Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
type	city
name	Adelaide
state	sa
pop	1,203,873 (2010)
pop footnotes
poprank	5th
density	659
density footnotes	(2006)
area	1826.9
lga	18
est	28 December 1836
force national map	yes
timezone	ACST
utc	+9:30
timezone-dst	ACDT
utc-dst	+10:30
coordinates
dist1	729
dir1	NW
location1	Melbourne
dist2	1191
dir2	West
location2	Canberra
dist3	1408
dir3	West
location3	Sydney
dist4	1969
dir4	SW
location4	Brisbane
dist5	2700
dir5	East
location5	Perth
maxtemp	22.1
mintemp	12.1
rainfall	545.3 }}

Adelaide () is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.28 million. The adjectival form "Adelaidean" is used in reference to the city and its residents.

Adelaide is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St Vincent, on the Adelaide Plains, north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges. The suburbs reach roughly from the coast to the foothills but sprawl from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south.

Named in honour of Queen Adelaide, the German-born consort of King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for a freely settled British province in Australia. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, designed the city and chose its location close to the River Torrens in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people. Light's design set out Adelaide in a grid layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by parkland. Early Adelaide was shaped by religious freedom and a commitment to political progressivism and civil liberties, which led to the moniker "City of Churches".

As South Australia's seat of government and commercial centre, Adelaide is the site of many governmental and financial institutions. Most of these are concentrated in the city centre along the cultural boulevard of North Terrace, King William Street and in various districts of the metropolitan area. Today, Adelaide is noted for its many festivals and sporting events, its food, wine and culture, its long beachfronts, and its large defence and manufacturing sectors. It ranks highly in terms of liveability, being listed in the Top 10 of The Economist's World's Most Liveable Cities index in 2010 and being ranked the most liveable city in Australia by the Property Council of Australia in 2011.

History

Prehistory

Prior to British settlement, the Adelaide area was inhabited by the Kaurna Aboriginal nation (pronounced "Garner" or "Gowna").

19th century

South Australia was officially proclaimed as a new British colony on 28 December 1836, near The Old Gum Tree in what is now the suburb of Glenelg North. The event is commemorated in South Australia as Proclamation Day. The site of the colony's capital was surveyed and laid out by Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of South Australia, through the design made by the architect George Strickland Kingston. In 1823, Light had fondly written of the Sicilian city of Catania: "The two principal streets cross each other at right angles in the square in the direction of north and south and east and west. They are wide and spacious and about a mile long", and this became the basis for the plan of Adelaide. Light chose, not without opposition, a site on rising ground close to the River Torrens, which was the chief early water supply for the fledgling colony. "Light's Vision", as it has been termed, has meant that the initial design of Adelaide required little modification as the settlement grew and prospered.

Adelaide was established as the centre of a planned colony of free immigrants, promising civil liberties and freedom from religious persecution, based upon the ideas of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Wakefield had read accounts of Australian settlement while in prison in London for attempting to abduct an heiress, and realised that the eastern colonies suffered from a lack of available labour, due to the practice of giving land grants to all arrivals. Wakefield's idea was for the Government to survey and sell the land at a rate that would maintain land values high enough to be unaffordable for labourers and journeymen. Funds raised from the sale of land were to be used to bring out working class emigrants, who would have to work hard for the monied settlers to ever afford their own land. As a result of this policy, Adelaide does not share the convict settlement history of other Australian cities like Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Hobart.

As it was believed that in a colony of free settlers there would be little crime, no provision was made for a gaol in Colonel Light's 1837 plan. However, by mid-1837 the South Australian Register was warning of escaped convicts from New South Wales, and tenders for a temporary gaol were sought. Following a burglary, a murder, and two attempted murders in Adelaide during March 1838, Governor Hindmarsh created the South Australian Police Force (now named South Australia Police) in April 1838 under 21-year-old Henry Inman. The first Sheriff, Mr Samuel Smart, was wounded during the robbery, and on 2 May 1838 one of the offenders, Michael Magee, became the first person to be hanged in South Australia. William Baker Ashton was appointed Governor of the temporary goal in 1839, and in 1840 George Strickland Kingston was commissioned to design Adelaide's new Gaol. Construction of Adelaide Gaol commenced in 1841.

Adelaide's early history was wrought by economic uncertainty and incompetent leadership. The first governor of South Australia, John Hindmarsh, clashed frequently with others, in particular with the Resident Commissioner, James Hurtle Fisher. The rural area surrounding Adelaide was surveyed by Light in preparation to sell a total of over of land. Adelaide's early economy started to get on its feet in 1838 with the arrival of livestock from New South Wales and Tasmania. Wool production provided an early basis for the South Australian economy. Light's survey was completed in this period, and land was promptly offered for sale to early colonists. By 1860, wheat farms had been established from Encounter Bay in the south to Clare in the north.

Governor Gawler took over from Hindmarsh in late 1838 and, despite being under orders from the Select Committee on South Australia in Britain not to undertake any public works, promptly oversaw construction of a governor's house, the Adelaide Gaol, police barracks, a hospital, a customs house and a wharf at Port Adelaide. In addition, houses for public officials and missionaries, and outstations for police and surveyors were also constructed during Gawler's governorship. Adelaide had also become economically self-sufficient during this period, but at heavy cost: as a result of Gawler's public works the colony was heavily in debt and relied on bail-outs from London to stay afloat. Gawler was recalled and replaced by Governor Grey in 1841. Grey slashed public expenditure against heavy opposition, although its impact was negligible at this point: silver was discovered in Glen Osmond that year, agricultural was well underway, and other mines sprung up all over the state, aiding Adelaide's commercial development. The city exported meat, wool, wine, fruit and wheat by the time Grey left in 1845, contrasting with a low point in 1842 when one-third of Adelaide houses were abandoned.

Trade links with the rest of the Australian states were established with the Murray River being successfully navigated in 1853 by Francis Cadell, an Adelaide resident. South Australia became a self-governing colony in 1856 with the ratification of a new constitution by the British parliament. Secret ballots were introduced, and a bicameral parliament was elected on 9 March 1857, by which time 109,917 people lived in the province.

In 1860 the Thorndon Park reservoir was opened, finally providing an alternative water source to the now turbid River Torrens. In 1867 gas street lighting was implemented, the University of Adelaide was founded in 1874, the South Australian Art Gallery opened in 1881 and the Happy Valley Reservoir opened in 1896. In the 1890s Australia was affected by a severe economic depression, ending a hectic era of land booms and tumultuous expansionism. Financial institutions in Melbourne and banks in Sydney closed. The national fertility rate fell and immigration was reduced to a trickle. The value of South Australia's exports nearly halved. Drought and poor harvests from 1884 compounded the problems, with some families leaving for Western Australia. Adelaide was not as badly hit as the larger gold-rush cities of Sydney and Melbourne, and silver and lead discoveries at Broken Hill provided some relief. Only one year of deficit was recorded, but the price paid was retrenchments and lean public spending. Wine and copper were the only industries not to suffer a downturn.

