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84-506: A similar approach was adopted by McArthur for grassland areas. Luke and McArthur details the early development and use of these indices. In 1980 Noble et al. produced algorithms based on mathematical equations of best fit. These algorithms have been used since the early 1980s to enable easy computation. However they are often used with input values outside McArthur's intended design, resulting in FFDI values in excess of 100. The power function nature of

168-659: A Learning City . The number of international students studying in Adelaide has increased rapidly in recent years to 30,726 in 2015, of which 1,824 were secondary school students. Foreign institutions have been attracted to set up campuses to increase its attractiveness as an education hub. Adelaide is the birthplace of three Nobel laureates, more than any other Australian city : physicist William Lawrence Bragg and pathologists Howard Florey and Robin Warren , all of whom completed secondary and tertiary education at St Peter's College and

252-561: A consequence of Judge Stretton's scathing report, the Forests Commission Victoria gained additional funding and took responsibility for fire protection on all public land including State forests, unoccupied Crown Lands and National Parks, plus a buffer extending one mile beyond their boundaries on to private land. Its responsibilities grew in one leap from 2.4 to 6.5 million hectares (5.9 to 16.1 million acres). Stretton's recommendations officially sanctioned and encouraged

336-413: A four-yearly basis, are responsible for local roads and stormwater management, waste collection, planning and development, fire prevention and hazard management, dog and cat management and control, parking control, public health and food inspections, and other services for their local communities. Councils have the power to raise revenue for their activities, which is mostly achieved through "council rates",

420-723: A tax based on property valuations. Council rates make up about 70% of council revenue, but account for less than 4% of total taxes paid by Australians. As at December 2021 the population of South Australia was 1,806,599. A majority of the state's population lives within Greater Adelaide 's metropolitan area which had an estimated population of 1,333,927 in June 2017. Other significant population centres include Mount Gambier (29,505), Victor Harbor - Goolwa (26,334), Whyalla (21,976), Murray Bridge (18,452), Port Lincoln (16,281), Port Pirie (14,267), and Port Augusta (13,957). At

504-653: A temporary settlement at Kingscote , Kangaroo Island , on 26 July 1836, five months before Adelaide was founded. The guiding principle behind settlement was that of systematic colonisation , a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon Wakefield that was later employed by the New Zealand Company . The goal was to establish the province as a centre of civilisation for free immigrants, promising civil liberties and religious tolerance. Although its history has been marked by periods of economic hardship, South Australia has remained politically innovative and culturally vibrant. Today, it

588-514: A very dry six months. In the days preceding the fires, the Victorian state capital, Melbourne, experienced some of its hottest temperatures on record at the time: 43.8 °C (110.8 °F) on 8 January and 44.7 °C (112.5 °F) on 10 January. On 13 January, the day of the fires, temperatures reached 45.6 °C (114.1 °F), which stood as the hottest day officially recorded in Melbourne for

672-432: Is a state in the southern central part of Australia . With a total land area of 984,321 square kilometres (380,048 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which includes some of the most arid parts of the continent, and with 1.8 million people it is the fifth-largest of the states and territories by population. This population is the second-most highly centralised in

756-472: Is also the world's fourth-largest remaining copper deposit, and the world's fifth largest gold deposit. There was a proposal to vastly expand the operations of the mine, making it the largest open-cut mine in the world, but in 2012 the BHP Billiton board decided not to go ahead with it at that time due to then lower commodity prices. The remote town of Coober Pedy produces more opal than anywhere else in

840-582: Is flanked by the Southern Ocean , but official international consensus defines the Southern Ocean as extending north from the pole only to 60°S or 55°S, at least 17 degrees of latitude further south than the most southern point of South Australia. Thus the south coast is officially adjacent to the south-most portion of the Indian Ocean. See Southern Ocean: Existence and definitions . The southern part of

924-582: Is known for its fine wine and numerous cultural festivals. The state's economy is dominated by the agricultural, manufacturing and mining industries. Evidence of human activity in South Australia dates back as far as 20,000 years, with flint mining activity and rock art in the Koonalda Cave on the Nullarbor Plain . In addition wooden spears and tools were made in an area now covered in peat bog in

