of the centre of the city, is the main commercial airport while the main military airport is Edinburgh, near Salisbury, about fifteen miles north of Adelaide. Principal primary products are wool, wheat, barley, oats, grapes, oranges, apples and pears, apricots and peaches. The approximate livestock population at 31st March 1973 was sheep 15.7 million, cattle for meat production 1,357,000, cattle for milk production 226,300 and pigs 499,500. The main industry of the State is the production of motor vehicles. Other principal industries include a fully integrated iron and steel industry, shipbuilding, materials handling equipment, agricultural machinery, a highly developed domestic appliance industry, ferrous and non-ferrous pipes and tubes and a complete range of engineering industries, a complex electronics industry, a large alkali industry and solar salt fields, oil refining, the largest lead smelting plant in the world and a modern timber and paper industry. Electricity generated during the year ended 30th June 1973 by the main power stations at Osborne and Torrens Island on the outskirts of Adelaide, and Port Augusta, was estimated to be 5,499 million kilowatt hours. The power station at Port Augusta at the head of Spencer Gulf uses low grade coal mined by open cut at Leigh Creek, approximately 160 miles north of Port Augusta and 360 miles north of Adelaide. During the production period over two million tons of this fuel were used. A major power station on Torrens Island located near Osborne, was brought into full service in 1968 using fuel oil. Natural gas in the north of the State is being brought to Adelaide by a recently completed pipeline from large deposits. The gas is being used as a fuel by the major industries, by domestic users, and also in the Torrens Island Power Station. The Whyalla Shipyards are the largest in Australia. Since 1948, more than 50 vessels have been built there, including one of 83,000 tons, the Clutha Capricorn, an ore carrier. Extensive radiata pine plantations in the south-east of the State support sawmilling and paper-pulp industries. A State-owned sawmill at Mount Gambier is the largest in Australia and one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, having an annual intake of 57 million super feet of logs. HISTORY The south coast was explored by Flinders in 1802 and in 1830 Captain Charles Sturt navigated the River Murray from its junction with the Murrumbidgee to its mouth. The colony of South Australia was founded in 1836 on a scheme of colonisation expounded by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. The general principle, as set out in the Ripon Regulations, was that the Government should sell colonial lands and use the proceeds for emigration to the colony, and that Britain should later grant some measure of self-government. Under the Foundation Act the control was divided between the Colonial Office and a Board of Commissioners for Land Sales and Emigration. The Board of Commissioners was wound up in 1841, and in 1842 a nominated Legislative Council was set up. Responsible government was established in 1856. The task of choosing the site for the first settlement in the colony was entrusted to Colonel William Light. After landing on Kangaroo Island he rejected this site, Port Lincoln and the eastern shore of Spencer Gulf, in favour of the east coast of Gulf St Vincent where he surveyed the present site of Adelaide on the coastal plains at the foot of the Mount Lofty Ranges. CONSTITUTION The Parliament of South Australia consists of a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly, created by South Australia Act No. 2 of 1855-56, which was proclaimed on 24th October 1856. This Act, commonly called the Constitution Act, was passed by virtue of Imperial Act 13 and 14 Vict. Cap. 59. The Legislative Council and House of Assembly as originally constituted consisted of eighteen and thirty-six members respectively. By South Australia Act No. 27 of 1872 the House of Assembly was increased to forty-six members, representing twenty-two electoral districts. By Act No. 236 of 1881 six members were added to the Legislative Council, and the colony was divided into four electoral districts for the purpose of Council elections. In 1882 the House of Assembly was further increased to fifty-two members, representing twenty-six electoral districts. Act No. 450 of 1888 constituted Northern Territory an electoral district to return two members, thus increasing the number of members to 54 as from April 1890. By Act 779 of 1901 the number of members was reduced to eighteen in the Legislative Council and forty-two (representing thirteen districts) in the House of Assembly. Act No. 1029 of 1910 repealed Act No. 450 of 1888 and the House of Assembly was reduced to forty members from twelve districts from 5th January 1911, on severance of Northern Territory. By Act 1148 of 1913 the Assembly districts were increased to nineteen, returning fortysix members. Act 2336 of 1936 divided