South Australia
state of Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of 984,314 square kilometres (380,046 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which includes some of the most arid parts of the continent. It is the 17th-largest subdivision in the world and the fifth-largest in Australasia. It is the second-most highly centralised state in the nation after Western Australia, with more than 67% of the 1.9 million South Australians living in the capital Adelaide or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier is the second-largest centre, with a population of 26,878.
South Australia shares borders with all the other mainland states. It is bordered to the west by Western Australia, to the north by the Northern Territory, to the north-east by Queensland, to the east by New South Wales, and to the south-east by Victoria. To the south, its border is the ocean, the Great Australian Bight.
The state comprises less than 6.7% of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the six states and two territories. The majority of its people reside in greater Metropolitan Adelaide.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “South Australia” as state of Australia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as state of Australia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q35715. VIAF identifies the subject as 147693495. The Library of Congress control number is n79100617. Authority coordinates are -30.000, 135.000. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “South Australia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow South Australia primary sources, South Australia archive and South research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “South Australia”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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This entry incorporates text from “South Australia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.