Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/758

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SOUTII AUSTRALIA.

Area and Population.

The original boundaries of the colony, according to the statutes of 4 and 5 Wm. IV. cap. 95, were fixed between 132° and 141° E. long, for the eastern and western boundaries, the 26° of S. lat. for the northern limit, and for the south the Southern Ocean. The boundaries of the colony were subsequently extended, under the authority of Eoyal Letters Patent, dated July 6, 18G3, so as to embrace all the territory lying northward of 26° S. latitude and between the 129th and 138th degrees of East longitude. The total area of this territory is calculated at 383,328 English square miles.

South Australia was first colonised in 183G by emigrants from Great Britain, sent out under the auspices of a company called the South Australian Colonisation Association, which in 1835 obtained a grant from the Imperial Government of the lands of the colony. The conditions were that the land should not be sold at less than 11. per acre ; that the revenue arising from the sale of such lands should be appropriated to the immigration of agricultural labourers; that the control of the company's affairs should be vested in a body of commissioners approved by the Secretary of State for the colonies, and that the governor should be nominated by the Crown.

The total population of each sex, according to enumerations taken in the years 1844, 184G, 1851, 1855, 1861, and 1866, was as follow : —

Date of census

Males

Females

Total

February 26, 1844.

9,526

7,670

17,366

26, 1846.

12,670

9,650

22,390

January 1, 1851

35,302

27,737

63,700

March 31, 1855

43,720

41,469

85,821

April 8, 1861 ....

65,048

61,782

126,830

March 25, 1866.

85,334

78,118

163,452

During the ten years from 1857 to the end of 18G6, immigration brought 57,209 persons, while emigration carried off again 35,239, leaving a balance of 21,970 in favour of the colony. The number of immigrants conveyed at the public cost during this period was 23,795, or 1,825 more than the net gain by immigration.

The occupations of the population and their percentage pro- portion were as follows, according to the census of April 8, 18G1 :—