Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories.
It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...
to the south, the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
to the north-east, and
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of .
It is the
second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's
Sakha Republic
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...
. the state has 2.76 million inhabitants percent of the national total. The vast majority (92 percent) live in the
south-west corner; 79 percent of the population lives in the
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
area,
[ leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated.
The first Europeans to visit Western Australia belonged to the Dutch ]Dirk Hartog
Dirk Hartog (; baptised 30 October 1580 – buried 11 October 1621) was a 17th-century Dutch sailor and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artefact to record his ...
expedition, who visited the Western Australian coast in 1616. The first permanent European colony of Western Australia occurred following the landing by Major Edmund Lockyer
Edmund Lockyer, (21 January 1784 – 10 June 1860) was a British soldier and explorer of Australia.
Born in Plymouth, Devon, Lockyer was the son of Thomas Lockyer, a sailmaker, and his wife Ann. Lockyer began his army career as an ensign in ...
on 26 December 1826 of an expedition on behalf of the New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
colonial government. Lockyer established a convict-supported military garrison at King George III Sound, at present-day Albany, and on 21 January 1827. He formally took possession for the British Crown of the western part of the continent that was not already claimed by the Crown. This was followed by the establishment of the Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...
in 1829, including the site of the present-day capital, Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
.
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
was the first inland settlement in Western Australia. Situated east of Perth, it was settled on 16 September 1831. Western Australia achieved responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...
in 1890 and federated with the other British colonies in Australia in 1901.
Today, Western Australia's economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
mainly relies on mining, oil and gas, services and construction. The state produces 46 percent of Australia's exports. Western Australia is the largest iron ore producer in the world. Its motto is "Cygnis Insignis" ("Bearing the Sign of the Swan"). Its nickname is "The Wildflower State".
History
The first modern human inhabitants of Australia arrived from the north about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Over thousands of years they eventually spread across the whole landmass. These Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
were long established throughout Western Australia by the time European explorers began to arrive in the early 17th century.
The first Europeans to visit Western Australia were those of the Dutch Dirk Hartog
Dirk Hartog (; baptised 30 October 1580 – buried 11 October 1621) was a 17th-century Dutch sailor and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artefact to record his ...
expedition, who on 25 October 1616 landed at what is now known as Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island
A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...
. For the rest of the 17th century, other Dutch and British navigators encountered the coast of what Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New Z ...
named New Holland in 1644, usually unintentionally as demonstrated by the many shipwrecks along the coast of ships that deviated from the Brouwer Route
The Brouwer Route was a 17th-century route used by ships sailing from the Cape of Good Hope to the Dutch East Indies, as the eastern leg of the Cape Route. The route took ships south from the Cape (which is at 34° latitude south) into the Roar ...
(because of poor navigation and storms). By the late 18th century, British and French sailors had begun to explore the Western Australian coast. The Baudin expedition of 1800–03 included the coast of Western Australia and resulted in the Freycinet Map of 1811 The Freycinet Map of 1811 is the first map of Australia to be published which shows the full outline of Australia. It was drawn by Louis de Freycinet and was an outcome of the Baudin expedition to Australia. It preceded the publication of Matthew Fl ...
, 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 years in comparison to the name Australia which to date has been in use for about years.
The origins of the present state began with the establishment by Lockyer of a convict-supported settlement from New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
at King George III Sound. The settlement was formally annexed on 21 January 1827 by Lockyer when he commanded the Union Jack
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
be raised and a feu de joie
A feu de joie (French: "fire of joy") is a form of formal celebratory gunfire consisting of a celebratory rifle salute, described as a "running fire of guns." As soldiers fire into the air sequentially in rapid succession, the cascade of blank r ...
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. On 7 March 1831 it was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony,[ and named Albany in 1832.
In 1829 the ]Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...
was established on the Swan River by Captain James 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. The two separate townsites of the colony developed slowly into the port city of Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
and the state's capital, Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
was the first inland settlement in Western Australia, situated 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 around Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
.
In 1887, a new constitution was drafted, providing for the right of self-governance of European Australians, and in 1890, the act granting self-government
__NOTOC__
Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
to the colony was passed by the British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
. John Forrest
Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister i ...
became the first Premier of Western Australia
The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...
