South Australia Act 1834

The full name of the act was "An Act to empower His Majesty to erect South Australia into a British Province or Provinces and to provide for the Colonization and Government thereof". Its chapter number is 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 95, meaning the 95th act that was passed in the reign of William IV, in the session of Parliament that started in the fourth year of his reign and finished in the fifth. South Australia Act 1834 and Foundation Act 1834 were the official short titles of the Act, which is also referred to in the literature as the South Australian Colonization Act. ==Background==

Robert Gouger, who had edited Edward Gibbon Wakefield's Letter from Sydney (1829), had led a campaign to persuade the British government to help to bring about Wakefield's colonisation scheme. In 1831 the South Australian Land Company (SALC), which lobbied for a Royal Charter to establish a colony in Australia which would be administered by those who were developing the land in the colony, with the sales of the land financing assistance to certain categories of emigrants to the colony. Not getting government approval for a chartered colony, supporters then formed the South Australian Association in 1834, with a similar aim. Finally this resulted in the passage of the 1834 Act, although the provisions did not quite match up to those of their original scheme. The 1834 act set out the conditions for the establishment of the Province of South Australia, and granted authority for this to be done by the action of the King at a later date. By the means provided for in this act, South Australia would become the only colony whose establishment was authorised by an act of Parliament, and also incorporated unique features such as the requirement that it would be settled and developed at no cost to the United Kingdom. In February 1836 King William IV signed the letters patent, signalling the final action needed to establish the province under this act. This act and the letters patent together achieved the founding of the colony, but with Wakefield's original plan failing to provide effective governance, having brought the colony to near-bankruptcy, a second act was enacted in 1842 to bring the colony under direct rule of the Crown. == Provisions ==

The act recognised that these lands were inhabitable, and made provision for colonisation, government, and the funding of the new settlement on these lands. The Act states that the land specified by the Act is "waste" and "unoccupied". 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 defined the province of South Australia as being "...that part of Australia which lies between the meridians of the one hundred and thirty-second and one hundred and forty-first degrees of east longitude, and between the southern ocean and the twenty-six degrees of south latitude, together with all and every the islands adjacent thereto, and the bays and gulphs". The money raised by the sale and leasing of land constituted what was called an Emigration Fund which was to be applied to the cost of conveying further immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, in equal proportions of men and women, under 30 years of age. The colony was to be convict-free. The Act specified that those immigrating to South Australia, under the Emigration Fund, should be a married couple under the age of thirty, and that they both, along with any children they had, must immigrate to South Australia. The Act also specifically forbade the transportation of convicts to South Australia. Administrative power was divided between a Governor, John Hindmarsh, who represented the Crown, and the Resident Commissioner, who reported to the Colonisation Commissioners and who was responsible for the survey and sale of land as well as for organising migration and funding. John Hindmarsh was appointed Governor and William Light Surveyor-General. The Commission was responsible for land sales and for land surveying, including choosing the site for the capital city. However, the Act did not make clear the powers of the Commission vis-à-vis the Governor, which led to discord for some years. == Regulations ==

Land sales The Rules and Regulations for the Disposal of Public Lands in His Majesty's Province of South Australia, authored by the South Australian Commission in the UK in 1835, stipulated that surveys were to be undertaken and maps to be made available prior to sale of the land. Land could be bought at a uniform price per acre, but it would go to auction in the case of more than one potential buyer. Leases of up to three years could be granted "for pasturage" on unsold lands. All proceeds were to go to the Emigration Fund, set up to help poorer people to migrate to the colony. These regulations were of great significance; the success of the Wakefield scheme to populate and fund the new Province hinged on land development, so land law and regulations governing it were fundamental. Letters Patent and Order-in-Council of 1836 The 1836 Letters Patent and 1836 Order-in-Council clarified further how the new Province was to be established. The Order-in-Council of 23 February 1836 (UK) established the legislative body to govern the new colony. It established a governing Council comprising the Governor, Chief Justice, Colonial Secretary, Advocate-General and the Resident Commissioner. The Council had broad legislative and executive powers, including setting rates, duties, and taxes. However only the Governor could propose laws, and these had to be approved by the King. == Legislative history ==

Amendment On 31 July 1838, the changes were brought into law by "An Act to amend an Act of the fourth and fifth years of his late majesty empowering his majesty to erect South Australia into a British province or provinces" (short name ascribed by the National Library of Australia: South Australia Government Act 1838), 1 & 2 Vict. c. 60. This amendment to the original Act increased the governor's power, combining his office with that of the Resident Commissioner. With the enactment of the South Australia Act 1842, the British Government assumed full control of South Australia as a Crown Colony. ==See also==