Adelaide was the first colony in Australia, settled in 1788.
Adelaide . Named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen , queen consort to King William IV , the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for a freely-settled British province in Australia . Australia . After the European discovery of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606 , Australia 's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788 .