Western Australia'sIndigenous peoples have been present for tens of thousands of years. Dutch explorers visited Western Australia from the 17th century, withDirk Hartog's 1616 expedition the first Europeans to make landfall. The British claimed Western Australia in 1827 and established theSwan River Colony with Perth as its capital in 1829. TheWestern Australian gold rushes of the late 19th century resulted in a significant population influx. The colony was grantedresponsible government in 1890, the last of the Australian colonies to become self-governing, andfederated with the other colonies in 1901.
Western Australia'smining sector is a key driver of thestate economy. The late 20th century saw the development of the state's significantiron ore mining industry – the world's largest – as well as primarily offshorepetroleum and natural gas resources.Gold mining retains a significant presence and many other mineral commodities are mined, with Perth being a major centre for associated services. Outside of mining, primary industry is the other significant contributor to the state's economy, including agriculture in theWheatbelt and temperate southern coastal regions,pastoralism in marginal grassland areas,forestry in the south-west and fishing (includingpearling and, historically,whaling).
Western Australia has a geological history dating back to 4.4 billion years ago whenHadean zircons were formed. The earliest direct known life on land, known asstromatolites, started to be created by microbes at around 3.48 billion years ago.
The first human inhabitants of Australia arrived from the north "over 50,000 years ago and possibly as much as 70,000 years ago".[8]: 5 Over thousands of years they eventually spread across the whole landmass.[citation needed] TheseIndigenous Australians were long established throughout Western Australia by the time European explorers began to arrive in the early 17th century.
Map first drawn in 1618 byHessel Gerritsz, 12 years afterEuropeans first encountered the Australian mainland,[9] showing the charted coast of Australia. Chartings after 1618, for example byFrançois Thijssen in 1627, were added to the engraved plate between 1628 and 1632.[10]
The first Europeans to visit Western Australia were those of the DutchDirk Hartog expedition, who on 25 October 1616 landed at what is now known as Cape Inscription,Dirk Hartog Island. For the rest of the 17th century,other Dutch and British navigators encountered the coast of whatAbel Tasman namedNew Holland in 1644, usually unintentionally as demonstrated by the many shipwrecks along the coast of ships that deviated from theBrouwer Route (because of poor navigation and storms).[11] By the late 18th century, British and French sailors had begun to explore the Western Australian coast. TheBaudin expedition of 1800–03 included the coast of Western Australia and resulted in theFreycinet Map of 1811, the first published map featuring the full outline of Australia. The name New Holland remained in popular and semi-official use until at least the mid-1850s; that is, it was in use for about 206 years in comparison to the name Australia which to date has been in use for about 196 years.[12]: 11
Melchisédech Thévenot'sHollandia Nova—Terre Australe in his travel anthology (French:Relations de divers voyages curieux) published in 1664,[13] and which seems to be a copy ofArchipelagus Orientalis sive Asiaticus byJoan Blaeu in theAtlas of the Great Elector (German:Atlas des Großen Kurfürsten) from 1659.[14] The latitude staff depicted by Thévenot falls along theZaragoza antimeridian from theTreaty of Zaragoza of 1529 betweenCastile andPortugal, and which complemented theTordesillas meridian from theTreaty of Tordesillas of 1494.
The origins of the present state began with the establishment by Lockyer[15] of a convict-supported settlement fromNew South Wales atKing George III Sound. The settlement was formally annexed on 21 January 1827 by Lockyer when he commanded theUnion Jack be raised and afeu de joie fired by the troops. The settlement was founded in response to British concerns about the possibility of a French colony being established on the coast of Western Australia.[15] On 7 March 1831 it was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony,[16] and namedAlbany in 1832.
In 1829 theSwan River Colony was established on the Swan River by CaptainJames Stirling. By 1832, the British settler population of the colony had reached around 1,500, and the official name of the colony was changed to Western Australia on 6 February that year.[17][18] The two separate townsites of the colony developed slowly into the port city ofFremantle and the state's capital,Perth.York was the first inland settlement in Western Australia, situated 97 kilometres (60 mi) east of Perth and settled on 16 September 1831. York was the staging point for early explorers who discovered the rich gold reserves of Kalgoorlie.