20th century

Electric street lighting was introduced in 1900 and electric trams were transporting passengers in 1909. 28,000 men were sent to fight in World War I. Adelaide enjoyed a post-war boom but, with the return of droughts, entered the Great Depression of the 1930s, later returning to prosperity under strong government leadership. Secondary industries helped reduce the state's dependence on primary industries. World War II brought industrial stimulus and diversification to Adelaide under the Playford Government, which advocated Adelaide as a safe place for manufacturing due to its less vulnerable location. Seventy thousand men and women enlisted and shipbuilding was expanded at the nearby port of Whyalla.

The South Australian Government in this period built on former wartime manufacturing industries. International manufacturers like General Motors Holden and Chrysler made use of these factories around Adelaide, completing its transformation from an agricultural service centre to a twentieth-century city. A pipeline from Mannum brought River Murray water to Adelaide in 1954 and an airport opened at West Beach in 1955. An assisted migration scheme brought 215,000 immigrants of many nationalities, mainly European, to South Australia between 1947 and 1973.

The Dunstan Governments of the 1970s saw something of an Adelaide 'cultural revival' – establishing a wide array of social reforms and overseeing the city becoming a centre of the arts, building upon the biennial "Adelaide Festival of Arts" which commenced in 1960. Adelaide hosted the Formula One Australian Grand Prix between 1985 and 1996 on a street circuit in the city's east parklands, before tough economic conditions due to the state bank collapse. The 1991 State Bank collapse plunged both Adelaide and South Australia into economic recession, and its effects lasted until 2004, when ratings agency Standard & Poor's reinstated South Australia's AAA credit rating. Recent years have seen the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercars race make use of sections of the former Formula One circuit.

Geography

Adelaide is located north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges. The city stretches from the coast to the foothills, and from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Adelaide Metropolitan Region has a total land area of , and is at an average elevation of above sea level. Mount Lofty is located east of the Adelaide metropolitan region in the Adelaide Hills at an elevation of . It is the tallest point of the city and in the state south of Burra.

Much of Adelaide was bushland before British settlement, with some variation – swamps and marshlands were prevalent around the coast. However, much of the original vegetation has been cleared with what is left to be found in reserves such as the Cleland Conservation Park and Belair National Park. A number of creeks and rivers flow through the Adelaide region. The largest are the Torrens and Onkaparinga catchments. Adelaide relies on its many reservoirs for water supply with the Happy Valley Reservoir supplying around 40% and the much larger Mount Bold Reservoir 10% of Adelaide's domestic requirements respectively.

Urban layout

Adelaide is a planned city, designed by the first surveyor-general of South Australia, Colonel William Light. His plan, now known as Light's Vision, arranged Adelaide in a grid, with five squares in the Adelaide city centre and a ring of parks, known as the Adelaide Parklands, surrounding it. Light's design was initially unpopular with the early settlers, as well as South Australia's first Governor, John Hindmarsh. Light persisted with his design against this initial opposition.

The benefits of Light's design are numerous; Adelaide has had wide multi-lane roads from its beginning, an easily navigable grid layout and a beautiful green ring around the city centre. There are two sets of ring roads in Adelaide that have resulted from the original design. The inner ring route (A21) borders the parklands, and the outer route (A3/A13/A16/A17) completely bypasses the inner city via (in clockwise order) Grand Junction Road, Hampstead Road, Ascot Avenue, Portrush Road, Cross Road and South Road.

Suburban expansion has to some extent outgrown Light's original plan. Numerous former outlying villages and "country towns", and the satellite city of Elizabeth, have been enveloped by its suburban sprawl. Expanding developments in the Adelaide Hills region led to the construction of the South Eastern Freeway to cope with growth, which has subsequently led to new developments and further improvements to that transport corridor. Similarly, the booming development in Adelaide's South led to the construction of the Southern Expressway. New roads are not the only transport infrastructure developed to cope with the urban growth. The O-Bahn Busway is an example of a unique solution to Tea Tree Gully's transport woes in the 1980s. The development of the nearby suburb of Golden Grove in the late 1980s is possibly an example of well-thought-out urban planning. The newer suburban areas as a whole, however, are not as integrated into the urban layout as much as older areas, and therefore place more stress on Adelaide's transportation system – although not on a level comparable with Melbourne or Sydney. In the 1960s a Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study Plan was proposed in order to cater for the future growth of the city. The plan involved the construction of freeways, expressways and the upgrade of certain aspects of the public transport system. The then premier Steele Hall approved many parts of the plan and the government went as far as purchasing land for the project. The later government elected under Don Dunstan shelved the plan, but allowed the purchased land to remain vacant, should the future need for freeways arise. Some parts of this land have been used for transport, (e.g. the O-Bahn Busway and Southern Expressway), while other parts have been progressively subdivided for residential use.

In 2008 the SA Government announced plans for a network of transport-oriented developments across the Adelaide metropolitan area and purchased a 10 hectare industrial site at Bowden for $52.5 million as the first of these developments.

Climate

Adelaide has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), where most of the rain falls in the winter months. Of the Australian capital cities, Adelaide is the driest, and it has a semi-arid climate influence because of its dryness. Rainfall is unreliable, light and infrequent throughout summer. In contrast, the winter has fairly reliable rainfall with June being the wettest month of the year, averaging around 80 mm. Frosts are occasional, with the most notable occurrences having occurred in July 1908 and July 1982. Hail is also common in winter. There is usually no appreciable snowfall, except for very light falls at Mount Lofty and some places in the Adelaide Hills.

Governance

Adelaide, as the capital of South Australia, is the seat of the Government of South Australia. As Adelaide is South Australia's capital and most populous city, the State Government co-operates extensively with the City of Adelaide. In 2006, the Ministry for the City of Adelaide was created to facilitate the state government's collaboration with the Adelaide City Council and the Lord Mayor to improve Adelaide's image. The state parliament's Capital City Committee is also involved in the governance of the City of Adelaide, being primarily concerned with the planning of Adelaide's urban development and growth.

Local governments

The Adelaide metropolitan area is divided between eighteen local government areas, including, at its centre, the City of Adelaide, which administers the Adelaide city centre, North Adelaide, and the surrounding Adelaide Parklands. It is the oldest municipal authority in Australia and was established in 1840, when Adelaide and Australia's first mayor, James Hurtle Fisher, was elected. From 1919 onwards, the City has had a Lord Mayor, the current being Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood.

Demography

As of 2006 Census, Adelaide had a metropolitan population of more than 1,105,839, making it Australia's fifth largest city. In the 2002–03 period the population grew by 0.6%, while the national average was 1.2%. Some 70.3% of the population of South Australia are residents of the Adelaide metropolitan area, making South Australia one of the most centralised states.

Major areas of population growth in recent years were in outer suburbs such as Mawson Lakes and Golden Grove. Adelaide's inhabitants occupy 341,227 houses, 54,826 semi-detached, row terrace or town houses and 49,327 flats, units or apartments.