.
In 1896, after discoveries of gold at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
, the Western Australian Parliament
The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, forming the legislative branch of the Government of Western Australia. The parliam ...
authorised the raising of a loan to construct a pipeline
Pipeline may refer to:
Electronics, computers and computing
* Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on
** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...
to transport of water per day to the burgeoning population on the goldfields. The pipeline, known as the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme
The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project that delivers potable water from Mundaring Weir in Perth to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. The project was co ...
, was completed in 1903. O'Connor, Western Australia's first engineer-in-chief, designed and oversaw the construction of the pipeline. It carries water from Perth to Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
, and is attributed by historians as an important factor driving the state's population and economic growth.
Following a campaign led by Forrest, residents of the colony of Western Australia voted in favour of federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
, resulting in Western Australia officially becoming a state on 1 January 1901.
Geography
Western Australia is bounded to the east by longitude 129°E, the meridian 129 degrees east of Greenwich, which defines the border with South Australia and the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
, and bounded by the Indian Ocean to the west and north. The International Hydrographic Organization
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States.
A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters a ...
(IHO) designates the body of water south of the continent as part of the Indian Ocean; in Australia it is officially gazetted as the Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...
.
The total length of the state's eastern border is . There are of coastline, including of island coastline. The total land area occupied by the state is .
Geology
The bulk of Western Australia consists of the extremely old Yilgarn craton
The Yilgarn Craton is a large craton that constitutes the bulk of the Western Australian land mass. It is bounded by a mixture of sedimentary basins and Proterozoic fold and thrust belts. Zircon grains in the Jack Hills, Narryer Terrane have b ...
and Pilbara craton
The Pilbara Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the ...
which merged with the Deccan Plateau
The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...
of India, Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
and the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
cratons of Southern Africa, in the Archean
The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four geologic eons of Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic.
The Earth
Earth ...
Eon to form Ur, one of the oldest supercontinent
In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continent, continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", ...
s on Earth (3 – 3.2 billion years ago). In May 2017, evidence of the earliest known life on land
''Ambient 4: On Land'' is the eighth solo studio album by British ambient musician Brian Eno. Released in 1982, it was the final edition in Eno's ambient series, which began in 1978 with '' Music for Airports''.
Overview
''On Land'' is a mix ...
may have been found in 3.48-billion-year-old geyserite
Geyserite, or siliceous sinter, is a form of opaline silica that is often found as crusts or layers around hot springs and geysers. Botryoidal geyserite is known as fiorite. Geyserite is porous due to the silica enclosing many small cavities. Sil ...
and other related mineral deposits (often found around hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
s and geyser
A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in ...
s) uncovered in the Pilbara craton.
Because the only mountain-building
Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...
since then has been of the Stirling Range with the rifting from Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
, the land is extremely eroded and ancient, with no part of the state above 1,245 metres (4,085 ft) AHD (at Mount Meharry
Mount Meharry is the highest mountain in Western Australia. It is located in the Hamersley Range within the southeastern part of Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region, approximately south-southeast of Wittenoom, and east-southeast of ...
in the Hamersley Range
The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer Francis Thomas Gregory after Edward Hamersley (senior), Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his explo ...
of the Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...
region). Most of the state is a low plateau with an average elevation of about 400 metres (1,200 ft), very low relief, and no surface runoff
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...
. This descends relatively sharply to the coastal plains, in some cases forming a sharp escarpment (as with the Darling Range/Darling Scarp
The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...
near Perth).
The extreme age of the landscape has meant that the soils are remarkably infertile and frequently laterised. Even soils derived from granitic
A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quart ...
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
contain an order of magnitude less available phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
and only half as much nitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
as soils in comparable climates in other continents. Soils derived from extensive sandplains or ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
are even less fertile, nearly devoid of soluble phosphate and deficient in zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, copper, molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
and sometimes potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...
and calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...
.
