ADELAER

born Dec. 16, 1622, Brevik, Nor. died Nov. 5, 1675, Copenhagen, Den. also spelled Adeler (Norwegian: "Eagle"), byname of Cort, or Curt, Sivertsen, Italian Curzio Suffrido Norwegian-born seaman and naval officer, distinguished in both Venetian and Danish naval history. He entered the Dutch navy in 1639 as an adelborst ("cadet") and served under Martin van Tromp but in 1642 moved into Venetian service, where he was known as Curzio Suffrido Adelborst. He soon distinguished himself and in 1650 was sent to patrol the Dardanelles. On May 16, 1654, his Venetian squadron took part in the Battle of the Dardanelles, when his ship alone sank 15 Turkish galleys; and on the following day he compelled the surrender of the Turks at Tenedos. In 1659 he was made a knight of St. Mark and given a pension for life, and in 1660 he became lieutenant admiral of the Venetian fleet. Two years later, in 1662, he returned to Denmark as admiral of the Danish fleet, receiving at the same time various honours and revenues from King Frederick III. His most important work was the refitting and reorganization of the fleet. In 1665 he received an invitation to command the Dutch fleet against England, but this he refused. He was ennobled by Frederick III in 1666 and was sent to India to negotiate with the court of Coromandel three years later (1669-70). Under Christian V he was appointed to command the Danish fleet against Sweden but died before the expedition. capital of the state of South Australia. Situated at the base of the Mount Lofty Ranges, 9 miles (14 km) inland from the centre of the eastern shore of the Gulf St. Vincent, it has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers (February mean temperature 74 F ), mild winters (July mean 54 F ), and an average annual rainfall of 21 inches (530 mm). The site, chosen in 1836 by William Light (the colony's first surveyor general), is on slightly rising ground along the Torrens River, which divides it into a southern business district and a northern residential section. The city is separated from its suburbs by extensive areas of parklands. Named for Queen Adelaide, consort of the British king William IV, it was incorporated as Australia's first municipal government in 1840, but the city council ran into considerable debt and became defunct in 1843. Adelaide was thereafter controlled by the provincial government until 1849, when a city commission was formed. A municipal corporation was reestablished in 1852, and the city gained a lord mayoralty in 1919. The fertility of the surrounding plains, easy access to the Murray lowlands to the east and southeast, and the presence of mineral deposits in the nearby hills all contributed to the city's growth. As an early agricultural marketing centre, it handled wheat, wool, fruits, and wine. Adelaide, aided by its central position and a ready supply of raw materials, has since become industrialized, with factories producing automobile components, machinery, textiles, and chemicals. A petroleum refinery was completed in 1962 at Hallet Cove, south of Adelaide near Port Noarlunga; a second refinery has also been completed. Adelaide is connected by pipeline with the Gidgealpa natural-gas fields in Cooper Basin, northeastern South Australia. A focus of rail, sea, air, and road transportation, Adelaide receives the bulk of the products of the lower Murray River valley, which has no port at its mouth. Adelaide's own harbour facilities are at Port Adelaide, 7 miles (11 km) northwest. Notable city landmarks include the University of Adelaide (founded in 1874), Parliament and Government houses, the Natural History Museum, and two cathedrals-St. Peter's (Anglican) and St. Francis Xavier's (Roman Catholic). The biennial Adelaide Festival of Arts (1960) was the first international celebration of its kind to be held in Australia. Pop. (1991 prelim.) city, 14,845; (1991) metropolitan area, 1,036,700. river in northwestern Northern Territory, Australia, rising in the hills west of Brock's Creek and flowing (with marked summer increases in volume) for 110 miles (180 km) northeastward to Adam Bay, an inlet of the Timor Sea on Clarence Strait. From its mouth, 32 miles (50 km) northeast of Darwin, it is navigable for 80 miles (130 km). The river was reached in 1839 by L.R. Fitzmaurice of the ship HMS Beagle and named after the British dowager queen Adelaide. It was explored by John McDouall Stuart in 1862, and the first settlement along its banks was Escape Cliffs (1864-67). Since the 1890s the fertile black soils lining the Adelaide's lower reaches have been used for agricultural experiments-vegetables and rice- and cattle-farming projects. The town of Adelaide River, located where the Stuart Highway and North Australia Railway cross the stream, is a tourist base for the Rum Jungle and Daly River districts.