Australian Aboriginal society has the longest continuous cultural history in the world. It is almost certain that the ancestors of today's Aborigines came across the sea from South-East Asia at least 50,000 years ago. Apart from a few carnivorous predators and poisonous snakes, the environment was relatively non-threatening to the continents first people. At the time of European settlement, SA is thought to have been populated by between 10,000 and 15,000 Aboriginal people living in 43 tribal groups. Aboriginal …showed first 75 words of 802 total…

…showed last 75 words of 802 total…Gambier, establishing a safer route than the Murray River. In 1862 John McDouall Stuart succeeded in crossing the continent from south to north, which led to SA taking control of the Northern Territory. By the 1870's SA had replaced Cornwall as the leading copper producer in the British Empire. Copper made many people in SA rich, and many buildings were built with funds from mining. One of these was the University of Adelaide was founded in 1874.