• 1802 - Captain Matthew Flinders [1774-1814] visited the area, later to be known as South Australia, in March 1802
• 1814 - the name AUSTRALIA was first used by Captain Matthew Flinders
• 1829 - A group in Britain led by Edward Gibbon Wakefield were looking to start a colony based on free settlement rather than convict labour. After problems in other Australian colonies arising from existing settlement methods, the time was right to form a more methodical approach to establishing a colony. In 1829 an imprisoned Wakefield wrote a series of letters about systematic colonisation which were published in a daily newspaper. He suggested that instead of granting free land to settlers as had happened in other colonies, the land should be sold. The money from land purchases would be used solely to transport labourers to the colony free of charge, who were responsible and skilled workers rather than paupers and convicts. Land prices needed to be high enough so that workers who saved to buy land of their own remained in the workforce long enough to avoid a labour shortage.
• 1831 - Governor Darling of NSW sent Captain Collet Barker to locate the supposed channel which connected the Murray to the Gulfs in his ship ISABELLA in April 1831. As far as we know, Captain Collet Barker was the first European to sight the Inlet from Mount Lofty (on April 19th, 1831) and navigate the Port River. Eleven days after this, natives in the Murray North killed Barker.
• 1834 - South Australian Colonization Act (4 & 5 William IV. Cap 95) assented to - August 15
• 1835 - 1835 Colonization Commissioner's Advertisement for Emigration to South Australia
• 1836 - The following ships departed from England, bound for South Australia: Lady Mary Pelham, John Pirie, Rapid, Cygnet, Emma, Africaine, Tam O'shanter, H.M.S Buffalo.
• 1836 - The South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register [the first Newspaper for The Colony], appeared on the London streets on Saturday June 18th 1836, price sixpence.
• 1836 - The first migrants to South Australia arrive on board the Duke Of York, landed at Kangaroo Island - July 20, 1836. We understand that the following may also have come to South Australia during 1836: The Cremona, Isabella, William, Eagle, Mary Ann from Launceston; Australia from Gothenburg; Success, Truelove from Sydney; Vansittart from Hobart
• 1836 - Captain John Hindmarsh RN KH, arrival at Holdfast Bay - December 28.
• 1836 - Population estimate at December 31 - 546 persons. First school in colony opened - on Kangaroo Island.
• 1837 - South Australia's first Governor, Captain John Hindmarsh RN KH, proclaimed January - recalled in June 1838
• 1837 - The first land allotments in Adelaide made following Colonel William Light's survey of Adelaide - March.
• 1837 - Sixteen vessels from England had arrived by May 1837, landing upwards of a thousand immigrants. Five vessels from Sydney and Van Dieman's Land brought more, increasing the population to 2,500 in November.
• 1837 - The first newspaper in South Australia printed. Supreme Court of South Australia established.
• 1837 - Hospital opened on North Terrace, Adelaide. Public Expenditure £5,283.
• 1837 - Population estimate - 3,273 persons
• 1837 - Two mud barges for deepening Port Adelaide were assembled in June 1837 in the Patawalonga. They had been brought in pieces from Sydney on the Royal George. The ship also landed 8 draught horses at Glenelg on this same voyage.
• 1838 - Governor of South Australia, Lt-Colonel John George Gawler KH, proclaimed October 17th. Formation of police force.
• 1838 - First ballot for country sections of land held - May. Cattle and sheep arrive in the colony, overland from New South Wales, brought by Joseph Hawdon, Edward John Eyre and Charles Sturt.
• 1838 - Total livestock approx 480 horses, 2,500 cattle, 28,000 sheep. 86 acres under cultivation including 20 acres for wheat.
• 1838 - October 3rd - First vessel registered at Port Adelaide: Hero, owned by John Barton Hack, master William Wright. Hero was built at Manning River, New South Wales, in 1837. Her length, from the inner part of the main stem to the stern post, was 40 ft., beam 14 ft and depth 7 ft, carvel built with a square stern and no galleries. She had one deck, one mast. The Hero was later bought and sailed by Walter Watson Hughes, father of the University of Adelaide and the copper mines in the Copper Coast area Yorkes Peninsula.
• 1838 - First mail conveyed between Port Adelaide and Adelaide by mounted Police.
• 1838 - Public revenue £1,448, public expenditure £16,580. Agricultural production - area cultivated for wheat - 20 acres.
• 1838 - South Australia's first export - wool. Imports total £158,582 and exports £6,442.
• 1838 - German settlers, led by Pastor Kavel arrive on the Prince George and settle at Klemzig.
• 1838 - Population estimate 31 December - 6,000. Recorded births 83, deaths 67 and marriages 75.
• 1839 - January - Fire destroys the houses of Light and Fisher at Thebarton.
• 1839 - October 6 - Colonel William Light died at Thebarton .
• 1839 - Immigration was 477 persons (recorded). Adelaide rainfall 19.84" (504mm).
• 1839 - Public revenue £19,826, public expenditure £96,186.
• 1839 - The first road in the colony built - Adelaide to Port Adelaide.
• 1839 - Agricultural production - area cultivated for wheat - 120 acres out of a total 443 acres cultivated.
• 1840 - The Municipality of Adelaide incorporated - the first in Australia, with the first elections being held on October 31. The first Mayor was James Hurtle Fisher
• 1840 - October: Over 5.000 people and 450 vehicles celebrated the opening of the South Australian Company's road from Adelaide to the Port. This was the largest assembly of Colonists ever congregated, up to that time.