The infertility of most of the soils has required heavy application by farmers of fertilizers. These have resulted in damage to invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
and bacterial populations. The grazing and use of hoofed mammals and, later, heavy machinery through the years have resulted in compaction 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, the South 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 with dryland salinity Dryland salinity is a natural process for soil, just like other processes such as wind erosion. Salinity degrades land by an increase in soil salt concentration in the environment, watercourse or soil in unirrigated landscapes, being in excess of ...
and the loss of fresh water.
Climate
The southwest coastal area has a Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
. It was originally heavily forested, including large stands of karri
''Eucalyptus diversicolor'', commonly known as karri, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is Endemism, endemic to the Southwest Australia, south-west of Western Australia. It is a tall tree with smooth light grey to cre ...
, one of the tallest trees in the world. This agricultural region is one of the nine most bio-diverse terrestrial habitats, with a higher proportion of endemic species
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
than most other equivalent regions. Thanks to the offshore Leeuwin Current
The Leeuwin Current is a warm ocean current which flows southwards near the western coast of Australia. It rounds Cape Leeuwin to enter the waters south of Australia where its influence extends as far as Tasmania.
Discovery
The existence of the ...
, the area is one of the top six regions for marine biodiversity and contains the most southerly coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Co ...
s in the world.
Average annual rainfall varies from 300 millimetres (12 in) at the edge of the Wheatbelt region to 1,400 millimetres (55 in) in the wettest areas near Northcliffe, 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 is arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
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.
An exception to this is the northern tropical regions. The Kimberley has an extremely hot monsoonal 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's runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
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 the Ord River
The Ord River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers .
The lower Ord River and the conjunction with Cambridge Gulf create the most northern estuarine environment in Western Australia.
The Ord ...
.
Snow is rare in the state and typically occurs only in the Stirling Range near Albany, as it is the only mountain range far enough south and sufficiently elevated. More rarely, snow can fall on the nearby Porongurup Range
Porongurup National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. It covers , and is southeast of Perth and north of Albany.
The park contains the Porongurup Range, which is the relic core of an ancient mount ...
. 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 the Perth Hills
Perth Hills is a term used primarily for marketing purposes to identify the part of the Darling Scarp and hinterland east of the scarp that lies within the Shire of Mundaring, City of Swan, and the City of Kalamunda and as part of the constituen ...
, as far north as Wongan Hills
Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion of Western Australia. It is located at , in the Shire of Wongan–Ballidu.
History
The range was first recorded in 1836 by Surveyor General of Western Australia Jo ...
and as far east as Salmon Gums. However, even in the Stirling Range, snowfalls rarely exceed and rarely settle for more than one day.
The highest observed temperature of 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) was recorded in Onslow on 13 January 2022. The lowest temperature recorded was −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) at Eyre Bird Observatory
Eyre Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility in the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Western Australia.
Cocklebiddy is the nearest locality on the Eyre Highway, to the north. It is in the Hampton bioregion, which is ...
on 17 August 2008.
Flora and fauna
Western Australia is home to around 630 species of birds (depending on the taxonomy used). Of these around 15 are endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the state. The best areas for birds are the southwestern corner of the state and the area around Broome and the Kimberley.
The Flora of Western Australia
The flora of Western Australia comprises 10,551 published native vascular plant species and a further 1,131 unpublished species. They occur within 1,543 genera from 211 families; there are also 1,317 naturalised alien or invasive plant species mo ...
comprises 10,162 published native vascular plant
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...
species, along with a further 1,196 species currently recognised but unpublished. They occur within 1,543 genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
from 211 families
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...
; there are also 1,276 naturalised alien or invasive plant
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
species, more commonly known as weeds. In the southwest region are some of the largest numbers of plant species for its area in the world.
Western Australia's ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
s include the sandstone gorges of The Kimberley
The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, an ...
on the northern coast, and below that the drier Victoria Plains tropical savanna inland, and the semi-desert Pilbara shrublands
The Pilbara shrublands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in Western Australia. It is coterminous with the Pilbara IBRA region. For other definitions and uses of "Pilbara region" see Pilbara.
Geography
The Pilbara shrublands is bou ...