High socioeconomic areas include a number of the coastal suburbs, most of the inner north-eastern, eastern, south-eastern and inner southern suburbs, the Adelaide hills and North Adelaide. Almost a fifth (17.9%) of the population had university qualifications. The number of Adelaideans with vocational qualifications (such as tradespersons) fell from 62.1% of the labour force in the 1991 census to 52.4% in the 2001 census.

Overseas-born Adelaideans composed 23.7% (262,367) of the total population. The north-western suburbs (such as Woodville and Athol Park) and suburbs close to the CBD have a higher ratio of overseas-born residents. The five largest groups of overseas-born were from England (7.3%), Italy (1.9%), Scotland (1.0%), Vietnam (0.9%), and Greece (0.9%). The most-spoken languages other than English were Italian (3.0%), Greek (2.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%), Mandarin (0.8%), and Cantonese (0.7%).

Religion

Approximately 24% of the population expressed no religious affiliation, compared with the national average of 18.7%, although ironically the large number of churches in Adelaide has led people to believe this is the source of the nickname The City of Churches. Never the less over half of the population of Adelaide identifies as Christian, with the largest denominations being Catholic (22.1%), Anglican (14.0%), Uniting Church (8.4%) and Eastern Orthodox (3.8%).

Age structure

Overall, Adelaide is ageing more rapidly than other Australian capital cities. Just over a quarter (26.7%) of Adelaide's population is aged 55 years or older, in comparison to the national average of 24.3%. Adelaide has the lowest number of children (under-15 year olds), which composed 17.8% of the population, compared to the national average of 19.8%.

Economy

South Australia's largest employment sector is health care and social assistance, surpassing manufacturing in SA as the largest employer since 2006–07. In 2009–10, manufacturing in SA had average annual employment of 83,700 persons compared with 103,300 for health care and social assistance. Health care and social assistance represented nearly 13% of the state average annual employment.

The retail trade is the second largest employer in SA (2009–10), with 91,900 jobs, and 12 per cent of the state workforce.

Manufacturing, defence technology and research, commodity export and corresponding service industries play a role in the SA economy. Almost half of all cars produced in Australia are made in Adelaide at the General Motors Holden plant in Elizabeth. Adelaide has over 40% of Australia's high-tech electronics industry which designs and produces electronic systems that are sold worldwide for applications in medical, communications, defence, automotive, food and wine processing and industrial sectors. The revenue of Adelaide's electronics industry has grown at over 15% per annum since 1990, and in 2010 exceeds A$5 billion. The electronics industry in Adelaide employs over 14,000 people.

The global media conglomerate News Corporation was founded in and until 2004 incorporated in Adelaide and is still considered its 'spiritual' home by Rupert Murdoch. Australia's largest oil company, Santos, prominent South Australian brewery, Coopers, major national retailer Harris Scarfe and Australia's second largest listed investment company Argo Investments Limited call Adelaide their home.

The collapse of the State Bank in 1992 resulted in large levels of state public debt (as much as A$4 billion). The collapse had meant that successive governments had enacted lean budgets, cutting spending, which had been a setback to the further economic development of the city and state. The debt has recently been reduced with the State Government once again receiving a AAA+ Credit Rating. The South Australian economy, very closely tied to Adelaide's, still enjoys a trade surplus and has higher per capita growth than Australia as a whole.

Defence industry

Adelaide is home to a large proportion of Australia's defence industries, which contribute over A$1 billion to South Australia's Gross State Product. Seventy-two percent of Australian defence companies are located in Adelaide. The principal government military research institution, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, and other defence technology organisations such as BAE Systems Australia and Lockheed Martin Australia, are located north of Salisbury and west of Elizabeth in an area now called "Edinburgh Parks", adjacent to RAAF Base Edinburgh.

Others, such as Saab Systems and Raytheon, are located in or near Technology Park. The Australian Submarine Corporation, based in the industrial suburb of Osborne, was charged with constructing Australia's Collins class submarines and more recently the A$6 billion contract to construct the Royal Australian Navy's new air-warfare destroyers.

Employment statistics

There are 466,829 employed people in Adelaide, with 62.3% full-time and 35.1% part-time. In recent years there has been a growing trend towards part-time (which includes casual) employment, increasing from 11.6% of the workplace in 1991, to over a third today.

The median weekly individual income for people aged 15 years and over is $447 per week, compared with $466 nationally. The median family income is $1,137 per week, compared with $1,171 nationally. Adelaide's housing and living costs are substantially lower than that of other Australian cities, with housing being notably cheaper. The median Adelaide house price is half that of Sydney and two-thirds that of Melbourne. The three month trend unemployment rate to March 2007 was 6.2%. The Northern suburbs' unemployment rate is disproportionately higher than the other regions of Adelaide at 8.3%, while the East and South are lower than the Adelaide average at 4.9% and 5.0% respectively.

House prices

Over the decade March 2001 – March 2010, Metropolitan Adelaide median house prices have approximately tripled. (approx. 285%) In summary: {| class=wikitable |- align=right | March || 2001 || 2002 || 2003 || 2004 || 2005 || 2006 || 2007 || 2008 || 2009 || 2010 |- align=right | Median || 140,000 || 170,000 || 200,000 || 250,000 || 270,000 || 280,000 || 300,000 || 360,000 || 350,000 || 400,000 |- align=right |% change|| || 21% || 18% || 25% || 8% || 4% || 7% || 20% || −3% || 14% |} All numbers approximate and rounded

Education and research

Education forms an increasingly important part of the city's economy, with the South Australian Government and educational institutions attempting to position Adelaide as "Australia's education hub" and marketing it as a "Learning City." The number of international students studying in Adelaide has increased rapidly in recent years to 23,300, of which 2,380 are secondary school students. In addition to the city's existing institutions, foreign institutions have been attracted to set up campuses in order to increase its attractiveness as an education hub.

Primary and secondary education

At the level of primary and secondary education, there are two systems of school education. There is a public system operated by the South Australian Government and a private system of independent and Catholic schools. All schools provide education under the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) or, to a lesser extent, the International Baccalaureate (IB), with Adelaide having the highest number of IB schools in Australia.

Tertiary education

There are several South Australian TAFE (Technical and Further Education) campuses located in the metropolitan area which provide a range of vocational education and training. There are three public universities local to Adelaide, as well as three constituent colleges of three foreign universities. The Flinders University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia are based in Adelaide and were all ranked within the world's top 400 universities in the Times Higher Education magazine in 2007. The historic Torrens Building in Victoria Square houses Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College Australia, Cranfield University's Defence College of Management and Technology, and University College London's School of Energy and Resources (Australia), and constitute the city's international university precinct.

The University of Adelaide, with 20,478 students, is Australia's third-oldest university, and a member of the leading "Group of Eight". It has five campuses throughout the state, including two in the city-centre, and also has a campus in Singapore. The University of South Australia, with 36,000 students, has two North Terrace campuses, three other campuses in the metropolitan area and campuses at Whyalla and Mount Gambier. The Flinders University of South Australia, with 16,237 students, is located in the southern suburb of Bedford Park, alongside the Flinders Medical Centre.