Population growth was very slow until significant discoveries of gold were made in the 1890s aroundKalgoorlie.
John Forrest was the first Premier of Western Australia.
In 1896, after discoveries of gold atCoolgardie andKalgoorlie, theWestern Australian Parliament authorised the raising of a loan to construct apipeline to transport 23 megalitres (5 million imperial gallons) of water per day to the burgeoning population on the goldfields. The pipeline, known as theGoldfields Water Supply Scheme, was completed in 1903. C. Y. O'Connor, Western Australia's first engineer-in-chief, designed and oversaw the construction of the pipeline. It carries water 530 km (330 mi) from Perth toKalgoorlie, and is attributed by historians as an important factor driving the state's population and economic growth.[19]
Following a campaign led by Forrest, electors of the colony of Western Australia voted in favour offederation with the five other Australian colonies, resulting in Western Australia officially becoming a state on 1 January 1901.[20]
"West Australia" and its related demonym "West Australian" are occasionally used, including in the names of the main daily newspaper,The West Australian, and the state-basedWest Australian Football League, but are rarely used in an official sense. The terms "Westralia" and "Westralian" were regularly used in the 19th and 20th century.[21][22] The terms are still found in the names of certain companies and buildings, e.g. Westralia House in Perth, theskyscraper Westralia Square onSt Georges Terrace, and Westralia Airports Corporation, which operatesPerth Airport, as well as in the names of several ships.[23][24]
Western Australia is bounded to the east nominally by longitude 129°E, the meridian 129 degrees east of Greenwich, although the actual border with South Australia and theNorthern Territory (as surveyed and marked or otherwise indicated on the ground) deviates from 129° east and is not a single straight line,[25] and bounded by the Indian Ocean to the west and north. TheInternational Hydrographic Organization (IHO) designates thebody of water south of the continent as part of the Indian Ocean; in Australia it is officially gazetted as theSouthern Ocean.[b][26][27]
The total length of thestate's eastern border is 1,862 km (1,157 mi).[28] There are 20,781 km (12,913 mi) of coastline, including 7,892 km (4,904 mi) of island coastline.[29] The total land area occupied by the state is 2.5 million km2 (970 thousand sq mi).[30]
Because the onlymountain-building since then has been of theStirling Range with the rifting fromAntarctica, the land is extremely eroded and ancient, with no part of the state above 1,249 metres (4,098 ft)AHD (atMount Meharry in theHamersley Range of thePilbara region). Most of the state is a low plateau with an average elevation of about 400 metres (1,200 ft), very low relief, and nosurface runoff. This descends relatively sharply to the coastal plains, in some cases forming a sharp escarpment (as with the Darling Range/Darling Scarp near Perth).
Western Australian cities, towns, settlements androad network.
The extreme age of the landscape has meant that the soils are remarkably infertile and frequentlylaterised. Even soils derived fromgraniticbedrock contain an order of magnitude less availablephosphorus and only half as muchnitrogen as soils in comparable climates in other continents. Soils derived from extensive sandplains orironstone are even less fertile, nearly devoid of soluble phosphate and deficient inzinc, copper,molybdenum and sometimespotassium andcalcium.
The infertility of most of the soils has required heavy application by farmers of fertilisers. These have resulted in damage toinvertebrate and bacterial populations.[citation needed] The grazing and use of hoofed mammals and, later, heavy machinery through the years have resulted incompaction of soils and great damage to the fragile soils.
Large-scale land clearing for agriculture has damaged habitats for native flora and fauna. As a result, theSouth West region of the state has a higher concentration of rare, threatened or endangered flora and fauna than many areas of Australia, making it one of the world's biodiversity "hot spots". Large areas of the state's wheatbelt region have problems withdryland salinity and the loss of fresh water.
Thesouthwest coastal area has aMediterranean climate. It was originally heavily forested, including large stands ofkarri, one of thetallest trees in the world.[33] This agricultural region is one of the nine most bio-diverse terrestrial habitats, with a higher proportion ofendemic species than most other equivalent regions. Thanks to the offshoreLeeuwin Current, the area is one of the top six regions for marine biodiversity and contains the most southerlycoral reefs in the world.