, Carnarvon xeric shrublands
The Carnarvon xeric shrublands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Western Australia. The ecoregion is coterminous with the Carnarvon Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) bioregion.[Western Australian mulga shrublands
The Western Australian Mulga shrublands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of inland Western Australia. It is one of Australia's two mulga ecoregions, characterized by dry woodlands of mulga trees (''Acacia aneura'' and related species) ...]
to the southwest. Southwards along the coast are the Southwest Australia savanna and the Swan Coastal Plain
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
around Perth, with the jarrah-karri forest and shrublands on the southwest corner of the coast around the Margaret River
The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River.
The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range.
...
wine-growing area. Going east along the Southern Ocean coast is the Goldfields-Esperance region, including the Esperance mallee
Esperance mallee is an ecoregion on the south coast of Western Australia, a coastal strip where the predominant vegetation consists of short eucalyptus trees and shrubs.
Location and description
A part of the Mediterranean forests, woodland ...
and the Coolgardie woodlands
The Coolgardie woodlands is an ecoregion in southern Western Australia. The predominant vegetation is woodlands and mallee scrub. The ecoregion is a transitional zone between the Mediterranean-climate forests, woodlands, and shrublands of Southw ...
inland around town of Coolgardie. Deserts occupy the interior, including the Great Sandy-Tanami desert
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
, Gibson Desert
The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost "pristine" state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...
, Great Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.
History
In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cros ...
, and Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...
.
In 1831 Scottish botanist Robert Brown produced a scientific paper, ''General view of the botany of the vicinity of Swan River
''General view of the botany of the vicinity of Swan River'' is an 1831 scientific paper by Scottish botanist Robert Brown. It discusses the vegetation of the Swan River Colony (in what is now Western Australia), and comments on its affinities w ...
''. It discusses the vegetation of the Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...
.
Demographics
Europeans began to settle permanently in 1826 when Albany was claimed by Britain to forestall French claims to the western third of the continent. Perth was founded as the Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...
in 1829 by British and Irish settlers, though the outpost languished. Its officials eventually requested convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...
labour to augment its population. In the 1890s, interstate immigration, resulting from a mining boom in the Goldfields region, resulted in a sharp population increase.
Western Australia did not receive significant flows of immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
from Britain, Ireland or elsewhere in the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
until the early 20th century. At that time, its local projects—such as the Group Settlement Scheme
The Group Settlement Scheme was an assisted migration scheme which operated in Western Australia from the early 1920s. It was engineered by Premier of Western Australia, Premier James Mitchell (Australian politician), James Mitchell and followe ...
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. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, both the eastern states and Western Australia received large numbers of Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
, Croatians
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, ...
and Macedonians. 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.
Perth's metropolitan area (including Mandurah
Mandurah () is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 107,641 as of the 2021 Australian census, 2 ...
) had an estimated population of 2,043,138[ Estimated resident population, 30 June 2017.] in June 2017 (79% of the state). Other significant population centres include Bunbury (73,989),[ Estimated resident population, 30 June 2017.] Geraldton
Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth.
At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...
(37,961),[ ]Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area include ...
(30,420),[ Albany (33,998),][ Karratha (16,446),][ Broome (14,501)][ and ]Port Hedland
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
(14,285).[
]
Ancestry and immigration
At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:
3.1% of the population, or 75,978 people, identified as Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
(Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
and Torres Strait Islanders
Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped ...
) in 2016.
Language
At the 2016 census, 75.2% of inhabitants spoke only English at home, with the next most common languages being Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
(1.9%), Italian (1.2%), Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
(0.8%), Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
(0.8%) and Tagalog (0.6%).
Religion
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 are Muslims (2.5%), Buddhists (2.2%) and Hindus (2.0%).
Economy
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, potentially earning up to 4.64% of Australia's total GDP.
* Gross state product
Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer unit ...
per person ($97,940 in 2017–18) is higher than any other state and well above the national average ($73,267).
* Diversification (i.e. a greater ''range'' 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.
* Finance, insurance and property services and construction have grown steadily and have increased their share of economic output.[ ]
* 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. The state's major export commodities included iron-ore, petroleum, gold, alumina, nickel, wheat, copper, lithium, chemicals and mineral sands.
