Adelaide

The city was founded in 1836 by Colonel William Light. The population is 1,072,585 (census 2001). Adelaide was established as a free colony - people arrived of their own free will, not as convicts or prisoners. It is the host of the Tour Down Under bicycle race. Forethought in the design of Adelaide has paid off as the layout of the city centre has not required modification since its design. Usually in an older city, it would be necessary to accommodate larger roads and add parks, whereas Adelaide had them from the start.

Culture Adelaide is the home of the Australian Football League (Australia's own football code) teams Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power.

Adelaide has sometimes been referred to as the 'City Of Churches', although this is a reflection more on Adelaide's past than its present. Adelaide's cultural life flourished in the 1970s under the leadership of premier Don Dunstan[?], removing some of the more puritanical restrictions on cultural activities then prevalent around Australia. It is home to events such as the Barossa Music Festival, The Adelaide Festival and The Fringe Festival, among others. Adelaide also hosted the F1 Grand Prix for 10 years ending in the late 1990s.

Much of the area around Adelaide was once used for wine grape production, so that large wine growing districts (such as the Barossa valley[?], for which Adelaide and South Australia are well known) remain within a very short drive of the city outskirts.

Infrastructure The city is also a home to the University of South Australia[?] (UniSA), the Adelaide University[?] and the Flinders University, which are all well respected research and teaching institutions.

Adelaide is served by Adelaide International Airport

Economy Adelaide has large manufacturing and research centres. It contains automobile manufacturing plants for both General Motors Holden and Mitsubishi, as well as a military research institution DSTO (the Defence Science and Technology Organisation) at Salisbury (a suburb 20kms north of the Adelaide City centre). Other industries include ore and oil refining, defence, and electronic component production. Because of cheaper standard of living and a smaller population base, wages in Adelaide (as well as Australia generally) tend to be lower than in other countries (such as those in the European Union, and the USA), which results in people with outstanding qualifications tending to go elsewhere. This is a problem that South Australia must deal with soon, if its research and development is not going to stagnate.

The collapse of the State Bank in 1992 resulted in huge levels of state debt, which have only recently been reduced. This has meant that successive governments have enacted lean budgets, cutting spending, which has been a large setback to the further development of the city and state.

Famous people who grew up in Adelaide include Lleyton Hewitt (world champion tennis player), Ian, Greg[?] and Trevor Chappell[?] (cricket players) and Andy Thomas[?] (astronaut).