The history of South Australia refers to the history of the Australian State of South Australia and its preceding Indigenous and British colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians have lived in South Australia for tens of thousands of years, while British colonists arrived in the 19th century to establish a "free colony", with no convict settlers. European explorers were sent deep into the interior, discovering some pastoral land but mainly large tracts of desert terrain.
The colony became a cradle of democratic reform in Australia. The Parliament of South Australia began in 1857, when the colony was granted self-government. Votes for women came in the 1890s. South Australia became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 following a vote to Federate with the other British colonies of Australia. While smaller than the Eastern states, South Australia has often been at the vanguard of political and social change in Australia.
Read more about History Of South Australia: Aboriginal Settlement, European Exploration, Establishing A Colony, Expansion of The Colony, 20th Century
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