Western Australia is the world's largest iron-ore producer (32% of the world's total), and extracts 67% (6% of world production) of Australia's 324 tonnes of gold. It is a major world producer of bauxite, which is processed into alumina at four refineries providing 11% of total world production. Diamonds are extracted at the world's largest diamond mine
There are a limited number of commercially available diamond mines currently operating in the world, with the 50 largest mines accounting for approximately 90% of global supply. Diamonds are also mined alluvially over disperse areas, where dia ...
in the far north Kimberley region. Coal mined at Collie
Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...
is the main fuel for baseload electricity generation in the state's south-west.
Agricultural production in WA is a major contributor to the state and national economy. Although tending to be highly seasonal, in the period 2010–2019 wheat production in WA has averaged nearly 10 million tonnes ($2.816 billion in 2019), accounting for half the nation's total and providing $2–3 billion in export income.
Other significant farm output includes wool, beef, lamb, barley, canola, lupins, oats and pulses. There is a high level of overseas demand for live animals from WA, driven mainly by southeast Asia's feedlots and Middle Eastern countries, where Islamic dietary laws
Islamic dietary laws are dietary laws that Muslims follow. Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are '' '' (, "lawful") and which are '' '' (, "unlawful"). The dietary laws are found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as well as in coll ...
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.
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. According to the 2006 census, 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 of Kwinana had the nation's largest oil refinery with a capacity of 146,000 barrels of oil per day, producing most of the state's petrol and diesel. 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
Austal is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high-speed passeng ...
) and associated support industries are found at nearby Henderson Henderson may refer to:
People
*Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname
*Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan
Places Argentina
*Henderson, Buenos Aires
Australia
*Henderson, Western Australia
Canada
* H ...
, 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 include western rock lobster
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
* Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that i ...
s, prawns, crabs, shark and tuna, as well as pearl fishing in the Kimberley region of the state. Processing is conducted along the west coast. Whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
was a key marine industry but ceased at Albany in 1978.
Western Australia has the world's biggest plantations of both Indian sandalwood
''Santalum album'', or Indian sandalwood, is a small tropical tree, and the traditional source of sandalwood oil. It is native to southern India and Southeast Asia. It is considered sacred in some religions like Hinduism, and some cultures place ...
(northern WA) and Australian sandalwood
''Santalum spicatum'', the Australian sandalwood, also Waang and other names (Noongar) and Dutjahn ( Martu), is a tree native to semi-arid areas at the edge of Southwest Australia, in the state of Western Australia. It is also found in South A ...
(semi-arid regions), which are used to produce sandalwood oil
Sandalwood oil is an essential oil obtained from the steam distillation of chips and billets cut from the heartwood of various species of sandalwood trees, mainly ''Santalum album'' (Indian sandalwood) and ''Santalum spicatum'' (Australian sanda ...
and incense
Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be ...
. The WA sandalwood
Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...
industry provides about 40 per cent of the international sandalwood oil market.
Tourism
In recent years, tourism has grown in importance, with significant numbers of visitors to the state coming from the UK and Ireland (28%), other European countries (14%) Singapore (16%), Japan (10%) and Malaysia (8%). 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. 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%.
Tourism WA is the government agency responsible for promoting Western Australia as a holiday destination.
Government
Western Australia was granted self-government in 1890 with a bicameral Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
located in Perth, consisting of the Legislative Assembly (or ''lower house''), which has 59 members; and the Legislative Council (or ''upper 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's federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
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 (see Federalism in Australia
Federalism was adopted, as a constitutional principle, in Australia on 1 January 1901 – the date upon which the six self-governing Australian Colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia f ...
).
Whilst the sovereign of Western Australia is the King of Australia (Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
) and executive power is nominally vested in his state representative, the Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
(currently Chris 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. Mark McGowan
Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party.
McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...
is the premier, having defeated Colin Barnett
Colin James Barnett (born 15 July 1950) is a former Australian politician who was the 29th Premier of Western Australia. He concurrently served as the state's Treasurer at several points during his tenure and had previously held various other po ...
at the state election on 11 March 2017 and retained power at the 2021 election.
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 the Commonwealth of Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
. 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 name Auralia
Auralia was a proposed colony that would have been formed out of the south-eastern portion of the colony of Western Australia in the early twentieth century, and would have joined the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia.