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1008-547: Is the Mount Lofty - Flinders Ranges system, which extends north about 800 kilometres (500 mi) from Cape Jervis to the northern end of Lake Torrens . The highest point in the state is not in those ranges; Mount Woodroffe (1,435 metres (4,708 ft)) is in the Musgrave Ranges in the extreme northwest of the state. The south-western portion of the state consists of the sparsely inhabited Nullarbor Plain , fronted by

1092-710: The Adelaide Hills . Tomatoes , capsicums , cucumbers , brassicas , lettuce and carrots are grown on the Northern Adelaide Plains at Virginia . Almonds , citrus and stone fruit are grown in the Riverland . Potatoes , onions and carrots are grown in the Murray Mallee region. Potatoes are grown on Kangaroo Island . South Australia produces more than half of all Australian wine, including almost 80% of Australia's premium wines. South Australia has

1176-767: The Dutch ship the Gulden Zeepaert , captained by François Thijssen , examined and mapped a section of the coastline as far east as the Nuyts Archipelago . Thijssen named the whole of the country eastward of the Leeuwin "Nuyts Land", after a distinguished passenger on board; the Hon. Pieter Nuyts , one of the Councillors of India . The coastline of South Australia was first mapped by Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin in 1802, excepting

1260-656: The Governor of South Australia as his representative. It is a state of the Commonwealth of Australia . The bicameral Parliament of South Australia consists of the lower house known as the House of Assembly and the upper house known as the Legislative Council . General elections are held every four years, the last being the 2022 election . Initially, the Governor of South Australia held almost total power, derived from

1344-569: The Hornsdale Wind Farm in South Australia's Mid-North region. At the time of construction in late 2017, it was billed as the largest lithium-ion battery in the world. The Olympic Dam mine near Roxby Downs in northern South Australia is the largest deposit of uranium in the world, possessing more than a third of the world's low-cost recoverable reserves and 70% of Australia's. The mine, owned and operated by BHP , presently accounts for 9% of global uranium production. The Olympic Dam mine

1428-566: The Mornington Peninsula . The major fires, listed roughly in order of size, included; The subsequent Royal Commission, under Judge Leonard Edward Bishop Stretton (known as the Stretton Inquiry), attributed blame for the fires to careless burning, campfires, graziers, sawmillers and land clearing. Prior to 13 January 1939, many fires were already burning. Some of the fires started as early as December 1938, but most of them started in

1512-699: The Riverland and the Adelaide Hills . See South Australian wine . South Australia has boundaries with every other Australian mainland state and territory except the Australian Capital Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory . The Western Australia border has a history involving the South Australian government astronomer, G.F. Dodwell, and the Western Australian Government Astronomer , H.B. Curlewis , marking

1596-473: The South Australia Act 1834 ( Foundation Act ), which empowered His Majesty to erect and establish a province or provinces in southern Australia. The act stated that the land between 132° and 141° east longitude and from 26° south latitude to the southern ocean would be allotted to the intended colony, and it would be convict-free. In contrast to the rest of Australia, terra nullius did not apply to

1680-511: The University of Adelaide . Adelaide is home to research institutes, including the Royal Institution of Australia , established in 2009 as a counterpart to the two-hundred-year-old Royal Institution of Great Britain. Most of the research organisations are clustered in the Adelaide metropolitan area: South Australia is a constitutional monarchy with King Charles III as sovereign, and

1764-509: The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires . Fires burned almost 2,000,000 hectares (4,900,000 acres) of land in Victoria, where 71 people were killed, and several towns were entirely obliterated. Over 1,300 homes and 69 sawmills were burned, and 3,700 buildings were destroyed or damaged. In response, the Victorian state government convened a Royal Commission that resulted in major changes in forest management. The Royal Commission noted that "it appeared

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1848-534: The 2016 census, 78.2% of the population spoke only English at home. The other languages most commonly spoken at home were Italian (1.7%), Standard Mandarin (1.7%), Greek (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.1%), and Cantonese (0.6%). At the 2016 census , overall 53.9% of responses identified some variant of Christianity . 9% of respondents chose not to state a religion. The most commonly nominated responses were 'No Religion' (35.4%), Catholicism (18%), Anglicanism (10%) and Uniting Church (7.1%). South Australia

1932-417: The 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were: 28.9% of the population was born overseas at the 2016 census. The five largest groups of overseas-born were from England (5.8%), India (1.6%), China (1.5%), Italy (1.1%) and Vietnam (0.9%). 2% of the population, or 34,184 people, identified as Indigenous Australians ( Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders ) in 2016. At