Carnegie Mellon became the first American university to establish a campus in Australia when it established two postgraduate campuses in the Adelaide city centre in 2006: the Heinz College Australia in Victoria Square and the Entertainment Technology Center (sic) in Light Square. Cranfield University followed suit in 2007 and established a postgraduate campus in Victoria Square alongside the Heinz College. University College London established its first international campus (alongside CMU and Cranfield) in 2009, with postgraduate courses commencing in 2010. The two hundred year-old Royal Institution of Great Britain is also establishing an Australian counterpart in Adelaide which will formally open in 2009.

Research

In addition to the universities, there are a number of organisations involved in research with significant establishments in the metropolitan area. These tend to be geographically clustered:

Located at the east end of North Terrace: IMVS; Hanson Institute; RAH; National Wine Centre. Located in the Waite Research Precinct: SARDI Head Office and Plant Research Centre; AWRI; ACPFG; CSIRO research laboratories. SARDI also have establisments at Glenside and West Beach.

Located in Edinburgh, South Australia: DSTO; BAE Systems (Australia); Lockheed Martin Australia Electronic Systems.

Located at Technology Park (Mawson Lakes): BAE Systems; Optus; Raytheon; Topcon; Lockheed Martin Australia Electronic Systems.

Located in Research Park at Thebarton: businesses involved in materials engineering, biotechnology, environmental services, information technology, industrial design, laser/optics technology, health products, engineering services, radar systems, telecommunications and petroleum services.

Located at Science Park (adjacent to Flinders University): Playford Capital.

Cultural

While established as a British province, and very much English in terms of its culture, Adelaide attracted immigrants from other parts of Europe early-on, including German and other European non-conformists escaping religious persecution. The first German Lutherans arrived in 1838 bringing with them the vine cuttings that they used to found the acclaimed wineries of the Barossa Valley.

After the Second World War, British, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Polish and other European immigrants settled in Adelaide. The conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975 saw an influx of Indo-Chinese immigrants to Adelaide. See: Immigration history of Australia

Arts and entertainment

Adelaide's arts scene flourished in the 1960s and 1970s with the support of successive premiers of both major political parties. The renowned Adelaide Festival of Arts and Fringe Festival were established in 1960 under Thomas Playford. Construction of the Adelaide Festival Centre began under Steele Hall in 1970, and was completed under the subsequent government of Don Dunstan, who also established the South Australian Film Corporation.

Over time, the Adelaide Festival has expanded to include the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, Adelaide Festival of Ideas, Adelaide Writers' Week, and WOMADelaide, all held predominately in the autumnal month of March (that month is sometimes jocularly called 'mad March' by locals due to the hectic clustering of these events). Other festivals include FEAST (a queer culture celebration), Tasting Australia (a biennial food and wine affair), and the Royal Adelaide Show (an annual agricultural show and state fair). There are also many international cultural fairs, most notably the German Schützenfest and Greek Glendi. Adelaide is also home to the Adelaide Christmas Pageant, the world's largest Christmas parade. As the state capital, Adelaide is also home to a great number of cultural institutions with many located along the boulevard of North Terrace. The Art Gallery of South Australia, with around 35,000 works, holds Australia's second largest state-based collection.

Situated adjacent are the South Australian Museum and State Library of South Australia, while the Adelaide Botanic Garden, National Wine Centre and Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute are located nearby in the East End of the city. In the back of the State Library lies the Migration Museum is Australia's oldest museum of its kind. Adelaide Festival Centre, on the banks of the Torrens, is the focal point for much of the cultural activity in the city and home to the State Theatre Company of South Australia, with other venues including the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and the city's many smaller theatres, pubs and cabaret bars.

The music of Adelaide has produced various musical groups and individuals who have achieved both national and international fame. This includes the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Adelaide Youth Orchestra, rock bands: The Angels, Cold Chisel, The Superjesus, Wolf & Cub, Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, roots/blues group The Audreys, internationally acclaimed metal acts I Killed The Prom Queen and Double Dragon, popular Australian hip-hop outfit Hilltop Hoods, pop acts, Orianthi, Guy Sebastian, and Wes Carr, as well as internationally successful tribute act The Australian Pink Floyd Show.

Noted rocker Jimmy Barnes spent most of his youth in the northern suburb of Elizabeth. Paul Kelly grew up in Adelaide and was head prefect at Rostrevor College. The first Australian Idol winner, Guy Sebastian, hails from the north-eastern suburb of Golden Grove. American musician Ben Folds used to base himself in Adelaide when he was married to Australian Frally Hynes. Folds recorded a song about Adelaide before he moved away from the city. In addition to its own WOMADelaide, Adelaide attracts several touring music festivals, including Big Day Out, Parklife and Laneway.

Concert venues

Adelaide pop-concert venues (past and present) include: Adelaide Entertainment Centre; Adelaide Festival Theatre; Adelaide Oval; Apollo Stadium; Memorial Drive Park; Thebarton Theatre. Other concert and live theatre venues include: Adelaide Town Hall; Dunstan Playhouse; Her Majesty's Theatre.

Media

Newspapers

Newspapers in Adelaide are dominated by News Corporation publications—Adelaide being the birthplace of News Corporation itself. The only South Australian daily newspaper is The Advertiser, published by News Corporation six days a week, while the Sunday paper is the Sunday Mail.

There are eleven suburban community newspapers published weekly, known collectively as the Messenger Newspapers, also published by a subsidiary of News Corporation. The Independent Weekly was a small independent newspaper providing one alternative view, but abolished its print edition in November 2010 and now exists as a digital daily newsletter only. Two national daily newspapers are circulated in the city: The Australian and its weekend publication, The Weekend Australian, also published by News Corporation; and The Australian Financial Review published by Fairfax. Interstate dailies, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, published by Fairfax, are also typically available. The Adelaide Review is a free paper published fortnightly, and other independent magazine-style papers are published, but are not as widely available.

Television

All of the five Australian national television networks broadcast both analogue PAL and high definition digital services in Adelaide. They share three transmission towers on the ridge near the summit of Mount Lofty. The two government-funded stations are run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC1) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS One). The Seven Network and Network Ten both own their Adelaide stations (SAS-7 and ADS-10 respectively).

Adelaide's NWS-9 is affiliated with the Nine Network and was owned by Southern Cross Broadcasting until the sale to WIN Corporation in May 2007. New digital-only channels available in addition to ABC1, Seven, Nine, Ten and SBS One include One HD, Eleven, ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24, SBS Two, 7Two, 7mate, GEM HD and GO!. Adelaide also has a community television station, C31 Adelaide. The Foxtel pay TV service is available as cable television in a few areas, and as satellite television to the entire metropolitan area. It is resold by a number of other brands, mostly telephone companies.

