The North West,North West Coast,North Western Australia andNorth West Australia, are usually informal names for the northernregions of the State of Western Australia. However, some conceptions of "North West Australia" have included adjoining parts of theNorthern Territory (NT) – or even the entire NT (see below). It has been described as "best of outback".[1]
Major offshore islands includeBarrow Island,Monte Bello Islands and theDampier Archipelago.
Apart from land areas, the term "North West" is also used for seabedoil and gas fields of theNorth West Shelf.
The whole area north of theMurchison River was designated the North District by land regulations gazetted in 1862 by the government of theColony of Western Australia. From February 1865, the North District was officially administered by aGovernment Resident,Robert John Sholl, initially based inCamden Harbour, then moved toRoebourne in November 1865.
TheNorth-West Land Division, created by legislation in 1887, includes only the westernPilbara, northernGascoyne and part of theMid West, but not theKimberley, thereby excluding many areas usually encompassed by popular definitions.
Western Australian law,state government policy and popular culture sometimes creates exceptions for the area "north of the26th parallel" (latitude 26° south). For instance, a Western Australian Government Tourist Bureau publication,The North West of Western Australia (1963), both uses the 26th parallel as a boundary and delineates smaller regions: the Gascoyne, the "De Grey andFortescue", the Kimberley and the "Dry Interior".[2]
Two legislatedregions of Western Australia, the Pilbara and Kimberley, may be considered[by whom?] to comprise an alternate, popular definition. (The Gascoyne is often added to these, although it may also be considered as comprising a part of the "Greater Mid West".)
During the 1960s, a pamphlet published by the State Government stated: "The region is bounded in the west by the Indian Ocean, in the east by the Central Division, in the north-east by the Pilbara, and in the south by the Northern Agricultural Division. It covers and area of 75,731 square miles (196,140 km2) and has a population of about 10,000."[3]
It has frequently been proposed that the region, alone or amalgamated with theNorthern Territory, should form a new Australian state. The most recent proponent of such a scheme was Federal MPBob Katter, who suggested that such a state should be called "North Western Australia".[4]
The north west has been often designated as a "frontier", or even the "last frontier" in Western Australian history,[5] and in air transport in the 1920s and 1930s the region was designated as such.[6]
The region has also acquired a reputation as being vulnerable to regular and devastating cyclones, with impact on mineral and oil operations.[7]
The Anglican and Catholic churches have Geraldton as the base for the north west, the Anglican church used the North West name,[8][9][10] while the Catholic diocese is known by the name of the town.[11]
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