2016-572: The 2020–21 financial year. This was the first time since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began collecting data in 1990 that South Australia had outperformed the other states. The recovery was driven in part by growth in the agricultural sector, which increased its production by almost 24% thanks to the end of a drought. Wheat , barley , oats , rye , peas , beans , chickpeas , lentils and canola are grown in South Australia. Apples , pears , cherries and strawberries are grown in

2100-543: The Australian Capital Territory as the climax to the terrible heatwave: Sydney faced record heat and was ringed to the north, south and west by bushfires from Palm Beach and Port Hacking to the Blue Mountains, with fires blazing at Castle Hill, Sylvania, Cronulla and French's Forest. Disastrous fires were reported at Penrose, Wollongong, Nowra, Bathurst, Ulludulla, Mittagong, Trunkey and Nelligen. Canberra

2184-566: The Black Forest. Large areas of state forest, containing giant stands of Mountain Ash and other valuable timbers, were killed. Approximately 575,000 hectares of reserved forest, and 780,000 hectares of forested Crown land were burned. The intensity of the fire produced huge amounts of smoke and ash, with reports of ash falling as far away as New Zealand". There were five major fire areas. Smaller fires included; East Gippsland , Mount Macedon , Mallee and

2268-695: The Black Saturday bushfires, the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index was revised. The category "Catastrophic" was added to help identify those situations where fires will spread so quickly that they present a critical threat to life and safety. Black Friday (1939) The Black Friday bushfires of 13 January 1939, in Victoria , Australia , were part of the devastating 1938–1939 bushfire season in Australia, which saw bushfires burning for

2352-591: The City of Adelaide is currently located. The first immigrants arrived at Holdfast Bay (near the present day Glenelg ) in November 1836. The commencement of colonial government was proclaimed on 28 December 1836, now known as Proclamation Day . South Australia is the only Australian state to have never received British convicts. Another free settlement, Swan River colony was established in 1829 but Western Australia later sought convict labour, and in 1849 Western Australia

2436-495: The Commissions radio network VL3AA to ground observers. The Commission's communication systems were regarded at the time as being more technically advanced than those of the police and the military. These pioneering efforts were directed by Geoff Weste. Victoria's forests were devastated to an extent that was unprecedented within living memory, and the impact of the 1939 bushfires dominated management thought and action for much of

2520-574: The Imperial Parliament enacted the Australian Colonies Government Act , which allowed for the election of representatives to each of the colonial legislatures and the drafting of a constitution to properly create representative and responsible government in South Australia. Later that year, propertied male colonists were allowed to vote for 16 members on a new 24 seat Legislative Council. Eight members continued to be appointed by

2604-462: The South East. Kangaroo Island was inhabited long before the island was cut off by rising sea levels . 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). The first recorded European sighting of the South Australian coast was in 1627 when

McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-407: The algorithm, together with limits of precision in measuring the input variables, may result in a large range of uncertainty in the calculated FFDI. For example, in conditions that produce an FFDI of 100, small fluctuations in wind speed and temperature would suggest a ± 20% range in FFDI. McArthur tested his meter using low-intensity fires on Black Mountain, near Canberra (see Luke and McArthur) with

2772-501: The border on the ground in the 1920s. In 1863, that part of New South Wales to the north of South Australia was annexed to South Australia, by letters patent, as the "Northern Territory of South Australia", which became shortened to the Northern Territory on 6 July 1863 . The Northern Territory was handed to the federal government in 1911 and became a separate territory. According to Australian maps, South Australia's south coast

2856-467: The bush were worried by the dry conditions, but "had not lived long enough" to imagine what was to come: " the most disastrous forest calamity the State of Victoria has known." Fires had been burning separately across Victoria through December, but reached a new intensity and "joined forces in a terrible confluence of flame...". on Friday, 13 January. The most damage was felt in the mountain and alpine areas in

2940-407: The bushfires of 13 January 1939: "[F]lames leapt large distances, giant trees were blown out of the ground by fierce winds and large pieces of burning bark (embers) were carried for kilometres ahead of the main fire front, starting new fires in places that had not previously been affected by flames... The townships of Warrandyte, Yarra Glen, Omeo and Pomonal were badly damaged. Intense fires burned on

