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The forces of individual privatization and the drive to increased comfort were at work in the colony of South Australia as elsewhere in the Western world. The spread in mass consumption of goods engendered major value shifts, with new and distinct differentations being made among "luxuries," "decencies," and "necessities." Luxury may have been beyond the reach of most Adelaide families, but decency - represented by such items as dining-room tables and adequate laundering equipment - was not.<ref> Linda Young, "Material Life in South Australia". ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' 1994 25(1): 65-84. </ref>
The forces of individual privatization and the drive to increased comfort were at work in the colony of South Australia as elsewhere in the Western world. The spread in mass consumption of goods engendered major value shifts, with new and distinct differentations being made among "luxuries," "decencies," and "necessities." Luxury may have been beyond the reach of most Adelaide families, but decency - represented by such items as dining-room tables and adequate laundering equipment - was not.<ref> Linda Young, "Material Life in South Australia". ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' 1994 25(1): 65-84. </ref>
Adelaide was able to avoid the deterioration of the physical fabric with the spread of slums and the overstraining of the sanitary infrastructure that often characterized 19th-century cities. Adelaide managed to avoid these ills because of the ability and willingness of the bulk of the population to pursue an expensive form of city-building. Moreover, high incomes, an unusual absence of urban poverty, and a functional public transportation system account for Adelaide's success.<ref> Lionel Frost, "Nineteenth-Century Adelaide an a Global Context," ''Australian Economic History Review'' 1991 31(2): 28-44. </ref>
===20th century===
===20th century===
The town of Elizabeth, founded in South Australia in 1956 as a planned outer suburb of Adelaide, was designed to be a series of neighborhood communities, each with its own infrastructure of shops, schools, churches, and recreational facilities. Residents, however, preferred to shop in the town center, demanding local bus services and a movie theater. Moreover, the residents were not as "socially balanced" as planners envisaged - an economic and social cross section of Australians with middle-class residents providing leadership and cultural standards. Instead, Elizabeth was overwhelmingly working-class and immigrant (primarily from Britain). In a variety of ways it was women, not men, who shaped family and neighborhood life and who gave Elizabeth its distinctive qualities. Simply stated: males worked and women managed. Elizabeth worked reasonably well during the long postwar boom until hard times (beginning in the 1970s) heightened tensions and social problems.<ref>Mark Peel, "Making a Place: Women in the 'Workers' City'." ''Australian Historical Studies'' 1994 26 (102): 19-38. </ref>
The town of Elizabeth, founded in South Australia in 1956 as a planned outer suburb of Adelaide, was designed to be a series of neighborhood communities, each with its own infrastructure of shops, schools, churches, and recreational facilities. Residents, however, preferred to shop in the town center, demanding local bus services and a movie theater. Moreover, the residents were not as "socially balanced" as planners envisaged - an economic and social cross section of Australians with middle-class residents providing leadership and cultural standards. Instead, Elizabeth was overwhelmingly working-class and immigrant (primarily from Britain). In a variety of ways it was women, not men, who shaped family and neighborhood life and who gave Elizabeth its distinctive qualities. Simply stated: males worked and women managed. Elizabeth worked reasonably well during the long postwar boom until hard times (beginning in the 1970s) heightened tensions and social problems.<ref>Mark Peel, "Making a Place: Women in the 'Workers' City'." ''Australian Historical Studies'' 1994 26 (102): 19-38. </ref>
==Demographics==
==Population==
The population of South Australia is slightly over 1.5 million people, almost three quarters of whom live in the Adelaide area. The median age is 38.8 years, the highest of any Australian state.<ref>[http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3235.4.55.001 Population by Age and Sex, South Australia -- Electronic Delivery, Jun 2005], Australian Bureau of Statistics, accessed 19 May 2007</ref>
The population of South Australia is slightly over 1.5 million people, almost three quarters of whom live in the Adelaide area. The median age is 38.8 years, the highest of any Australian state.<ref>[http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3235.4.55.001 Population by Age and Sex, South Australia -- Electronic Delivery, Jun 2005], Australian Bureau of Statistics, accessed 19 May 2007</ref>