Average annual rainfall varies from 300 millimetres (12 in) at the edge of theWheatbelt region to 1,400 millimetres (55 in) in the wettest areas nearNorthcliffe, but from November to March, evaporation exceeds rainfall, and it is generally very dry. Plants are adapted to this as well as the extreme poverty of all soils.
The central two-thirds of the state isarid and sparsely inhabited. The only significant economic activity is mining. Annual rainfall averages less than 300 millimetres (8–10 in), most of which occurs in sporadic torrential falls related to cyclone events in summer.[34]
An exception to this is the northern tropical regions. TheKimberley has an extremely hotmonsoonal climate with average annual rainfall ranging from 500 to 1,500 millimetres (20–60 in), but there is a very long almost rainless season from April to November. Eighty-five percent of the state'srunoff occurs in the Kimberley, but because it occurs in violent floods and because of the insurmountable poverty of the generally shallow soils, the only development has taken place along theOrd River.
Snow is rare in the state and typically occurs only in theStirling Range nearAlbany, as it is the only mountain range far enough south and sufficiently elevated. More rarely, snow can fall on the nearbyPorongurup Range. Snow outside these areas is a major event; it usually occurs in hilly areas of southwestern Australia. The most widespread low-level snow occurred on 26 June 1956 when snow was reported in thePerth Hills, as far north asWongan Hills and as far east asSalmon Gums. However, even in the Stirling Range, snowfalls rarely exceed 5 cm (2 in) and rarely settle for more than one day.[35]
The highest observed temperature of 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) was recorded inOnslow on 13 January 2022.[36] The lowest temperature recorded was −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) atEyre Bird Observatory on 17 August 2008.[37]
Western Australia is home to around630 species of birds (depending on the taxonomy used). Of these around 15 areendemic to the state. The best areas for birds are the southwestern corner of the state and the area around Broome and the Kimberley.
TheFlora of Western Australia comprises 10,162 published nativevascular plant species, along with a further 1,196 species currently recognised but unpublished. They occur within 1,543genera from 211families; there are also 1,276 naturalised alien orinvasive plant species, more commonly known as weeds.[41][42] In the southwest region are some of the largest numbers of plant species for its area in the world.
The metropolitan area of Western Australia's capital and largest city,Perth, is home to more than 80% of the state's population.Population growth 1829–2010
Europeans began to settle permanently in 1826 whenAlbany was claimed by Britain to forestall French claims to the western third of the continent. Perth was founded as theSwan River Colony in 1829 by British and Irish settlers, though the outpost languished. Its officials eventually requestedconvict labour to augment its population. By the timetransportation ceased in 1868, convicts outnumbered free settlers 9,700 to 7,300.[44] In the 1890s, interstate immigration, resulting from a mining boom in theGoldfields region, resulted in a sharp population increase.
Western Australia did not receive significant flows ofimmigrants from Britain, Ireland or elsewhere in theBritish Empire until the early 20th century. At that time, its local projects—such as theGroup Settlement Scheme of the 1920s, which encouraged farmers to settle the southwest—increased awareness of Australia's western third as a destination for colonists.
Led by immigrants from the British Isles, Western Australia's population developed at a faster rate during the twentieth century than it had previously. AfterWorld War II, both the eastern states and Western Australia received large numbers ofItalians,Croatians andMacedonians. Despite this, Britain has contributed the greatest number of immigrants to this day. Western Australia—particularly Perth—has the highest proportion of British-born of any state: 10.3% in 2011, compared to a national average of 5.1%. This group is heavily concentrated in certain parts, where they account for a quarter of the population.[45]
At the 2016 census, 75.2% of inhabitants spoke only English at home, with the next most common languages beingMandarin (1.9%), Italian (1.2%),Vietnamese (0.8%),Cantonese (0.8%) andTagalog (0.6%).[47][48]
According to the 2021 census,Christianity is the major religious affiliation in WA, followed by 41.1% of its population. In 1971, Christianity was followed by 85.5% of the population and it has been declining since, while the percentage of people who identified as having no religious affiliation has increased from 8.7% in 1971 to 42.9% in 2021.A small minority of the population areMuslims (2.5%),Buddhists (2.2%) andHindus (2.0%).[50][51][48]
Western Australia's economy is largely driven by extraction and processing of a diverse range of mineral and petroleum commodities. The structure of the economy is closely linked to these natural resources, providing a comparative advantage in resource extraction and processing. As a consequence:
Western Australia contributes an estimated 58% of Australia's Mineral and Energy Exports,[52] potentially earning up to 4.64% of Australia's total GDP.[53]
Gross state product per person ($97,940 in 2017–18) is higher than any other state and well above the national average ($73,267).[54]
Diversification (i.e. a greaterrange of commodities) over the past 15 years has provided a more balanced production base and less reliance on just a few major export markets, insulating the economy from fluctuations in world prices to some extent.[citation needed]
Finance, insurance and property services and construction have grown steadily and have increased their share of economic output.[55]
Recent growth in global demand for minerals and petroleum, especially in China (iron-ore) and Japan (for LNG), has ensured economic growth above the national average.