3024-604: The cliffs of the Great Australian Bight . Features of the coast include Spencer Gulf and the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas that surround it. The Temperate Grassland of South Australia is situated to the east of Gulf St Vincent . The principal industries and exports of South Australia are wheat, wine and wool. More than half of Australia's wines are produced in the South Australian wine regions which principally include Barossa Valley , Clare Valley , McLaren Vale , Coonawarra ,

3108-469: The colony of New South Wales . Although the new colony included almost two-thirds of the continent, early settlements were all on the eastern coast and only a few intrepid explorers ventured this far west. It took more than forty years before any serious proposal to establish settlements in the south-western portion of New South Wales were put forward. On 15 August 1834, the British Parliament passed

3192-433: The common bush practice of controlled burning to minimise future risks. Its recommendations led to sweeping changes, including stringent regulation of burning and fire safety measures for sawmills, grazing licensees and the general public, the compulsory construction of dugouts at forest sawmills, increasing the forest roads network and firebreaks, construction of forest dams, fire towers and RAAF aerial patrols linked by

3276-581: The community and enforce government regulations. Their principal role was to run the first temporary gaol, a two-room hut. The current flag of South Australia was adopted on 13 January 1904, and is a British blue ensign defaced with the state badge. The badge is described as a piping shrike with wings outstretched on a yellow disc. The state badge is believed to have been designed by Robert Craig of Adelaide's School of Design . The terrain consists largely of arid and semi-arid rangelands, with several low mountain ranges . The most important (but not tallest)

3360-511: The creation of the CFA the Forests Commission had, to some extent, been supporting the individual volunteer brigades that had formed across rural Victoria in the preceding decades. The environmental effects of the fires continued for many years and some of the burnt dead trees still remain today. Large areas of animal habitat were destroyed. In affected areas, the soil took decades to recover from

3444-403: The damage of the fires. In some areas, water supplies were contaminated for some years afterwards due to ash and debris washing into catchment areas. Other states also suffered severely in the extreme heat and fires. In New South Wales, Bourke suffered 37 consecutive days above 38 °C (100 °F) and Menindee hit a record 49.7 °C (121.5 °F) on 10 January. In mid-January, Sydney

McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-873: The death toll had reached more than sixty. In South Australia , the Adelaide Hills bushfires also swept the state, destroying dozens of buildings. Internationally, south-eastern Australia is considered one of the three most fire-prone landscapes on Earth, along with southern California and the southern Mediterranean. Major Victorian bushfires occurred on Black Thursday in 1851, where an estimated 5 million hectares (12 million acres) were burnt, followed by another blaze on Red Tuesday in February 1898 in South Gippsland when about 260,000 hectares (640,000 acres) were burnt, 12 people died and more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed. The deadly pattern continued with more major fires on Black Sunday on 14 February 1926 sees

3612-556: The establishment of their whale and seal fisheries, the South Australian Company sought, and obtained, the Commissioners' permission to send Company ships to South Australia, in advance of the surveys and ahead of the Commissioners' colonists. The company's settlement of seven vessels and 636 people was temporarily made at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, until the official site of the capital was selected by William Light, where

3696-479: The first in the world to allow women to stand for election. In 1897 Catherine Helen Spence was the first woman in Australia to be a candidate for political office when she was nominated to be one of South Australia's delegates to the conventions that drafted the constitution. South Australia became an original state of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Although the lower house had universal suffrage,

3780-446: The first week of January 1939. Some of these fires could not be extinguished. Others were left unattended or, as Judge Stretton wrote, the fires were allowed to burn "under control", as it was falsely and dangerously called. Stretton declared that most of the fires were lit by the "hand of man". Stretton's Royal Commission has been described as one of the most significant inquiries in the history of Victorian public administration. As

3864-497: The government is the party or coalition that exerts a majority in the House of Assembly. The Legislative Council remained a predominantly conservative chamber elected by property owners. Women's suffrage in Australia took a leap forward – enacted in 1895 and taking effect from the 1896 colonial election , South Australia was the first government in Australia and only the second in the world after New Zealand to allow women to vote, and

3948-526: The governor. The main responsibility of this body was to draft a constitution for South Australia. The body drafted the most democratic constitution ever seen in the British Empire and provided for universal manhood suffrage . It created the bicameral Parliament of South Australia . For the first time in the colony, the executive was elected by the people, and the colony used the Westminster system , where