the State into thirty-nine electoral districts, each returning one member. Act 110 of 1969 divided the State into 47 electoral districts, each returning one member to the House of Assembly. Elections are conducted by preferential ballot and since 1942 voting at elections has been compulsory. Each of the five electoral districts of the Legislative Council returns four members for six years, two of those members being elected every three years (section 10 of Act 959 of 1908 and section 15 of Act 1148 of 1913). Judges, Ministers of Religion, Members of either House of the Commonwealth Parliament and persons holding an office of profit under the Crown, are ineligible for membership of either House of the South Australian Parliament. Qualifications for a Member of the Legislative Council are that he or she shall have attained the age of 30 years, be a British subject, and have resided in the State for three years. An elector for the Legislative Council must be 21 years of age, be a natural-born or naturalised British subject, have resided in South Australia for at least six months, and, in addition, possess certain property or war service qualifications specified in the Constitution Act. The House of Assembly is elected for a term of three years but may be dissolved earlier by the Governor. Any person who is qualified and entitled to be registered as an elector for the House of Assembly is eligible for membership of it, provided he or she is not disqualified by holding one of the offices mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The qualifications for an elector for the House of Assembly is that he or she be at least 18 years of age and a natural-born or naturalised British subject, and have resided in Australia for 6 months and in South Australia for 3 months, and in the Sub-Division for one month. The franchise for both Houses was extended to adult women by Act 613 of 1894. South Australia was the first Australian State to extend the franchise to adult women. GOVERNMENT The Election for the House of Assembly in South Australia held on Saturday 10th March 1973 resulted in little change to the distribution of seats. The state of the Parties is: Labour 26, Liberal Country League 18, Liberal Movement 2. GOVERNOR His Excellency Sir Mark Oliphant, KBE, FRS, MA, PhD, DSC, LLD, FAA LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR Mr. Walter Russell Crocker, CBE CABINET Premier and Treasurer: The Hon. D. A. Dunstan, QC, LLB Attorney-General, Minister of Community Welfare, Prices and Consumer Affairs: Minister of Transport and Minister of Local Government: The Hon. G. T. Virgo, MP Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Forests: The Hon. T. M. Casey, MLC Minister of Environment and Conservation, Minister of Sport and Recreation, Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Tourism: The Hon. G. R. Broomhill, MP Chief Secretary, Minister of Lands, Minister of Repatriation and Minister of Irrigation: Minister of Labor and Industry: The Hon. D. H. McKee, MP Minister of Development, Minister of Mines, Minister Assisting the Premier, Minister of LEADER OF OPPOSITION The Hon. Dr B. C. Eastick, MP WESTERN AUSTRALIA Western Australia comprises nearly one-third of the Australian continent. The total area is 975,920 square miles (more than one-fourth the area of Europe). It is the fastest growing Australian State. The population growth rate, for many years more than twice the national average, has fallen back to equal the national average, this fall being mainly accounted for by a drop in immigration. Perth, the capital city, is situated on the Swan River, 12 miles from the river mouth at Fremantle, the State's principal port. Western Australia's principal exports are minerals, wheat, wool, fish, meat and raw chemicals. The Pilbara region in the North West contains one of the world's largest resources of high grade iron ore with estimated reserves of over 24,500 million tonnes of ore averaging more than 55% iron. Evaluation of a natural gas field on the North West shelf indicates that it is of considerable significance. There is also a small oil field. Coal is found at Collie in the South West. The population was 1,100,200 at 31st December 1974 of whom 752,800 live in the Perth statistical division which is the main urban area of Western Australia. The principal cities and towns outside the Perth and Fremantle area are:— For further information about Western Australia see the Official Year Book of Western Australia HISTORY AND CONSTITUTION The first authentic record of European explorers visiting any portion of Western Australia is in 1616. In 1791 Vancouver, in the Discovery, took formal possession of the country about King George Sound. In 1826 a small settlement, subsequently named Albany, was formed on King George Sound. In 1829 Captain Fremantle took formal possession of the territory, and in the same year Captain Stirling founded the Swan River Settlement and the towns of Perth and Fremantle and