The name, meaning 'g ...
was considered.
In a referendum 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 to Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
, but the British Government ruled the referendum invalid and therefore no action was taken.
Local government
Western Australia is divided into 139 Local Government Areas
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory.
The phrase i ...
, including Christmas Island
Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...
and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
)
, anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''"
, song_type =
, song =
, image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
, map_caption = ...
. Their mandate and operations are governed by the Local Government Act 1995
The Local Government Act 1995 is an act of the Western Australian Parliament
The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, for ...
.
Education
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. 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. Sixteen 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. Students have the option to study at a TAFE
Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...
college after Year 10, or continue through to Year 12 with vocational courses or a university entrance courses.
There are five universities in Western Australia. They consist of four Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
-based public universities
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university ...
, being the University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...
, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Aust ...
and Murdoch University
Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...
; and one Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
-based private Roman Catholic university, the University of Notre Dame Australia
The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) is a national Roman Catholic private university with campuses in and in Western Australia and Sydney in New South Wales. The university also has eight clinical schools as part of its school of med ...
. The University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
is also one of only two private universities
Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grants. Depe ...
in Australia, along with Bond University, a not-for-profit private education provider based in Gold Coast, Queensland
The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...
.
Media
Print
Western Australia has two daily newspapers: the Seven West Media
Seven West Media Limited is an ASX-listed media company and is Australia's largest diversified media business, with an extensive presence in broadcast television, print and online publishing.
Seven Group Holdings Ltd (SGH), a company control ...
-owned tabloid ''The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
'' and the ''Kalgoorlie Miner
''The Kalgoorlie Miner'' (commonly known as ''The Miner'') is a daily newspaper circulating in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Goldfields-Esperance region, in Western Australia.
It is published Monday to Saturday by Hocking & Co. Pty L ...
''. Also published is one weekend paper, ''The Weekend West'', and one Sunday tabloid newspaper, which is also owned by Seven West Media after purchase from News Corporation's ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''. There are also 17 weekly community newspapers with distribution from Yanchep
Yanchep is an outer coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia, north of the Perth CBD. It is a part of the City of Wanneroo local government area. Originally a small crayfishing settlement, it was developed by entrepreneur Alan Bond in the 1 ...
in the north to Mandurah
Mandurah () is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 107,641 as of the 2021 Australian census, 2 ...
in the south. There are two major weekly rural papers in the state, ''Countryman'' and the Australian Community Media
Australian Community Media (ACM) is a media company in Australia responsible for over 160 regional publications. Its mastheads include the ''Canberra Times'', ''Newcastle Herald'', '' The Examiner'', '' The Border Mail'', '' The Courier'' and ...
-owned ''Farm Weekly
''Farm Weekly'' is a newspaper published by Australian Community Media. Founded in 1974 as ''Elders Weekly'', it was renamed ''Farm Weekly'' in 1993. It focuses on the agriculture industry in Western Australia. It was published by Fairfax Media ...
''. The national broadsheet publication ''The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' is also available, although with sales per capita lagging far behind those in other states. ''WAtoday
WAtoday is an online newspaper, focusing its coverage on Perth and Western Australia. It was established on 10 June 2008, and is owned by Fairfax Digital (now Nine Publishing, under Nine Entertainment Co).
The company employs ten journalists i ...
'' is an online newspaper owned by Nine Entertainment
Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brandi ...
, focusing its coverage on Perth and Western Australia.
Television
Metropolitan Perth has five broadcast television stations;
* ABC TV WA. (Callsign: ABW – Channel 12 Digital)
* SBS WA. (Callsign: SBS – was on Channel 29 Digital - now Channel 7 Digital since the 2013 retune)
* Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
Perth. (Callsign: TVW – Channel 6 Digital)
* Nine Network
The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
Perth. (Callsign: STW
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia.
''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...
– Channel 8 Digital)
* Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...
Perth. (Callsign: NEW
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
– Channel 11 Digital)
* Perth formerly had West TV
West TV (WTV, call-sign CTW32) was a free-to-air community television station that began broadcasting in standard-definition digital format on logical channel 44 in Perth, Western Australia at 10 am on 10 April 2010.https://www.facebook.com/ ...