4032-399: The index is generally considered a "high" degree of danger, while a day having a danger index of over 50 is considered a "severe" fire danger rating. Above this level in 2010 a distinction was made between forest and grassland fuels. For forest fuels, an FDI over 75 is categorised as "extreme" and over 100 as "catastrophic" (Victoria does not use the term "Catastrophic" but uses other factors on

4116-603: The inlet later named the Port Adelaide River which was first discovered in 1831 by Captain Collet Barker and later accurately charted in 1836–37 by Colonel William Light , leader of the South Australian Colonization Commissioners' 'First Expedition' and first Surveyor-General of South Australia. The land which now forms the state of South Australia was claimed for Britain in 1788 as part of

4200-403: The lead over other Australian states for its commercialisation and commitment to renewable energy . It is now the leading producer of wind power in Australia. Renewable energy is a growing source of electricity in South Australia, and there is potential for growth from this particular industry of the state's economy. The Hornsdale Power Reserve is a bank of grid-connected batteries adjacent to

4284-456: The least amount of federal funding for its local road network of all states on a per capita and a per kilometre basis. During 2019-20: South Australia's gross state product (GSP) fell 1.4% in chain volume (real) terms (nationally, gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3%). South Australia came out of the COVID-19 recession better than the other Australian states, with the economy growing by 3.9% in

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4368-656: The letters patent of the imperial government to create the colony. He was accountable only to the British Colonial Office , and thus democracy did not exist in the colony. A new body was created to advise the governor on the administration of South Australia in 1843 called the Legislative Council. It consisted of three representatives of the British Government and four colonists appointed by the governor. The governor retained total executive power. In 1851,

4452-479: The likelihood of lightning ignitions and the severity of wind changes may also be considered by the agencies in determining a fire danger rating. McArthur used the conditions of the Black Friday fires of 1939 as his example of a 100 index. The FFDI on Black Saturday , 7 February 2009, reached much higher than the maximum value of 100. At such extremes it is meaningless to specify a particular value of FFDI. After

4536-469: The logs were harvested and stockpiled in huge dumps in creek beds and covered with soil and treeferns to stop them from cracking, only to be recovered many years later. Further major fires later in the 1943–44 Victorian bushfire season and another Royal Commission by Judge Stretton were key factors in the founding of the Country Fire Authority (CFA) for fire suppression on rural land. Prior to

4620-510: The most extreme conditions being when FFDI was in the 20s range. McArthur specified a wind averaging period of "more than 5 minutes". A 10-minute period is the most common period used in Australian wind speed measurements and calculated FFDI values using different wind averaging periods cannot be compared. Since wind speed varies considerably over small distances, "observed" FFDI values will vary even more. A fire danger index of between 12 and 25 on

4704-485: The nation after Western Australia , with more than 77% of South Australians living in the capital Adelaide or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier , the second-largest centre, has a population of 26,878. South Australia shares borders with all the other mainland states. It is bordered to the west by Western Australia , to the north by the Northern Territory , to

4788-657: The new province. The Letters Patent , which used the enabling provisions of the South Australia Act 1834 to fix the boundaries of the Province of South Australia, provided that "nothing in those our Letters Patent shall affect or be construed to affect the rights of any Aboriginal Natives of the said Province to the actual occupation and enjoyment in their own Persons or in the Persons of their Descendants of any Lands therein now actually occupied or enjoyed by such Natives." Although

4872-516: The next 70 years. (Unofficial records show temperatures of around 47 °C (117 °F) were reported on the Black Thursday fires of 6 February 1851). The subsequent Victorian Royal Commission investigation of the fires recorded that Victoria had not seen such dry conditions for more than two decades, and its rich plains lay "bare and baking; and the forest, from the foothills to the alpine heights, were tinder". The people who made their lives in

4956-478: The next ten years. Salvage of fire-killed timber became an urgent and dominant task that was still consuming the resources and efforts of the Forests Commission a decade and a half later. It was estimated that over 6 million cubic meters of timber needed to be salvaged. This massive task was made more difficult by labour shortages caused by the Second World War. In fact, there was so much material that some of

5040-408: The north-east by Queensland , to the east by New South Wales , to the south-east by Victoria , and to the south by the Great Australian Bight . The state comprises less than 8% of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the six states and two territories. The majority of its people reside in greater Metropolitan Adelaide. Most of the remainder are settled in fertile areas along

