Foundation of South Australia 1800-1851 - Places

The Foundation of South Australia 1800-1851 explores and illustrates the pioneering phase in South Australia, and showcases the themes of exploration, emigration, early contacts with indigenous peoples, and the establishment of a colony.

Click on the items below to explore early resources about the places of South Australia, including original maps and surveyors drawings, first-hand accounts in diaries and letters, artistic impressions of early Adelaide, records like the papers of William Light, the South Australian Company, settlers, pioneers... and more.

By 1838, South Australia was well on its way to being established and it saw buildings erected including the Holy Trinity Church in Adelaide, which was the first Church of England church building in South Australia. Another Australian first was established in the same year, being the South Australian Police Force, and an Aboriginal reserve, known as the 'Native Location' or Piltawodli, was established on the northern bank of the River Torrens in Adelaide. The first significant number of German immigrants arrived in South Australia having left their homeland in pursuit of religious freedom.

By 1839, the Chamber of Commerce was founded in Adelaide, the first in Australia. In April William Light had been replaced by Charles Sturt, as Surveyor-General and Edward John Eyre explored the north of South Australia and discovering Lake Torrens, which he believed to be a giant horseshoe-shaped lake. In the same year, Port Lincoln and Encounter Bay were settled, and the first permanent appointment (by the Crown) to the post of Protector of Aborigines was made, which paved the road for the Christianization of local Aboriginal people. Lutheran missionaries, Teichelmann and Schurmann, later publish the first book of local Aboriginal grammar and vocabulary, featuring Kaurna language.

George French Angas (1822-1886), naturalist and painter, sailed for Australia in 1843 in the Augustus, reached Adelaide in January 1844, and remained in South Australia until July when he left for New Zealand. He returned to South Australia in January 1845 and remained for six months. During these visits to South Australia, Angas recorded landscapes and settlements seen in his travels around the colony in watercolour drawings. Some of these artworks were published as part of his illustrated opus entitled South Australia illustrated, 1847.

Please see the SA Memory Timeline for other significant events in South Australia, up to 1851. Load the Timeline and select 1840s and 1850s. See the National Trust SA website for more details of places and buildings in South Australia.