was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. In 1870, a 'Representative' constitution was established by Imperial Act 33, Vict. Cap. 13. The Governor was assisted by an Executive Council composed of the principal officers of the Government and two unofficial members appointed by him. There was also a Legislative Council, consisting then of three official members of the Executive Council, three unofficial nominees of the Governor and twelve elected members. Responsible government was granted to Western Australia in 1890 (53 and 54 Vict. Cap. 26). The Legislature consists of two Houses: The Legislative Council, of 30 members, and the Legislative Assembly, of 51 members. The members of both Houses are elected. By an amendment in 1936 of the Electoral Act voting for the Legislative Assembly is compulsory, and in December 1964 voting for the Legislative Council was also made compulsory. GOVERNMENT After one period of government the Australian Labour Party was defeated in March 1974 by the Liberal Party which governs in coalition with the Country Party. In the Legislative Assembly the Liberal Party has 23 seats, the Australian Labour Party 22 seats and the Country Party 6 seats. In the Legislative Council the position is Liberal Party 18, Australian Labour Party 9 and Country Party 3. Lieutenant-Governor and Administrator: Commodore James Maxwell Ramsay, CBE, DSC, RAN, retired CABINET Premier, Treasurer and Minister Co-ordinating Economic and Regional Development: Deputy Premier, Minister for Works, Water Supplies and the North West: Minister for Justice, Chief Secretary and Leader of the Government in the Minister for Transport, Police, Traffic, and Traffic Safety: The Hon. R. J. O'Connor, MLA Minister for Labour and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Immigration: Minister for Industrial Development, Mines, Electricity, and Fuel and Energy: Minister for Local Government, Urban Development and Town Planning: Minister for Lands, Forests and Tourism: The Hon. K. A. Ridge, MLA LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION The Hon. J. T. Tonkin, MLA CHIEF JUSTICE: The Hon. Sir L. W. Jackson, KCMG TASMANIA Tasmania, the smallest State of the Australian Commonwealth, is an island at the southern extremity of the continent of Australia, from which it is divided by Bass Strait, 140 miles wide. The area is 26,383 square miles. The population figures as at 30th June 1974 were, State of Tasmania 399,500; Hobart Metropolitan Area 135,100; Urban Launceston 63,210; Urban BurnieSomerset 20,610; Urban Devonport 19,730. Main seaports are Hobart, Launceston, Burnie and Devonport. The principal airports are Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Wynyard. The principal products of Tasmania are: Ores and Concentrates: iron, copper, tin, lead. Refined metals: aluminium, zinc, ferro-alloys and pigments. Food and other farm based products: apples, confectionery, canned fruits, meat, greasy wool, butter, food beverages, fruit juices and concentrates. cheese, preserved vegetables. Forest based products: fine paper, newsprint, woodpulp, woodchip. Other products: cement, handtools, electrodes, automotive bearings, sawn timber, particle board, abalone, crayfish, textiles. HISTORY Tasmania was discovered in 1642 by the Dutch navigator, Abel Jan Tasman, and by him named Van Diemen's Land, the name by which it was known down to 1856. Captain Cook landed in 1777 on his third voyage. It was formally taken possession of by England in 1803 and made auxiliary to the settlement at Botany Bay, from which it was separated in 1825. The name of the island was officially changed to Tasmania by proclamation from the 1st January 1856 in accordance with Her Majesty's Order in Council dated 21st July 1855. CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT In 1851 a partly elective legislature was inaugurated and responsible government was introduced in 1856. The colony, together with the mainland States, entered the Australian Commonwealth Federation in 1901. CONSTITUTION The main lines of the present Constitution were laid down by a local Act in 1855. These have been amended from time to time and modified by Federation. The State Executive Authority is vested in a Governor appointed by the Crown, aided by an Executive Council of Ministers responsible to the Legislature. Parliament consists of two elected Houses. The Legislative Council of 19 members is elected on adult suffrage. Three members retire annually except that in each sixth successive year from 1953 onwards four members retire. The Council cannot be dissolved as a whole. The House of Assembly is elected on adult suffrage and the term of the present house is five years from the General Election of April 1972. The House of Assembly in future will continue for four years only. The House consists of 35 members returned for five seven-member constituencies, which are the same as the Commonwealth electoral divisions. The system of voting is substantially the |