Like many places in Australia, Adelaide was first home to an Aboriginal tribe called the Kaurna people before the white settlers came in to stake their claims. But when small pox and other devastating epidemics where introduced to the area when settlers started to arrive in the early 1800’s the numbers of the Aboriginal people slowly declined. By 1836 numbers had dramatically dropped to around 300 Kaurna people as white settlers where arriving to establish the city that is now Adelaide.
It was back in 1802 when two Captains known as Mathew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin chartered the southern parts of Australian coastline coming across a beautiful region with much promise. Then in 1830 Charles Stuart travelled the Murray River coming across what is know the city of Adelaide and making notes of its ranges and favourable location. With this being noted, in 1831 the NSW Governor sent Captain Collet Barker to explore the region in more depth to assess the possibilities but he met his demise with the local natives and then saw Charles Stuart surveying the region again in 1833. Many saw this region holding much promise because of its pastures and rich soil.
In the following years various boats set sail for South Australia but landing one what is now known as Kangaroo Island just off the coast of SA. The reason they didn’t settle on Kangaroo Island was because they were looking for somewhere where they could build a harbour, have fresh water and a wide expanse of level land. So everyone was moved from Kangaroo Island over to the main land and finally in December the Governor announced the province of SA and from here the harbour was started within the Port River and seeing that the River Torrens was where all the fresh water was locating this is where the developed the city.
Settlers came from all around to stake their claim and build the town into which it became a bustling city. Throughout the years this history of Adelaide has seen the famous gold rush days in the neighbouring state of Victoria which saw thousands of people leave Adelaide to find the fortunes but during these times this is when the demand of the wheat industry of SA increased and with the return of the gold miners the wheat industry boomed. Transport of introduced, electric street lighting was developed in the 1900’s and the electric tram service began in 1909.
The city of Adelaide has survived the depressions of the 1930’s, World War I and II and droughts. With strong leadership and Governing bodies, the history of Adelaide has grown strong throughout the years making this a viable and attractive city that is visited by thousands each year. With farming industries, tourism and the beautiful Adelaide Hills where you will find much of the award winning wineries of Australia, these are just some of the reasons that put Adelaide on the map. Adelaide has grown with the times, with major highways being developed to increase the flow of development. A pipeline from Mannum saw water from the Murray River flow to Adelaide and then in 1955 the Adelaide Airport was opened. The Flinders University was opened in 1966 and in 1970 the then governing bodies saw that Adelaide was ideal to become a city of culture and established a city that was based around culture and arts. Hosting the Australian Grand Prix from 1985 to 1996 and being home to the Adelaide Oval where many major sporting events are held, you can easily see that the history of Adelaide is vast and very colourful one.