5124-618: The northeast and around the southwest coast. The Acheron, Tanjil and Thomson Valleys and the Grampians , were also hit. Five townships – Hill End , Narbethong , Nayook West , Noojee (apart from the Hotel), Woods Point – were completely destroyed and not all were rebuilt afterwards. The towns of Omeo , Pomonal , Warrandyte (though this is now a suburb of Melbourne, it was not in 1939) and Yarra Glen were also badly damaged. The Stretton Royal Commission wrote: "On [13 January] it appeared that

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5208-519: The patent guaranteed land rights under force of law for the indigenous inhabitants, it was ignored by the South Australian Company authorities and squatters. Despite strong reference to the rights of the native population in the initial proclamation by the Governor, there were many conflicts and deaths in the Australian Frontier Wars in South Australia. Survey was required before settlement of

5292-470: The province, and the Colonization Commissioners for South Australia appointed William Light as the leader of its 'First Expedition', tasked with examining 1500 miles of the South Australian coastline and selecting the best site for the capital, and with then planning and surveying the site of the city into one-acre Town Sections and its surrounds into 134-acre Country Sections. Eager to commence

5376-462: The soil, their upper surfaces flush with the ground, were burnt through... Where the fire was most intense the soil was burnt to such a depth that it may be many years before it shall have been restored..." An area of almost two million hectares (four point nine million acres) burned, 71 people killed, and whole townships wiped out, along with many sawmills and thousands of sheep, cattle and horses. According to Forest Management Victoria, during

5460-528: The south-eastern coast and River Murray . The state's colonial origins are unique in Australia as a freely settled, planned British province , rather than as a convict settlement. Colonial government commenced on 28 December 1836, when the members of the council were sworn in near the Old Gum Tree . As with the rest of the continent, the region has a long history of human occupation by numerous tribes and languages. The South Australian Company established

5544-538: The state has a Mediterranean climate , while the rest of the state has either an arid or semi-arid climate . South Australia's main temperature range is 29 °C (84 °F) in January and 15 °C (59 °F) in July. The highest maximum temperature ever recorded was 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) at Oodnadatta on 2 January 1960, which is the highest official temperature recorded in Australia. The lowest minimum temperature

5628-578: The state's upper house with the balance of power controlled by a variety of minor parties and independents. Local government in South Australia is established by the Constitution Act 1934 (SA), the Local Government Act 1999 (SA), and the Local Government (Elections) Act 1999 (SA). South Australia contains 68 councils and 6 Aboriginal and outback communities . Local councils, elected on

5712-427: The tally rise to sixty lives being lost and widespread damage to farms, homes and forests. Considered in terms of both loss of property and loss of life the 1939 fires were one of the worst disasters, and certainly the worst bushfire event, to have occurred in Australia up to that time. Only the subsequent Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983 and the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 resulted in more deaths. In terms of

5796-422: The total area burnt, the 1974–75 fires burned 117 million hectares (290 million acres ), equivalent to 15% of Australia's land.; the Black Friday fires burned up 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres), with the Black Thursday fires of 1851 having burnt an estimated 5 million hectares (12 million acres). South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA )

5880-423: The upper house, the Legislative Council, remained the exclusive domain of property owners until the Labor government of Don Dunstan managed to achieve reform of the chamber in 1973. Property qualifications were removed and the Council became a body elected via proportional representation by a single state-wide electorate. Since the following 1975 South Australian state election , no one party has had control of

5964-452: The urban fringe of Melbourne in the Yarra Ranges east of Melbourne, affecting towns including Toolangi, Warburton and Thomson Valley. The alpine towns of Bright, Cudgewa and Corryong were also affected, as were vast areas in the west of the state, in particular Portland, the Otway Ranges and the Grampians. The bushfires also affected the Black Range, Rubicon, Acheron, Noojee, Tanjil Bren, Hill End, Woods Point, Matlock, Erica, Omeo, Toombullup and

6048-456: The whole State was alight on Friday, 13 January 1939". New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory also faced severe fires during the 1939 season. Destructive fires burned from the NSW South Coast , across the ranges and inland to Bathurst , while Sydney was ringed by fires which entered the outer suburbs, and fires raged towards the new capital at Canberra . South Australia

