Not getting government approval for a chartered colony, supporters then formed the South Australian Association in 1834, with a similar aim.

[1] The Duke of Wellington, Irish-born field marshal and statesman, and victor at Waterloo, has been credited with securing the passage of the Act through the House of Lords.

[5] The 1834 Act set out the conditions for the establishment of the Province of South Australia, and granted authority for this to be done by the action of the King at a later date.

[1] In February 1836 King William IV signed the Letters Patent, signalling the final action needed to establish the Province under this Act.

[2] This statement was subsequently modified slightly by the Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia in 1836, which acknowledged some rights and occupation by Aboriginal people.

The Act defined the province of South Australia as being "...that part of Australia which lies between the meridians of the one hundred and thirty-second and one hundred and forty-first degrees of east longitude, and between the southern ocean and the twenty-six degrees of south latitude, together with all and every the islands adjacent thereto, and the bays and gulphs".

[8] The money raised by the sale and leasing of land constituted what was called an Emigration Fund which was to be applied to the cost of conveying further immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, in equal proportions of men and women, under 30 years of age.

One method specifically prescribed in the Act was for the issuing of bonds under the seal of the Commissioners in two separate and distinct areas.

Firstly, they were able to issue what was named "South Australia public lands securities" up to a sum of 50,000 pounds.

The Commissioners were required to submit to Parliament once a year a full and detailed report of the proceedings in South Australia.

[2] The Act further specified that the Province was to be self-sufficient; £20,000 surety had to be raised and invested in the government securities or Exchequer bills, and £35,000 worth of land had to be sold in the new colony before any settlement was permitted.

Those first appointed, on 5 May 1835, were Colonel Robert Torrens (Chairman), Rowland Hill (Secretary), G. Barnes (Treasurer), George Fife Angas, Edward Barnard, William Hutt, J. G. Shaw-Lefevre, William Alexander Mackinnon M.P., Samuel Mills, Jacob Barrow Montefiore, Lt Col George Palmer, and John Wright, representing the Colonial Office.

[9] Robert Gouger was Colonial Secretary to the Commission,[11] John Hindmarsh was appointed Governor and William Light Surveyor-General.

It established a governing Council comprising the Governor, Chief Justice, Colonial Secretary, Advocate-General and the Resident Commissioner.

[15] This amendment to the original Act increased the governor's power, combining his office with that of the Resident Commissioner.