In 2019 Western Australia's overseas exports accounted for 46% of the nation's total.[56][57] The state's major export commodities included iron-ore, petroleum, gold,alumina, nickel, wheat, copper, lithium, chemicals and mineral sands.[58]
Western Australia is the world's largest iron-ore producer (34% of the world's total), and extracts 66% (6.9% of world production) of Australia's 306 tonnes (9.8 million troy ounces) of gold in 2022.[59] It is a major world producer of bauxite, which is processed into alumina at four refineries providing 11% of total world production. Until 2020 diamonds were extracted from the world's largestdiamond mine in the far north Kimberley region. Coal mined atCollie is the main fuel for baseload electricity generation in the state's south-west.[58][60]
Agricultural production in WA is a major contributor to the state and national economy. In the period 2010–2019 wheat production in WA has averaged nearly 10 million tonnes (22 billion pounds), valued at $2.816billion in 2019, accounting for half the nation's total and providing $2–3billion in export income.[61][62]
Other significant farm output includes wool, beef, lamb, barley, canola, lupins, oats and pulses.[61] There is a high level of overseas demand for live animals from WA, driven mainly by southeast Asia's feedlots and Middle Eastern countries, whereIslamic dietary laws and a lack of storage and refrigeration facilities favour live animals over imports of processed meat. About half of Australia's live cattle exports come from Western Australia.[63]
Resource sector growth in recent years has resulted in significant labour and skills shortages, leading to recent efforts by the state government to encourage interstate and overseas immigration.[64] According to the 2006 census,[needs update][65] the median individual income was A$500 per week in Western Australia (compared to A$466 in Australia as a whole). The median family income was A$1246 per week (compared to A$1171 for Australia). Recent growth has also contributed to significant rises in average property values in 2006, although values plateaued in 2007.
Located south of Perth, the heavy industrial area ofKwinana had thenation's largest oil refinery with a capacity of 23,200 cubic metres per day (146,000 barrels per day) until its closure in 2021, producing most of the state's petrol and diesel.[66][67][68] Kwinana also hosts alumina and nickel processing plants, port facilities for grain and other bulk exports, and support industries for mining and petroleum such as heavy and light engineering, and metal fabrication. Shipbuilding (e.g.Austal) and associated support industries are found at nearbyHenderson, just north of Kwinana. Significant secondary industries include cement and building product manufacturing, flour milling, food processing, animal feed production, automotive body building and printing.
Western Australia has a significant fishing industry. Products for local consumption and export includewestern rock lobsters, prawns, crabs, shark and tuna, as well as pearl fishing in theKimberley region of the state. Processing is conducted along the west coast.Whaling was a key marine industry but ceased at Albany in 1978.
In the 2000s, tourism grew in importance, with significant numbers of visitors to the state in 2008 coming from the UK and Ireland (28%), other European countries (14%) Singapore (16%), Japan (10%) and Malaysia (8%).[62] Revenue from tourism is a strong economic driver in many of the smaller population centres outside of Perth, especially in coastal locations.
