The Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia, dated 19 February 1836 and formally titled "Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom erecting and establishing the Province of South Australia and fixing the boundaries thereof", was presented to

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...

to formally seek the approval to establish the Province of South Australia. It defined the boundaries of the new colony, but also, significantly and unlike the '' South Australia Act 1834'', included recognition of the rights of the Aboriginal peoples of South Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Letters Patent 1836.

History

The ''South Australia Act 1834'' legislated for the establishment of a settlement in South Australia, but did not provide specific directions with regard to how the Province of South Australia was to be founded, which these Letters Patent, formulated by the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, supplied. The main change to the 1834 Act was to amend the wording referring to the land as "unoccupied", and offer recognition of the rights of the " Aboriginal Natives" to live unhindered within the lands of the Province of South Australia. These

Letters Patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

, dated 19 February 1836, were presented to King William IV to formally seek the approval to establish the Province of South Australia, and on 23 February 1836, an

Order-in-Council An Order in Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom, this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' ...

provided authority for the establishment of government in the Province of South Australia. The Order-in-Council provided for a governing Council comprising the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

, the Judge or Chief Justice, the Colonial Secretary, the Advocate-General and the

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such a ...

, 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 Order-in-Council again expressly protected the rights of "Aboriginal natives".
Draft of the Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK)
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National Archives of Australia
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Description

The Letters Patent, long title "Letters Patent under the

Great Seal of the United Kingdom The Great Seal of the Realm is a Seal (emblem), seal that is used in the United Kingdom to symbolise the British monarchy, sovereign's approval of state documents. It is also known as the Great Seal of the United Kingdom (known prior to the Tr ...

erecting and establishing the Province of South Australia and fixing the boundaries thereof", defined the boundaries of the Province of South Australia: The Letters Patent included a recognition of the rights of the "Aboriginal Natives" to live within the lands of the Province of South Australia: This differed from the statements of the South Australia Act 1834 ( 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 95), which described the lands as "waste" and "unoccupied". An amendment to the 1834 act (the South Australia Government Act 1838 ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 60), passed 31 July 1838) incorporated the changes.

Afterwards

The first migrant ship, the ''John Pirie'', set sail for the colony three days later. On 28 December 1836, Governor Hindmarsh issued a Proclamation of the new Province at Glenelg. On 31 July 1838, the changes were brought into law by "An act to amend an act of the fourth and fifth years of his late majesty empowering his majesty to erect South Australia into a British province or provinces" (short name ascribed by the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

: South Australia Government Act 1838 ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 60).

Significance to Aboriginal people

As colonisation proceeded, no heed was paid to the words of the Letters Patent about Aboriginal rights to land: there were no treaties signed; colonists bought, leased and were granted land, thus effectively dispossessing the original inhabitants of their land. In 1966, Premier

Don Dunstan Donald Allan Dunstan (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was an Australian politician who served as the 35th premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for th ...

passed the '' Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966'' on the basis of the unfulfilled Letters Patent, which gave rights to Aboriginal people over their land (the rights in the letters patent were later enshrined in the South Australia Government Act 1838 ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 60)). From the early 21st century, research focused on the potential legal implications of this disregard of the Letters, and the document again became a source of debate. On Proclamation Day in 2006, the then SA Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Jay Weatherill, acknowledged publicly that the failure of the state to have met the Letters' promise 170 years later has "been the cause of much loss and suffering for Aboriginal people". On 24 April 2007 the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...

MLC, Sandra Kanck, and Greens MLC,

Mark Parnell Mark Charles Parnell (born 9 September 1959) is an Australian former politician and parliamentary leader of the SA Greens in the South Australian Legislative Council. He was the first SA Greens representative to be elected to the Parliament o ...

, on the occasion of the

Sesquicentenary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption o ...

(150 years) of Responsible Government in South Australia referred to the Letters Patent when they read a statement authorised by the Aboriginal Alliance Coalition Movement in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, "asking you to acknowledge that your enjoyment, if not the spirit, of your commemorative congratulations, blindly overlooks the denial of our English land rights within our own country in establishing your parliament on the land of the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

and on the country of their unacknowledged descendants". The 175th anniversary of the Letters Patent was commemorated at the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre at

Warriparinga Warriparinga, also spelt Warriparingga (meaning ''Windy Place'' in the local Kaurna language), is a nature reserve comprising in the metropolitan suburb of Bedford Park, South Australia, Bedford Park, in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, South ...

on 19 February 2011, as a document which preserves the rights of the Aboriginal inhabitants. The 2014 film ''King's Seal'' tells of the struggle for recognition of rights that were granted by the Letters Patent.

2018 Kaurna native title agreement

On 21 March 2018, a native title agreement between Kaurna elders, the State Government and

the Commonwealth ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

was formally accepted in a judgement in the Federal Court, 18 years after the original claim was lodged. The judgement recognises Kaurna people's native title rights over 17 parcels of undeveloped land not under freehold, and extends from

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Sp ...

to the Mt Lofty Ranges, from Myponga Beach in the south to Redhill in the north, and includes Adelaide's metropolitan area. The Kaurna people were also recognised as the traditional owners of the Adelaide Plains.

References

Sources

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Transcript of Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia 19 February 1836 (UK)
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National Archives of Australia