Parliament of South Australia
The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly and the 22-seat Legislative Council. General elections are held every 4 years, with all of the lower house and half of the upper house filled at each election. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government with the executive branch required to both sit in parliament and hold the confidence of the House of Assembly. The parliament is based at Parliament House on North Terrace in the state capital of Adelaide.
Parliament of South Australia
Old Parliament House in 1872
Recreated lower and upper house booths, history, and voting procedures
A painting of the House of Assembly meeting in Old Parliament House in 1867
South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 984,321 square kilometres (380,048 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, and second smallest state by population. It has a total of 1.8 million people. Its population is the second most highly centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second-largest centre, has a population of 26,878.
European settlers with Aboriginal Australians, 1850
Charles Sturt's expedition leaving Adelaide for central Australia, 1844
A satellite image of eastern South Australia. Note the dry lakes (white patches) in the north.
The Barossa Valley, northeast of Adelaide. South Australia's wine industry is the largest in Australia.