• 1840 - Edward John Eyre commences overland journey to Western Australia.
• 1840 - Agricultural production - area cultivated for wheat - 1,059 acres with total area cultivated 2,503 acres.
• 1840 - Shipping (total inwards and outwards) 425 with total tonnage 83,787.
• 1840 - Port Adelaide opened - replacing the old Port of Adelaide "Port Misery".
• 1840 - Population estimate 14,600. Immigration was 2,992 persons (recorded).
• 1840 - Public revenue £30,618, public expenditure £171,430. Adelaide rainfall 24.23" (615mm).
• 1841 - Governor of South Australia: Captain George Grey, Esq. proclaimed May 15th - departed November 1845
• 1841 - Population at 01 January - 15,485 persons. Immigration recorded was 776 persons (The 1841 census is the only one in South Australia for which any detailed records survive.)
• 1841 - The first mine in South Australia, Wheal Gawler at Glen Osmond, commenced - producing silver-lead ore. The mineral deposit was discovered by Thomas and Hutchins [two Cornish miners].
• 1841 - 500,000 acres of land surveyed by mid year. Adelaide rainfall 17.96" (456mm) over 93 days.
• 1841 - Public revenue £25,329, public expenditure £89,999. Public expenditure cut, resulting in considerable unemployment. Economic depression leads to suspension of Assisted migration.
• 1841 - Road tolls imposed on carriages and stock at Glen Osmond.
• 1841 - Agricultural production - area cultivated for wheat - 4,721 acres, (barley 1,000 acres, oats 1,000 acres).
• 1841 - The French vessel VILLE de BORDEAUX was seized on February 24th due to the Captain's refusal to show satisfactory papers.
• 1841 - There is a plaque on the front gatehouse of Government House which says: "Near this spot the first Government House of the Province of South Australia was erected in 1837. It was built of earth and wood, with thatched rood, by marines fron the "Buffalo". Occupied first by Governor Hindmarsh and later by Governor Gawler, it was destroyed by fire in 1841."
• 1842 - Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages commenced (July 1st).
• 1842 - Copper discovered at Kapunda by Francis Dutton. Flour mill built at Hindmarsh.
• 1842 - Australia's first exports of mineral ore - from Glen Osmond.
• 1842 - Imports total £109,137, exports £80,858 of which minerals were £127.
• 1842 - Immigration recorded was 1,213 persons and emigration 1,477.
• 1842 - Shipping (total inwards and outwards) 104 with total tonnage 15,533.
• 1843 - The Adelaide City Council went bankrupt
• 1844 - The first Colonial Census held 26 February, indicating a population of 17,366, including 96 at Port Lincoln. Adelaide's population approx. 10,000.
• 1844 - Immigration 1,114 persons and emigration 436. Shipping 139 (total inwards and outwards). Total tonnage 18,489.
• 1844 - South Australia producing wheat in excess of its own requirements.
• 1845 - Governor of South Australia: Major Lt. Frederick Holt Robe, Esq. proclaimed November - departed August 1848
• 1845 - Copper discovered at Burra. Gold discovered near Montacute.
• 1845 - Assisted migration resumed. Immigration recorded 2,336 persons and emigration 449.
• 1845 - Public revenue £32,433, public expenditure £40,775. Population 31 December - 21,759.
• 1846 - Population at Census, 26 February, was 22,390, including 132 at Port Lincoln and 70 on Kangaroo Island. Adelaide's population 13,871 (937 births during year, 360 deaths and 189 marriages).
• 1846 - Immigration recorded was 4,458 persons and emigration 863.
• 1846 - Mining - 6,461 tons of copper ore produced with a value equal to $285,000.
• 1847 - First winery in the Barossa Valley commenced operations. Road tolls at Glen Osmond ceased.
• 1847 - Population estimate 31 December - 31,153. Immigration recorded was 5,645 persons and emigration 885.
• 1848 - Governor of South Australia: Sir Henry Fox Young proclaimed August 2 - departed December 1854
• 1848 - George COPPIN, known as the "Father of the Australian Theatre" erected a theatre at Port Adelaide.
• 1848 - Population estimate 31 December - 38,666.Immigration was 7,664 persons and emigration 1,042.
• 1849 - Population estimate 31 December - 52,904. Immigration recorded was 16,166 persons and emigration 2,694.
• 1850 - "A tearful and unexampled gale", during which the Grecian was wrecked at the entrance to the Port, all aboard, save one, rescued. The cutter Jane Flaxman overturned in the Gulf with the loss of seven passengers and the crew.
• 1850 - Population estimate 31 December - 63,700.Immigration recorded was 10,358 persons and emigration 4,221.
• 1850 - The British Parliament passes an Act granting representative government to South Australia.
• 1850 - The postal system included 63 Post Offices and handled 266,588 letters and 393,177 newspapers. Income was £5,413.
• 1850 - Savings bank depositors - total number 672. Total Savings Bank funds £11,772.
• 1850 - 64 Public Schools had a total enrolment of 1,867 scholars.
• 1851 - A premium offered for any vessel landing mails and passengers within 67 days from Great Britain at Port Adelaide £400, at Nepean Bay £250. Total in any one-year not to exceed £5,000. City and Port Railway Bill passed on August 29th.
• 1851 - Central Board of Education established. 115 Public Schools had a total enrolment of 3,031 cholars.

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