Glandore, SA - Postcode - 5037 - Post Codes & Zip Codes List

South Australia, Australia Description

South Australia is a state in central Australia. Even though it is located in one of the continent's driest and most barren regions, the majority of its population lives along its southern border. It is bordered on all sides by Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. The Great Australian Bight, a southern Indian Ocean marginal sea (called the Southern Ocean in Australia). The capital is Adelaide on the coast.

South Australia is Australia's fourth-largest state and territory, covering roughly one-eighth of its total land area. Population: less than 8% of Australians, 5th among states and territories.

South Australia's settlements are at the western end of a crescent of densely populated and productive land in southeastern Australia. The state has strong commercial ties to Melbourne and Sydney. 379,725 sq. mile (983,482 square km). 

South Australia's ethnic composition, like the rest of Australia, has shifted dramatically since WWII. Prior to the war, most residents were British, but the state has since become more diverse and multicultural.

Surprisingly, around a fifth of South Australians were born overseas. Only twice has the state's population surpassed that of Australia. From 1861 to 1881, wheat farming and copper mine development grew rapidly. From 1947 to 1966, a federal and state-sponsored program of European immigration fueled rapid manufacturing growth. Thus, non-English speaking immigrants from Italy, Greece, former Soviet bloc countries, Germany and the Netherlands joined a large influx of British. Since the late twentieth century, net gains from immigration have been smaller, with immigrants mostly from the UK, New Zealand, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

South Australia has a densely populated core surrounded by a population and economic decline. Around three-quarters of the state's population lives in Adelaide. Rural-to-urban migration continues to grow the city.

The Barossa Valley and Southern Vales wine regions are located near Adelaide. The Murray River and north-central areas, as well as the Yorke and Eyre peninsulas' wheat, barley, and sheep farming districts, lie beyond this zone. Beyond cultivated land, sheep graze native pastures and shrubs. The northern arid zone's vast cattle ranches are the most remote.

Outside of Adelaide, there are roughly 60 cities and towns with populations of over 1,000. These are Mount Gambier, Whyalla, Port Augusta, and Port Pirie. Rural areas house roughly 10% of the population.

Comparatively, South Australians have fewer children under 15 but more adults over 65, a slightly lower percentage of foreign born residents, fewer Roman Catholics and Anglicans but more Lutherans than the national average, a lower share of high income households and a generally higher rate of unemployment. For over a century, South Australian women had fewer children than other states, and life expectancy has risen. South Australia's population growth rate has been among the lowest in the country since the late 1980s due to persistent out-migration and low immigration.

Less than 2% of the state's population is Aboriginal, with half living in Adelaide and the other half in the remote northwest, where traditional land title rights were granted for the first time in 1981. It is still difficult for Aboriginal people to get access to adequate health care, employment, education, and other services.

Geographical Description of South Australia

South Australia is characterized by vast salt- or clay-encrusted lake beds with little water. Over four-fifths of the state is below 1,000 feet. Mount Woodroffe, at 4,708 feet, is the state's highest point in the Musgrave Ranges in the northwest interior (1,435 metres).

With an average length of about 200 miles (320 kilometers), Spencer and St. Vincent Gulfs break up the coast's generally smooth southeasterly trend. Kangaroo Island is approximately 1,680 square miles and lies south of Gulf St Vincent (4,350 square kilometers).

The state can be divided into seven major landform regions. A vast shield of ancient Precambrian rocks surrounds the four westernmost regions (at least 540 million years old). The Musgrave and Everard ranges in the far northwest have bald rounded hills or rugged hilly terrain. The Great Victoria Desert is made up of west-to-east trending sand dunes.

The state's south-central region, with its gulfs, ranges, and plains, drew European settlers because of its higher precipitation and more diverse and productive soils. The main feature is a sandstone and quartzite arc that runs from Kangaroo Island to the Flinders Ranges. These rocks have been folded and faulted many times, resulting in narrow ranges, valleys, and small alluvial plains.

The Murray and Southeast Plains were formed by early Cenozoic lime-rich deposits (roughly 50 million years ago). The Murray Plain has west-east running stabilized sand dunes. The Southeast Plain has parallel limestone ridges with flats that were previously inundated during the winter but drained for farming. Several prominent volcanic cones and craters near Mount Gambier mark 5,000–10,000 year old eruptions.

The northern and northeast deserts have stony or sand dune deserts, low tablelands, and vast dry lakes. Lake Eyre, the largest, is about 50 feet (15 metres) below sea level, the continent's lowest point.

Australia's driest state. The area gets less than 10 inches (250 mm) of annual precipitation, and less than half gets more than 16 inches (400 mm). Wetter southern coasts and northern Mount Lofty and Flinders ranges. Near Mount Lofty, the highest falls (47 inches [1,200 mm]), the lowest near Lake Eyre (6 inches [150 mm] or less).

The state's southern coastal zone has been described as having a "Mediterranean" climate, with mild to cool wet winters and hot dry summers. In the arid interior, rainfall is highly erratic. The dominant weather influences come from the Southern Ocean in the south and the continental interior in the north. During the summer, hot northerly winds can quickly give way to cool southerly winds off the ocean.

Adelaide's average daily maximum temperatures range from 84 °F (29 °C) in the summer to 59 °F (15 °C) in the winter; the average daily minimum temperatures range from 63 °F (17 °C) in February to 45 °F (7 °C) in July. The annual average number of "hot" days exceeding 86 °F in the southern settled coastal zone ranges between 10 and 50, whereas it exceeds 110 in the northern two-thirds of the state.

Except for droughts, South Australia has mild weather. Violent storms are rare, and flooding is rare. Summer bushfires are the most dangerous weather-related hazard, with notable examples in January 1939 and February 1983.

Economy of South Australia

South Australia's economy shares many characteristics with the Australian economy as a whole, most notably an agricultural and mining base that is heavily oriented toward export markets and a manufacturing superstructure that is primarily concerned with the domestic market and is heavily reliant on the assistance of tariffs on imported goods. Estimates of the value of goods produced in the early twenty-first century indicated that manufacturing accounted for more than half of the state's total income, while agriculture accounted for roughly one-fourth. The majority of the remainder came from mines, quarries, and natural gas fields, with only a small amount from fisheries. A small portion of the workforce was engaged in primary agricultural, forestry, fishing, and mining activities; a slightly larger segment—about one-tenth—was engaged in manufacturing; and the remainder of the workforce was engaged in construction, sales, education, finance, administration, and community and personal services.