South Australia Act 1834
| South Australia Act 1834 | |
|---|---|
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
| An Act to empower His Majesty to erect South Australia into a British Province or Provinces and to provide for the Colonisation and Government thereof | |
| Citation | 4 & 5 Will. IV c. 95 |
| Enacted by | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Date enacted | 15 August 1834 |
| Repealing legislation | |
| 30 July 1842 | |
| Status: Expired | |
The South Australia Colonisation Act 1834 (4 & 5 Will. IV c. 95) is the short title of an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the long title
It provided for the settlement of a province or multiple provinces on the lands between 132 degrees east and 141 degrees of east longitude, and between the Southern Ocean, and 26 degrees south latitude, including the islands adjacent to the coastline. It was put into effect on 15 August 1834.
The Act largely reflected the views of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who saw control of land sales as a way to finance the development of a colony and encourage the emergence of a class structure similar to that of England.
The Act recognized that these lands were inhabitable, and made provision for colonization, government, and the funding of the new settlement on these lands. The Act states that the land specified by the Act is 'waste' and 'uninhabited' (this statement was subsequently modified by the Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia in 1836). The Act specifically provided for a limited independence of Government, whereby all laws made by the government in South Australia were to be presented to the King-in-Council in the United Kingdom. The Act stated that 802,511 square kilometres (309,851 sq mi) would be allotted to the colony and to be convict-free. The plan was for the colony to be the ideal embodiment of the best qualities of British society, that is, no religious discrimination or unemployment.
The Act allowed for three or more appointed commissioners, called The Colonization Commissioners for South Australia, to oversee the sale and leasing of land in South Australia to British subjects. The province and its capital were named prior to settlement. The name of the colony is a tautological place name (Australia being Latin for "southern land"), even though its territory was not the southernmost part of the Australian continent, nor of mainland Australia.
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