As part of a nation-wide phase-out of analogue television in Australia, Adelaide's analogue TV service is slated to be shut down in the second half of 2013.

Radio

There are twenty radio stations that serve the metropolitan area, as well as four community stations that serve only parts of the metropolitan area. Of the twenty full coverage stations, there are six commercial stations, six community stations, six national stations and two narrowcast stations. A complete list can be found at List of radio stations in Australia#Adelaide.

Commercial stations include:

AM Band: Cruise 1323; FIVEaa 1395

FM Band: Nova 91.9; Mix 102.3; Triple M 104.7; SAFM 107.1; Fresh FM 92.7

Australian Broadcasting Corporation stations include:

AM Band: Radio National 729; 891 Adelaide (Local Radio); NewsRadio 972

FM Band: Classic FM 103.9; and Triple J 105.5.

Icons

Sport

The main sports played professionally in Adelaide are Australian rules football, soccer, cricket, netball and basketball. Adelaide is the home of two Australian Football League teams: the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power. A local football league, the SANFL, is made up of nine teams from around Adelaide.

Adelaide has developed a strong culture of attracting crowds to major sporting events. Most large sporting events take place at either AAMI Stadium or the historic Adelaide Oval, home of the Southern Redbacks cricket team. Adelaide hosts an international cricket test every summer, along with a number of One Day International cricket matches. Memorial Drive Park, adjacent to the Adelaide Oval, used to host the Adelaide International, a major men's tennis tournament in the lead-up to the Australian Open before the tournament was moved to Brisbane in 2009. Adelaide's professional football (soccer) team, Adelaide United, play in the A-League. Founded in 2003, their home ground is Hindmarsh Stadium, which has a capacity of 17,000 and is one of the few purpose-built soccer stadia in Australia. In 2008 the Cronulla Sharks, an Australian NRL franchise, and the South Australian Government announced a three year contract in which the Sharks will play a single home game each season at Hindmarsh. Unfortunately this only happened for 2009. From 2010 the Canterbury Bulldogs signed an agreement to play one home game per season at the Adelaide Oval for three years with the hope of establishing a strong supporter base in Adelaide.

Adelaide has two professional basketball teams, the mens team being the Adelaide 36ers who play in the NBL and the women's team, the Adelaide Lightning who play in the WNBL. The 36ers play their home games at the Adelaide Arena while the Lightning mostly play at the Wayville Sports Centre and occasionally at The Dome. Adelaide has a professional netball team, the Adelaide Thunderbirds play in the trans-Tasman netball competition, the ANZ Championship, with home games played at ETSA Park. The Thunderbirds also occasionally play games or finals at The Dome or the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Adelaide hosts the Tour Down Under bicycle race, the largest cycling event outside Europe and the first event outside Europe with UCI ProTour status.

The Australian Grand Prix for Formula One racing was hosted by Adelaide from 1985 to 1995 on a street circuit in the city's eastern parklands. The Grand Prix became a source of pride and losing the event to Melbourne in a surprise announcement left a void that has since been filled with the highly successful Clipsal 500 for V8 Supercar racing, held on a modified version of the same street circuit. The Classic Adelaide, a rally of classic sporting vehicles, is also held in the city and its surrounds.

The World Solar Challenge race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 20-year history spanning nine races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Adelaide will host the 2012 World Bowls Championships at Lockleys Bowling Club. Adelaide will become the third city in the world to have held the championships twice, having previously hosted the event in 1996.

[[File:Adelaide.jpg|center|800px|thumb|360-degree panoramic view of the Southern Plaza of the Festival Theatre Centre. (From left-to-right, starting SE): Background: (SE): Government House, The Myer Centre, (S): Parliament House, Dame Roma Mitchell Building (SW): Adelaide Railway Station/Casino/Hyatt Hotel Foreground: (SE): Southern Plaza, (S-to-W): City Sign Background:(W-to-N): Adelaide Festival Centre: The Dunstan Playhouse, The Space Theatre, The outdoor amphitheatre, The Festival Theatre Foreground:(W-to-N): Southern Plaza Background:(N-to-NE): The Festival Theatre (northern) Plaza, (NE-to-E): Trees along King William Road Foreground:(N-to-E): Stairs from Southern Plaza down to Festival Theatre Plaza, and Southern Plaza.]]

Infrastructure

Health

Adelaide's first hospital is the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). Founded in 1840, it is one of the major hospitals in Adelaide and is a teaching hospital of the University of Adelaide. It has a capacity of 705 beds. Two other RAH campuses which specialise in specific patient services are located in the suburbs of Adelaide – the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre in Northfield, and the Glenside Campus Mental Health Service. Four other large hospitals in the Adelaide area are: the Women's and Children's Hospital (305 beds), which is located on King William Road in North Adelaide; the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (340 beds), located in Woodville, the Flinders Medical Centre (580 beds), located in Bedford Park and in the northern suburbs, and the Lyell McEwin Hospital (198 beds) in Elizabeth. These hospitals are also associated with medical schools. The Women's and Children's, the Queen Elizabeth and the Lyell McEwin are affiliated with the University of Adelaide, Flinders Medical Centre is affiliated Flinders University, and the Lyell McEwin is also affiliated with the University of South Australia.

In June 2007 the State Government announced a series of overhauls to the health sector that would see a new hospital constructed on railyards at the west end of the city, to replace the Royal Adelaide Hospital located at the east end of the city. Should it go ahead, the new 800 bed hospital would cost A$1.7 bn and be named the "Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital" after the former Governor of South Australia. However, in 2009, at the former governor's request, the state government chose to drop this name and instead transfer the Royal Adelaide Hospital name to the proposed facility.

In addition, major upgrades would see the Flinders Medical Centre become the primary centre for health care for the southern suburbs, while upgrades for the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Elizabeth would see that become the centre for the northern suburbs. The trio of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Modbury Hospital and the Noarlunga Hospital would become specialist elective surgery centres. The Repatriation General Hospital would also expand its range of speciality areas beyond veterans' health to incorporate stroke, orthopaedic rehabilitation and aged care. With the "Global Financial Crisis" of 2008, it remains to be seen if and how these initiatives will proceed.

Transport

Being centrally located on the Australian mainland, Adelaide forms a strategic transport hub for east-west and north-south routes. The city itself has a metropolitan-wide public transport system, which is managed by and known as the Adelaide Metro. The Adelaide Metro consists of a contracted bus system including the O-Bahn Busway, metropolitan railways, and the Adelaide-Glenelg Tram, which was extended as a metropolitan tram in 2010 through the city centre to the inner north-west suburb of Hindmarsh.

Road transport in Adelaide has historically been comparatively easier than many of the other Australian cities, with a well-defined city layout and wide multiple-lane roads from the beginning of its development. Historically, Adelaide was known as a "twenty-minute city", with commuters having been able to travel from metropolitan outskirts to the city proper in roughly twenty minutes. However, these roads are now often considered inadequate to cope with Adelaide's growing road traffic, and often experience traffic congestion.

