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Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK)
Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK), cover
Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK), p1
Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK), p2
Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK), p3
Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK), p4
Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK), p5
Significance
This document is a draft copy of the authority for the establishment of government in South Australia. The Order-in-Council provided for a governing Council comprising the Governor, the Judge or Chief Justice, the Colonial Secretary, the Advocate-General and the Resident Commissioner, with broad legislative and executive powers including the imposition of rates, duties, and taxes.

However, laws could only be proposed by the Governor and were subject to approval or disallowance by the King as advised by the Imperial Government. The Governor's power was increased in 1838, in an amendment to the 1834 Act which combined his office with that of the Resident Commissioner.

In this Order-in-Council the rights of 'Aboriginal natives' were again expressly protected.
History
The first South Australia Act in 1834 required among other things, land sales to the value of £35 000 to be made by the South Australian Commissioners before the province could be established. Sales proved difficult, and it was not until the unsold portion was bought by the South Australian Land Company, chaired by George Fife Angas, and a guarantee was lodged with the Treasury, that settlement could begin. This was done by December 1835. In February 1836 the Letters Patent establishing the Province and this Order-in-Council was issued. At the same time the two ships of the Company left to establish the first settlement on Kangaroo Island.

The foundation of South Australia is now usually considered to be Governor Hindmarsh's Proclamation of the new Province at Glenelg, on the mainland, on 28 December 1836.

Sources

Jaensch, Dean (ed.), The Flinders History of South Australia: Political History, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 1986.

Pike, Douglas, Paradise of Dissent: South Australia 1829–1857, 2nd edn, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1967.

Description
Long Title:South Australia Draft Order-in-Council creating the Legislative Body of the Province 23 February 1836
No. of pages:6 + cover
Medium:Paper, handwritten in ink
Measurements:31 x 40 cm
Provenance:Privy Council (UK)
Location & Copyright:State Records of South Australia
Reference:SRSA: GRG 40/6