parliaments with the British monarch as the symbolic head of state. In 1850 and elections for legislative councils were held in the colonies of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. In 1855, limited self-government was granted by London to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. An innovative secret ballot was introduced in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in 1856, in which the government supplied voting paper containing the names of candidates and voters could select in private. This system was adopted around the world, becoming known as the "Australian Ballot". In the same year, all male British subjects ages 21 or over were granted the right to vote. Self-governing colony (1856) South Australia became a self-governing colony in October 1856 with the ratification of a new constitution by the British parliament via the Constitution Act 1856 (UK). This Act provided for a bicameral Parliament with full authority to enact laws, apart from a few Acts requiring Royal Assent. The Legislative Council was elected by property owners only, while the 37-member House of Assembly was elected on a broad male franchise. A parliament was elected by secret ballot on 9 March 1857, by which time 109,917 people lived in the province. Several decades after the federation of Australia in 1901, the Constitution Act 1856 was replaced by the Constitution Act 1934. See also History of Adelaide History of Australia (1788–1850) History of South Australia William Light Footnotes References Further reading Hamilton, Reg. Colony : strange origins of one of the earliest modern democracies (2010) online Hastings, W. K. "The Wakefield colonisation plan and constitutional development in South Australia, Canada and New Zealand." Journal of Legal History 11.2 (1990): 279-299. Langley, Michael. "Wakefield and South Australia." History Today (Oct 1969), Vol. 19 Issue 10, pp 704-712; online. Mills, Richard Charles. The colonization of Australia (1829-42): the Wakefield experiment in empire building (1915). online Garnett, Richard. Edward Gibbon Wakefield: The Colonization of South Australia and New Zealand (1898) online (Also available to borrow on the Internet archive) 1831 establishments in Australia Demographics of South Australia Settlement schemes in Australia British colonisation of Oceania