Adelaide has one freeway and two expressways; the South Eastern Freeway, connecting the city with the Adelaide Hills and beyond to Murray Bridge, the Port River Expressway connecting Port Adelaide and Outer Harbor to interstate routes, and the Southern Expressway, an interchangeable one-way road connecting the southern suburbs with the city proper. The Gawler Bypass skirting Gawler is another expressway style, high speed inter-urban corridor. In February 2010, the current state government announced plans to upgrade the Southern Expressway to a dual direction expressway if it was re-elected at the next State election.

A third expressway, the Northern Expressway (formerly the Sturt Highway extension), a northern suburbs bypass route—connecting the Gawler Bypass to Port Wakefield Road—started construction in 2008. There are also plans for major upgrades to busy sections of South Road, including road widening and underpasses of Anzac Highway (completed in 2009), Grange Road, Port Road and the Outer Harbour Railway Line, during the first stage.

Airports

The Adelaide metropolitan area has two commercial Airports, Adelaide and Parafield.

Adelaide Airport, located in Adelaide's western suburbs, is designed to serve in excess of 6.3 million passengers annually. The dual international/domestic terminal named T1 incorporates glass aerobridges and has the ability to cater for the Airbus A380. The airport is designed to handle 27 aircraft simultaneously and is capable of processing 3,000 passengers per hour. Unusually for a major city, it is located only seven kilometres (4.4 mi) from the Adelaide city centre. The airport is serviced by five international airlines in addition to domestic, regional and charter operators, including: Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Pacific Blue Airlines, QantasLink and Tiger Airways Australia. Adelaide airport currently has direct flights servicing Denpasar (Bali, Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Nadi (Fiji), Hong Kong, Singapore and Auckland (New Zealand). In March 2007, Adelaide Airport was rated the world's second best airport in the 5–15 million passengers category at the Airports Council International (ACI) 2006 awards in Dubai.

Parafield Airport, Adelaide's second airport, located eighteen kilometres (11.2 mi) north of the CBD, is used for small aircraft, pilot training and recreational aviation purposes.

Utilities

Adelaide's energy requirements are met by a variety of companies who separately provide for the generation, transmission, distribution and retail sales of gas and electricity. Some of the major companies are: TRUenergy, which generates electricity; ElectraNet, which transmits electricity from the generators to the distribution network; ETSA Utilities (formerly a government-owned company which was privatised by the Olsen Government in the 1990s), which distributes electricity from transmission companies to end users; and AGL Energy, which retails gas and electricity. Substantial investment has been made in maintenance and reinforcement of the electricity supply network to provide continued reliability of supply.

Adelaide derives most of its electricity from a gas-fired plant operated by AGL Energy at Torrens Island, with more coming from power stations at Port Augusta and Pelican Point, and from connections to the national grid. Gas is mainly supplied from the Moomba Gas Processing Plant in the Cooper Basin, and is piped to Adelaide and other areas within the state. A small part of supply also comes from wind turbines at Sellicks Hill, and a trial of more turbines on city buildings is underway.

Adelaide's water supply is gained from its reservoirs: Mount Bold, Happy Valley, Myponga, Millbrook, Hope Valley, Little Para and South Para. The yield from these reservoir catchments can be as little as 10% of the city's requirements in drought years and about 60% in average years. The remaining demand is met by the pumping of water from the River Murray. A sea water desalination plant capable of supplying half of Adelaide's water requirements (100GL per annum) is currently being planned, with construction expected to be completed by 2012. The provision of water services is by the government-owned SA Water.

Sister cities

See also

Adelaide city centre

City of Adelaide

Music of Adelaide

South Australian wine

Port Adelaide

Lists:

Images of Adelaide (Commons)

List of Adelaide parks and gardens

List of Adelaide railway stations

List of Adelaide suburbs

List of bus routes in Adelaide

List of people from Adelaide

List of sports clubs in Adelaide

List of tallest buildings in Adelaide

References

Further reading

Kathryn Gargett; Susan Marsden, Adelaide: A Brief History Adelaide: State History Centre, History Trust of South Australia in association with Adelaide City Council, 1996 ISBN 0-7308-0116-0

Susan Marsden; Paul Stark; Patricia Sumerling, eds, Heritage of the City of Adelaide: an illustrated guide Adelaide: Adelaide City Council, 1990, 1996 ISBN 0-9098-6630-9

Derek Whitelock et al., Adelaide: a sense of difference Melbourne: Arcadia, 2000 ISBN 0-87560-657-1

External links

City of Adelaide

Adelaide City Council

SA Central

Equirectangular Image of North Terrace, Adelaide

Category:Adelaide Category:Australian capital cities Category:Cities in South Australia Category:Coastal cities in Australia Category:Populated places established in 1836 Category:1836 establishments in Australia

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Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
ground name	Adelaide Oval
country	Australia
location	Adelaide, South Australia
coordinates
establishment	1871
seating capacity	36,000
owner	South Australia Cricket Association
tenants	Australian National Cricket Team Southern Redbacks (Cricket) Adelaide Strikers (Cricket) 2011- Adelaide Crows (AFL) 2014- Port Adelaide Power (AFL) 2014-
end1	River End
end2	Cathedral End
international	true
firsttestdate	12 December
firsttestyear	1884
firsttesthome	Australia
firsttestaway	England
lasttestdate	3–7 December
lasttestyear	2010
lasttesthome	Australia
lasttestaway	England
firstodidate	20 December
firstodiyear	1975
firstodihome	Australia
firstodiaway	West Indies
lastodidate	26th January
lastodiyear	2011
lastodihome	Australia
lastodiaway	England
year1	1877 - present
club1	South Australia
date	5 March
year	2010
source	http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/2/5.html CricketArchive }}

Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide and has a history which dates back to the 1870s. It is considered to be one of the most picturesque Test cricket grounds in Australia, if not the world. The oval is managed by the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA), and the long-serving curator Les Burdett retired in 2010. The oval currently has a seating capacity of 40,000 spectators; the maximum crowd at a cricket game was 50,962 (during the Bodyline test 1932) and the maximum crowd was 62,543 (at the 1965 SANFL Grand Final between Port Adelaide and Sturt).

History

The ground was established in 1871 after the formation of SACA.

The first Test match was played at the Oval from 12–16 December 1884. England beat Australia by eight wickets. (Scorecard)

In 1894–95 Albert Trott collected 8/43 on debut against England, the best ever single-innings Test match figures at the ground.

The picket fence was put up surrounding the Oval (then with a cycling track) in 1900.

From 5–12 August 1911 the Australian Football Council Carnival was played at the ground, won by South Australia. The competing sides were SA, VFL, VFA, Western Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.

The Adelaide Oval scoreboard, designed by architect Kenneth Milne, began service on 3 November 1911. The clock was added in 1912 and the windvane in the 1930s.

In 1931–32 Donald Bradman scored the highest score ever at the ground in Test Cricket, compiling 299* against South Africa. In the same game, Clarrie Grimmett collected fourteen wickets, the most ever taken in a Test match at the ground by a bowler.

