and the western land called New Holland were part of the same landmass.

[18] He wrote: Hurried …as my view of it was, my eye never fell on a country of more promising aspect, or of more favourable position, than that which occupies the space between the lake and the ranges of St. Vincent's Gulf, and, continuing northerly from Mount Barker, stretches away, without any visible boundary.Sturt recommended further examination of the area, and New South Wales Governor Ralph Darling sent Captain Collet Barker to carry out a survey of the area in 1831.

[21] Despite that, his more detailed survey led Sturt to conclude: …it would appear that a spot has, at length, been found upon the south coast of New Holland, to which the colonist might venture with every prospect of success, and in whose valleys the exile might hope to build for himself and for his family a peaceful and prosperous home.

All who have ever landed upon the eastern shore of St. Vincent's Gulf, agree as to the richness of its soil, and the abundance of its pasture.While travelling through the lower regions of the Murray, Sturt also wrote that he was surprised by the large number of Aboriginal Australians he encountered,[23] but the Aboriginal population of the region was struck by an epidemic at the same time as Sturt's expedition[24] (likely smallpox),[5] leading to a much smaller native population when colonists arrived seven years later.

[26] Gouger established the National Colonisation Society in February 1830, and although initially the proposal didn't attract much attention, after Sturt's discovery of the Murray River became public knowledge, its prospects were revived.

It was intended that free settlers would be attracted on the basis of freedom in the political, economic, civil and religious spheres, as well as opportunities for wealth through farming and commerce.

So that South Australia stood a better chance of being self-sufficient, a £20,000 surety had to be created and £35,000 worth of land was to be sold in the colony before any settlement occurred.

[31] The western and eastern boundary points were chosen as they marked the extent of coastline first surveyed by Matthew Flinders in 1802 (Nicolas Baudin's priority being ignored).

[29] In order to meet one of these obligations, pertaining to the sale of land, George Fife Angas created the South Australian Company, along with his banker, Raikes Currie.

He was required to find a site with a harbour, arable land, fresh water, ready internal and external communications, building materials and drainage.

Light rejected potential locations for the new main settlement, including Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln and Encounter Bay.

[38] Most of the settlers were moved from Kangaroo Island to Holdfast Bay with Governor Hindmarsh arriving on 28 December 1836 to proclaim the province of South Australia.

[38] The River Torrens was discovered to the south and Light and his team set about determining the city's precise location and layout.

The survey and sale of land, as well as migration arrangements and funding, were responsibilities of the Resident Commissioner,[40] so that the British Government could not interfere with the business affairs or freedom of religion of the settlers.

Land speculation, economic recession and inept administration combined to cause the Wakefield scheme to fail, and South Australia was spending far more than its revenue.

A punitive expedition authorised by Governor George Gawler and carried out by William Pullen and Major O'Halloran executed two alleged perpetrators.

Gold discoveries in Victoria in 1851 brought a severe labour shortage in Adelaide which was created by the exodus of workers leaving to seek their fortunes on the goldfields.

The Australian Colonies Government Act 1850 was a landmark development which granted representative constitutions to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania and the colonies enthusiastically set about writing constitutions which produced democratically progressive parliaments with the British monarch as the symbolic head of state.

An innovative secret ballot was introduced in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in 1856, in which the government supplied voting paper containing the names of candidates and voters could select in private.

Adelaide was not as badly hit as the larger gold-rush cities of Sydney and Melbourne, and silver and lead discoveries at Broken Hill provided some relief.

[citation needed] South Australia's 1856 constitution was among the most democratic in the world – more so than the other Australian colonies, the United Kingdom and most European countries at that time.

[70] With US assistance, Wresat 1, the first Australian satellite, was launched from Woomera, in November 1967 – a joint project of the Weapons Research Establishment and the University of Adelaide.

[71] Rocket launches largely ceased from the early 1970s, though some space related activity has continued into the 21st century and the base is now controlled by the Royal Australian Airforce.