Tourism forms a major part of the Western Australian economy with 833,100 international visitors making up 12.8% of the total international tourism to Australia in the year ending March 2015. The top three source markets include the United Kingdom (17%), Singapore (10%), and New Zealand (10%) with the majority of purpose for visitation being holiday/vacation reasons.[72] The tourism industry contributes $9.3 billion to the Western Australian economy and supports 94,000 jobs within the state. Both directly and indirectly, the industry makes up 3.2% of the state's economy whilst comparatively, WA's largest revenue source, the mining sector, brings in 31%.[73]
Tourism WA is the government agency responsible for promoting Western Australia as a holiday destination.[74]
Western Australia was granted self-government in 1890[75] with a bicameralParliament located in Perth, consisting of theLegislative Assembly (orlower house), which has 59 members; and theLegislative Council (orupper house), which has 36 members. Suffrage is universal and compulsory for citizens over 18 years of age.
With the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901, Western Australia became a state within Australia'sfederal structure; this involved ceding certain powers to the Commonwealth (or Federal) government in accordance with the Constitution; all powers not specifically granted to the Commonwealth remained solely with the State. However over time the Commonwealth has effectively expanded its powers through broad interpretation of its enumerated powers and increasing control of taxation and financial distribution (seeFederalism in Australia).
Whilst the sovereign of Western Australia isthe monarch of Australia (currentlyCharles III) and executive power is nominally vested in his or her state representative, theGovernor (currentlyChris Dawson), executive power rests with the premier and ministers drawn from the party or coalition of parties holding a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly.Roger Cook is the premier, having succeededMark McGowan after his resignation in June 2023.
A 1933 meeting of the Dominion League in support of secession
Secessionism has been a recurring feature of Western Australia's political landscape since shortly after European settlement in 1826. Western Australia was the most reluctant participant in theCommonwealth of Australia.[76] Western Australia did not participate in the earliest federation conference. Longer-term residents of Western Australia were generally opposed to federation; however, the discovery of gold brought many immigrants from other parts of Australia. It was these residents, primarily in Kalgoorlie but also in Albany who voted to join the Commonwealth, and the proposal of these areas being admitted separately under the nameAuralia was considered.[citation needed]
In areferendum in April 1933, 68% of voters voted for the state to leave the Commonwealth of Australia with the aim of returning to the British Empire as an autonomous territory. The State Government sent a delegation toWestminster, but the British Government ruled that after theStatute of Westminster 1931, it no longer had the authority to amend the constitution of Australia without the consent of its federal government; the British Government took no action.[77]
Education in Western Australia consists of one year of pre-school at age 4 or 5, followed by six years of primary education for all students as of 2015.[79] At age 12 or 13, students begin six years of secondary education. Students are required to attend school up until they are 16 years old. 16- and 17-year-olds are required to be enrolled in school or a training organisation, be employed or be in a combination of school/training/employment.[80] Students have the option to study at aTAFE college after Year 10,[81] or continue through to Year 12 with vocational courses or university entrance courses.[82]
Western Australia has two daily newspapers: theSeven West Media-owned tabloidThe West Australian and theKalgoorlie Miner. Also published is one weekend paper,The Weekend West, and one Sunday tabloid newspaper, which is also owned by Seven West Media after purchase fromNews Corporation'sThe Sunday Times. There are also 17 weeklycommunity newspapers with distribution fromYanchep in the north toMandurah in the south. There are two major weekly rural papers in the state,Countryman and theAustralian Community Media-ownedFarm Weekly. The national broadsheet publicationThe Australian is also available, although with sales per capita lagging far behind those in other states.WAtoday is an online newspaper owned byNine Entertainment, focusing its coverage on Perth and Western Australia.
Perth formerly hadWest TV, a free-to-air community television channel that began broadcasting in April 2010 and ceased broadcasting in February 2020. It replacedAccess 31, which ceased broadcasting in August 2008.
Regional WA has a similar availability of stations as Perth. Geographically, it is one of the largest television markets in the world, including almost one-third of the continent.