In 1932–33, the Bodyline affair reached its lowest point at the ground when Bill Woodfull and Bert Oldfield were struck, and on the third day mounted police patrolled to keep the 50,962 spectators in order (a record crowd for cricket at the ground). The total attendance for the match was 174,351.

In 1946–47, Arthur Morris of Australia, and Denis Compton of England both made centuries in both innings of the Test.

In 1947–48 Australia scored 674 against India, the highest team total at the ground in Test matches.

Considered by some to be the best Test Match ever competed at the ground, Australia played the West Indies in the fourth test of the Frank Worrell Trophy, 1960–61. The match ended in a draw, with the West Indies unable to take the final wicket of the fourth innings, as the last batsmen Ken Mackay and Lindsay Kline held out for 109 minutes. West Indies bowler Lance Gibbs took the only ever Test cricket hat trick at the ground in Australia's first innings. (Scorecard)

Ken Barrington's favourate ground was the Adelaide Oval, where he scored 104, 52, 52 not out, 63, and 132 not out in 1962-63 and 69, 51, 63, 60 and 102 in 1965-66, a total of 748 runs (93.50).

A record attendance of 62,543 people was recorded for the 1965 SANFL Grand Final between Port Adelaide and Sturt.

In 1975–76 the first One-Day International match was played at the ground between Australia and West Indies (40-over match), which Australia won by 5 wickets. (Scorecard)

In 1978, the ground hosted the first concert by David Bowie in the Southern Hemisphere. It was also the first large scale outdoor concert he had ever played.

In October 1982, vs Victoria, David Hookes hit a 43 minute, 34 ball century - in some respects the fastest hundred in history. (Statistics)

In 1989–90 Dean Jones scored twin Test hundreds against Pakistan.

South Australia compiled the highest fourth innings winning total in Sheffield Shield history, reaching 6/506 (set 506 to win) against Queensland in 1991–92.

In 1992–93 the West Indies defeated Australia by one run in the fourth test of the Frank Worrell Trophy, when a bouncer by Courtney Walsh brushed Craig McDermott's glove to end a 40-run last-wicket partnership. It was the narrowest victory ever in Test cricket. Curtly Ambrose picked up ten wickets in the game. (Scorecard)

Lights were constructed at the ground in 1997, allowing sport to be held at night. This was the subject of a lengthy dispute with the Adelaide City Council, due to environmental issues relating to the parklands area. The first towers erected were designed to retract into the ground; however one collapsed and they were replaced with permanent towers. The first cricket match under lights was a One Day International between South Africa and New Zealand on 6 December 1997. (Scorecard)

In 1999, Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing by umpire Ross Emerson in a One Day International against England. The Sri Lankan team almost abandoned the match, but after instructions from the president of the Sri Lankan cricket board (relayed to captain Arjuna Ranatunga by mobile phone) the game resumed.

In 2003, two matches of the Rugby World Cup were played at Adelaide Oval, with Australia thrashing Namibia 142-0 and a thriller of an encounter between Ireland and Argentina which Ireland edged by a single point.

In December 2003 the highest day-score was compiled at the Adelaide Oval, by Australia against India, with the home side finishing at 5/400 at stumps.

In November 2005 Brian Lara broke Allan Border's world record for the most Test runs before eventually being dismissed for 226.

During the 2006/2007 Ashes series, many temporary stands were erected to cope with the demand for tickets. Stands were put between the Chappell stands and on the top of the hills. Australia beat England by 6 wickets on a remarkable last day. (Scorecard)

In late 2010, the Western Grandstand with a seating capacity of 14,000, was completed.

Major sporting events

Adelaide Oval hosts the following major sporting events:

International cricket — Test and One Day International. The Adelaide Oval hosts some of the many exciting events in the cricketing calendar - including the annual Australia Day One Day International on 26 January (replacing a traditional Australia Day test) and every 4 years, one of the 5 Ashes test matches against England. The tests are now normally held in early December and is a clash between Australia and the international touring team of that particular season. In 2011, The Adelaide Oval will hold its first Twenty20 International. The home side will take on England as a part of a two match 'KFC Twenty20 International' Series.

Domestic cricket — Adelaide Oval is the home ground of the West End Southern Redbacks, the South Australian state cricket team. They play in three competitions: Sheffield Shield (first-class), Ryobi One Day Cup (one-day) and KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The 2005/06 ING Cup (now known as the Ryobi One Day Cup) final was played at Adelaide Oval between SA and NSW.

Australian rules football — Adelaide Oval hosts SANFL matches, including many of the finals. Traditional fixtures include a "Grand Final rematch" between last year's Grand Finalists on the afternoon of ANZAC Day, which is well attended due to the venue's close proximity to the Torrens Parade Ground, the end of the ANZAC Day Parade in Adelaide, and the Finals in the first 3 weeks of the SANFL Finals Series, with only the Grand Final being played at AAMI Stadium. Australian Football League matches are played at AAMI Stadium, although this will change in 2014 when AFL games will be shifted to a redeveloped and expanded Adelaide Oval. The first AFL game that will take place at the venue will be Port Adelaide v Melbourne in Round 24 of the 2011 AFL Season.

Rugby sevens — Starting in 2007, Adelaide Oval has hosted the Australia Sevens event in the IRB Sevens World Series.

Soccer — Adelaide United FC have played a number of A-League home games against Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory FC. Adelaide Oval was the site of an international friendly match between the Socceroos and New Zealand on 5 June, 2011.

Rugby League - In 1991 NSWRL came to the Adelaide Oval when the St. George Dragons played the Balmain Tigers on a cold and wet Friday night under temporary lights in the first of five games that the Dragons would play at the oval over the next five years. That game set a rugby league record crowd for the ground when 28,884 people attended. In 1997 Adelaide got its own side in the much vaunted (but short lived) Super League competition with the Adelaide Rams. Their first home game attracted their record crowd when 27,435 saw the Rams beat the Hunter Mariners 10-8, however, they left the ground in 1998 and went to Hindmarsh Stadium. In 2010 the Canterbury Bulldogs played the Melbourne Storm at Adelaide Oval.

16 sports have been played at one time or another at the oval: archery, athletics, baseball, cycling, gridion, highland games, hockey, lacrosse, lawn tennis, rugby league, rugby union, quoits and soccer.

Concerts

Adelaide Oval has hosted major concerts during its time, with some of the most famous acts including Fleetwood Mac (1977 & 2004), David Bowie (1978 & 1983), KISS (1980), Madonna & Paul McCartney (1993), Michael Jackson (1996), Billy Joel & Elton John (1998), P!nk (2002), Pearl Jam (2009) & AC/DC & Wolfmother (2010).