6132-419: The whole State was alight. At midday, in many places, it was dark as night. Men carrying hurricane lamps, worked to make safe their families and belongings. Travellers on the highways were trapped by fires or blazing fallen trees, and perished. Throughout the land there was daytime darkness... Steel girders and machinery were twisted by heat as if they had been of fine wire. Sleepers of heavy durable timber, set in

6216-411: The whole summer, and ash falling as far away as New Zealand . It was calculated that three-quarters of the State of Victoria was directly or indirectly affected by the disaster, while other Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory were also badly hit by fires and extreme heat. This was the third-deadliest bushfire event in Australian history, only behind the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires and

6300-447: The world. Opal was first discovered near the town in 1915, and the town became the site of an opal rush, enticing immigrants from southern and eastern Europe in the aftermath of World War II . Higher education and research in Adelaide forms an important part of South Australia's economy. The South Australian Government and educational institutions have attempted to position Adelaide as Australia's education hub and have marketed it as

6384-579: The worst fire days to declare a "Code Red" period ). For grassland fuels the threshold FDI values for the Extreme and Catastrophic ratings were increased to 100 and 150 respectively. Fire danger ratings are determined by the responsible fire agency in each jurisdiction, based on weather information provided by the Bureau of Meteorology and fuel information. Other considerations besides the Fire Danger Index, such as

6468-401: Was also struck by the Adelaide Hills bushfires . Eastern Australia is one of the most fire-prone regions of the world, with predominant eucalypt forests that have evolved to thrive on the phenomenon of bushfire. However, the 1938-9 bushfire season was exacerbated by a period of extreme heat, following several years of drought. Extreme heatwaves were accompanied by strong northerly winds, after

6552-527: Was facing the "worst bushfires" it had experienced, with thousands of acres burned out and a 72-kilometre (45 mi) fire front was driven towards the city by a south westerly gale, destroying pine plantations and many homesteads, and threatening Mount Stromlo Observatory , Government House , and Black Mountain . Large numbers of men were sent to stand by government buildings in the line of fire. While five deaths in New South Wales were reported, in Victoria

6636-492: Was formally constituted as a penal colony. Although South Australia was constituted such that convicts could never be transported to the Province, some emancipated or escaped convicts or expirees made their own way there, both prior to 1836, or later, and may have constituted 1–2% of the early population. The plan for the province was that it would be an experiment in reform, addressing the problems perceived in British society. There

6720-679: Was ringed to the north, south and west by bushfires - from Palm Beach and Port Hacking to the Blue Mountains . Following the weekend of Black Friday, The Argus reported that on 15 January, fierce winds had also spread fire to almost every important area of New South Wales, burning in major fronts on Sydney's suburban fringes and hitting the south coast and inland: "hundreds of houses and thousands of head of stock and poultry were destroyed and thousands of acres of grazing land". On 16 January, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that disastrous fires were burning in Victoria, New South Wales and

6804-461: Was the first Australian colony not to have an official state religion, and the colony became attractive to people who had experienced religious discrimination, including Methodists and Unitarians . South Australia also had thousands of Prussian Old Lutheran immigrants, some of whom established their own form of Lutheranism. As a result, the Lutheran Church of Australia remains separate from

6888-470: Was to be religious freedom and no established religion. Sales of land to colonists created an Emigration Fund to pay the costs of transferring a poor young labouring population to South Australia. In early 1838 the colonists became concerned after it was reported that convicts who had escaped from the eastern states may make their way to South Australia. The South Australia Police was formed in April 1838 to protect

6972-559: Was upgraded to AAA by Standard & Poor's in September 2004 and to AAA by Moody's in November 2004, the highest credit ratings achievable by any company or sovereign. The state had previously lost these ratings in the State Bank collapse. However, in 2012 Standard & Poor's downgraded the state's credit rating to AA+ due to declining revenues, new spending initiatives and a weaker than expected budgetary outlook. South Australia receives

7056-769: Was −8.2 °C (17.2 °F) at Yongala on 20 July 1976. The region's overall dry weather is owed to the Australian High on the Great Australian Bight. As of 2016, South Australia had 746,105 people employed out of a total workforce of 806,593, giving an unemployment rate of 7.5%. South Australia's largest employment sector is health care and social assistance, making up 14.8% of the state's total employment, followed by retail (10.7%), education and training (8.6%), manufacturing (8%), and construction (7.6%). South Australia's economy relies on exports more than any other state in Australia. South Australia's credit rating

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