West Digital Television. Affiliated with Ten (Callsigns: SDW South West, VDW Goldfields/Esperance, GDW Central West, WDW remote areas)
Regional WA used to haveWestlink. An open-narrowcast community-based television channel that was only on satellite until Westlink's discontinuation in 2018. (Satellite only)
Pay TV services are provided byFoxtel, which acquired many of the assets and all the remaining subscribers of the insolventGalaxy Television satellite service in 1998. Some metropolitan suburbs are serviced by Pay TV via cable; however, most of the metropolitan and rural areas can only access Pay TV via satellite.
Western Australia's largest sports stadium isPerth Stadium, also known by naming rights sponsorship as Optus Stadium. It has a capacity of over 60,000 people and is primarily used for Australian rules football and cricket.
In 1981, asister state agreement was drawn up between Western Australia andHyōgo Prefecture in Japan that was aimed at improving cultural ties between the two states.[90][91] To commemorate the 10th anniversary of this agreement, the Hyōgo Prefectural Government Cultural Centre was established in Perth in 1992.[92] Prior to that, the Western Australian government opened an office inKobe, the largest city in Hyōgo, to facilitate maintenance of the relationship in 1989.[91][93]
Following theGreat Hanshin earthquake that devastated southern Hyōgo in January 1995, Western Australian groups and businesses raised funds and provided materials, whilst individuals travelled to Hyōgo to help with emergency relief and the subsequent reconstruction process.[94][95][96] The two governments signed amemorandum of understanding on the 20th anniversary in 2001 that aimed to improve the economic relationship between the two states.[91]
Further to the sister state relationship, theCity of Rockingham in Western Australia and theCity of Akō in Hyōgo signed a sister city agreement in 1997. It is one of nine sister city relationships between Western Australian and Japanese cities.[97]
^Surpassed only by theSakha Republic in eastern Russia, and formerlyNorthwest Territories in Canada, before the creation ofNunavut. It is also the largest proper subnational entity, being a state rather than a territory or an autonomous region.
^In accordance with the Australian Bureau of Statistics source, England,Scotland,Mainland China and the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong andMacau are listed separately
^As a percentage of 2,286,107 persons who nominated their ancestry at the 2016 census.
^The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most who nominate "Australian" as their ancestry are part of theAnglo-Celtic group.[49]
^abOf any ancestry. Includes those identifying asAboriginal Australians orTorres Strait Islanders. Indigenous identification is separate to the ancestry question on the Australian Census and persons identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander may identify any ancestry.
^Knibbs, G.H. (1911). "The Creation of the Several Colonies".Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia. Vol. 4. Melbourne: Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. p. 16.
^abLimits of Oceans and Seas(PDF). Special Publication No. 23 (3rd ed.). Monte Carlo: International Hydrographic Organization. 1953. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 7 October 2009. Retrieved24 September 2021.
^Diels, Ludwig (1981). "Extra-tropical Western Australia". In Carr, D. J.; Carr, S. G. M. (eds.).People and plants in Australia. Translated by Carr, D. J. Academic Press Australia. pp. 47–78.ISBN978-0-12-160720-3.
^"Founding of Perth".National Museum of Australia, Government of Australia. 4 May 2023. Retrieved16 June 2024.Between 1850 and 1868 around 10,000 British convicts arrived at the colony. By 1868 the total population was 17,000, with convicts outnumbering settlers, 9700 to 7300.
^"Country of Birth"(xls). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1 October 2014. Retrieved27 October 2014.
^ab"Western Australia Economic Profile"(PDF). Perth, WA: Government of Western Australia, Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation. March 2020. p. 8. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 26 September 2020. Retrieved17 April 2020.
^abWilkinson, Ian (9 April 2019)."Western Australian wheat industry". South Perth, WA: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Agriculture and Food division. Archived fromthe original on 9 March 2020. Retrieved17 April 2020.
^ab"WA at a Glance 2008"(PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2 April 2008. Retrieved10 September 2008.
^"2008 Live Exports"(PDF). ABARE. 31 March 2008. p. 9. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 19 July 2008. Retrieved15 September 2008.
^"Go West Now". Government of Western Australia. 2008. Archived fromthe original on 21 November 2011. Retrieved16 September 2008.
^ab"Western Australia".Wineaustralia.com. Australian Gevernment – Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation. Archived fromthe original on 22 July 2008. Retrieved16 September 2015.
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