Oval layout

The oval dimensions are 190m x 125m, which is both unusually long and unusually narrow for an Australian cricket ground. The arrangement is highly favourable for batsmen who play square of the wicket, and heavily penalises bowlers who deliver the ball wide so that the batsman can exploit the short boundaries square of the wicket. Before the far ends in front of and behind the wicket were roped off, making the playing area shorter, it was not uncommon for batsmen to hit an all-run five. The pitch itself is generally very good for batting, and offers little assistance to bowlers until the last day of a match.

The playing area is surrounded by a white picket fence and advertising billboards.

The Hill was created in 1898 with earth from the banks of the River Torrens.

The scoreboard was first used in 1911 and still shows its original Edwardian architecture.

There were three western stands from around the start of the 20th century, all of which were demolished in 2009:

*George Giffen stand (1882)

*Sir Edwin Smith stand (1922)

*Mostyn Evan stand (1920s)

Two grandstands, named the Chappell Stands, after the South Australian cricketing brothers Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell and Trevor Chappell were completed in 2003. They are due to be demolished as part of a major redevelopment (see below).

The Sir Donald Bradman stand was built in 1990 to replace the John Creswell stand and now provides up to date facilities for spectators.

The scoreboard and the George Giffen Stand are listed on the City of Adelaide Heritage Register, helping to maintain the charm of the ground. The George Giffen Stand has since been demolished to make way for new western grandstands.

{| | | | | | | |} ;The new western stand - December 2010 During the second Ashes test {| | | | | |} During the England vs SA match {| | | | | |}

Ground redevelopment

Western stand redevelopment

In August 2008 the South Australian Cricket Association announced that it had approved plans to redevelop the ground, involving expanding its capacity to 40,000. Development plans showed a reconfiguration of the playing surface and a remodelled western stand. The redevelopment would make the ground a viable option for hosting Australian Football League games as well as international soccer and rugby. The state and federal Governments each pledged $25m to the project, leaving the SACA to raise at least $45m. The SACA planned for the new stand to be ready in time for the 2010–11 Ashes series.

It was announced on 27 February 2009 that the A$95 million re-development would commence on 10 March 2010. In March, the western stands were torn down.

2010 state election proposals

In the lead up to the 2010 South Australian state election, the opposition Liberal Party announced that, if elected, it would provide Adelaide with a new stadium with a roof capable of closing. The incumbent Labor party subsequently announced it would fund an upgrade and redevelopment of the whole of the Adelaide Oval, rather than just the Western Grand Stand. The redeveloped stadium, (which will not have a closing roof), is intended to seat 50,000 people, with 77% of them under cover. The redevelopment is proposed to be completed some time in 2014 or 2015. In an arrangement negotiated between the incumbent Labor Party and the SACA on 2 December 2009, it was originally planned to cost $450 million.

Joint redevelopment by SACA and SANFL

The Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority (AOSMA), a joint venture of SACA and SANFL, was registered as a company on 23 Dec 2009 following the re-announcement of the plan. The AOSMA has eight directors, four associated with SACA (Ian McLachlan-Chair, John Harnden, Creagh O’Connor & John Bannon) and four with SANFL (Leigh Whicker-CEO, Rod Payze, Philip Gallagher & Jamie Coppins)

However, in early-mid 2010, prior to the election, it became clear that $450m would be inadequate. After the election (on 7 April 2010), SA Premier Mike Rann capped the State Government's commitment, saying: "It's $450 million - and not a penny more", and set a deadline for the parties to agree. In May, Treasurer Kevin Foley announced that "the Government's final offer to the SANFL and SACA for the redevelopment" was $535 million, and the deadline was extended to August 2010. Simultaneously, the SACA and the SANFL were in the process of negotiating an agreement that would enable Australian Rules Football (AFL) to use the Adelaide Oval during the AFL season as their home ground. In September 2010, an agreement between Port Adelaide, SACA, the SANFL and the AFL had still not been achieved.

The redevelopment is also planned to include a $20 million pedestrian bridge across the River Torrens to link the Adelaide railway station precinct with the Adelaide Oval precinct. there was debate on whether the Adelaide Crows will move from Football Park (AAMI Stadium) to Adelaide Oval, or continue to use AAMI Stadium as their home ground. If they do move to Adelaide Oval, it is expected that AAMI will withdraw their sponsorship, and the land around Football Park will be rezoned to allow the SANFL (the owners of Football Park) to profit from the rezoning. Fans of the Adelaide Crows have rallied in support of the club to stay at Football Park. It was announced 2 months prior to the SACA vote that the Adelaide Crows will move to Adelaide Oval and use it as their home ground, as does Port Adelaide. Once the upgrade on the oval has been completed, The Port Adelaide and Adelaide Football clubs will move immediately to Adelaide oval. Once the move has been completed from Football Park to Adelaide Oval, AAMI will withdraw their sponsorship of Football Park, The stands at Football Park will be demolished, but the Adelaide Football Club Administrative offices, CrowsMania (Adelaide Football Clubs merchandise store), the Oval itself and the surrounding area will stay..In Early 2011, the AFL, SANFL, SACA, the SA Government and the Australian Government reached an agreement to upgrade Adelaide Oval. The SACA and the SANFL proposed, if SACA members vote yes on the upgrade in early May, that the whole Stadium will undergo redevelopment, except for the Northern Mound, the Moreton Bay Fig trees and the scoreboard, which will stay as it is because of it being under heritage listing. The stadium's capacity is meant to exceed 50,000, and it will have 2 T.V. screens, which will both be bigger than the ones at the MCG, which, at the moment, are the biggest in the country. If SACA members do vote yes, (75% of SACA need to vote yes for the deal to go ahead) then the SANFL and AFL will have control over the stadium for 7 months of the year, and SACA will have control for 5 months of the year.

SACA members could choose to vote online on the 28th of April, 2011, of whether they want the upgrade to go ahead, or they could go to the Adelaide Showgrounds on the 2nd of May, 2011, to vote. At 6pm, 28th of April, 2011, It was announced that 60% of SACA members that voted online voted yes, 15% short of the Majority vote needed for the upgrade to go ahead. At 10.15pm, on the 2nd May, 2011, at the Adelaide Showgrounds, it was announced that the votes had been counted and finalized. The results were, 80.37% of total votes cast were in favour of Adelaide Oval being redeveloped, meaning that the upgrade will go ahead. Other small complications are still ahead, but should be easily passed. The upgrade will recommence in April, 2012, and is expected to be finished by late-March, 2014, if there isn't any more delays. The whole Oval will be upgraded except for the already rebuilt Western grandstand (SACA and SANFL members only stand), the Northern Mound, the Historic Scoreboard and the Morton Bay Fig Trees. The Northern Mound, the Morton bay Fig Trees and the Scoreboard are all listed under the Heritage act and will never be demolished unless they are damaged beyond repair.

See also

List of Test cricket grounds

List of international cricket centuries at the Adelaide Oval

References

External links

Adelaide Oval Official Website

Category:Test cricket grounds in Australia Category:Rugby union stadiums in Australia Category:Sports venues in Adelaide Category:Rugby league stadiums in Australia Category:Australian Football League grounds Category:South Australian National Football League grounds

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