, a free-to-air community television channel that began broadcasting in April 2010 and ceased broadcasting in February 2020. It replaced Access 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.
* Golden West Network (GWN7). Owned by Seven West Media
Seven West Media Limited is an ASX-listed media company and is Australia's largest diversified media business, with an extensive presence in broadcast television, print and online publishing.
Seven Group Holdings Ltd (SGH), a company control ...
. (Callsigns: SSW South West, VEW Goldfields/Esperance, GTW Central West, WAW remote areas)
* WIN Television WA
WOW is an Australian television station licensed to WIN Television, serving regional and remote Western Australia. The station officially commenced transmissions on 26 March 1999 as the second commercial regional broadcaster in Western Australi ...
. Affiliated with Nine (Callsign: WOW)
* West Digital Television. Affiliated with Ten (Callsigns: SDW South West, VDW Goldfields/Esperance, GDW Central West, WDW remote areas)
* Regional WA used to have Westlink. An open-narrowcast community-based television channel that was only on satellite until Westlink’s discontinuation in 2018. (Satellite only)
In addition, broadcasters operate digital multichannels:
* ABC HD (Carried by ABW)
* ABC TV Plus
ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment pr ...
(Carried by ABW)
* ABC Me
ABC Me (stylised as ABC ME) is an Australian English language children's free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was officially launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 4 December 2009 as ABC3.
Hist ...
(Carried by ABW)
* ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
(Carried by ABW)
* SBS HD
SBS is a national public television network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share.
As of 2022, SBS is the lowest ...
(Carried by SBS)
* SBS Viceland
SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...
(Carried by SBS)
* SBS World Movies
SBS World Movies is an Australian free-to-air television channel showing international movies. The channel features foreign language films, documentaries, independent and mainstream cinema and interviews with international movie stars. It w ...
(Carried by SBS)
* SBS Food
SBS Food is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world.
History
SBS first revealed it would laun ...
(Carried by SBS)
* NITV
National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the half-hourly nightly ''NITV News'' ...
(Carried by SBS)
* SBS WorldWatch
SBS WorldWatch is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel shows multilingual international news bulletins in more than 30 languages, as well as two local bulletins i ...
(Carried by SBS)
* 7HD
7HD is an Australian television channel, owned by Seven West Media, originally launched on 15 October 2007 featuring unique breakaway programming from 10 December 2007 to 4 October 2009 and a HD simulcast of Seven until 25 September 2010. The ...
(Carried by TVW)
* 7TWO (Carried by TVW and affiliates)
* 7mate
7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...
(Carried by TVW and affiliates)
* 7flix
7flix is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 28 February 2016.
7flix targets a variety of viewers and offers drama, comedy, reality, docusoap, and movies.
History
On 18 Decembe ...
(Carried by TVW)
* Racing.com (Carried by TVW and affiliates)
* 9HD
9HD is an Australian television channel owned by Nine Entertainment, originally launched on 17 March 2008 featuring unique "breakaway" programming until 2009 and a high-definition simulcast of the Nine Network from 2009 to 2010 and again s ...
(Carried by STW
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia.
''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...
and affiliates)
* 9Gem
9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived.
History
Nine N ...
(Carried by STW
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia.
''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...
and affiliates)
* 9Go!
9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anim ...
(Carried by STW
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia.
''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...
and affiliates)
* 9Life
9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scripp ...
(Carried by STW
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia.
''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...
and affiliates)
* 9Rush
9Rush is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network on 5 April 2020. The channel is a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd (which also supplies its programming) ...
(Carried by STW
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia.
''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...
)
* Extra
Extra or Xtra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper
* ''Extra!'', an American me ...
(Carried by STW
STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia.
''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...
)
* 10 Bold (Carried by NEW
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
and affiliate)
* 10 Peach (Carried by NEW
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
and affiliate)
* 10 Shake (Carried by NEW
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
)
* 10 HD (Carried by NEW
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
and affiliate)
* TVSN
TVSN (an acronym for "Television Shopping Network") is an Australian and New Zealand broadcast, cable television and satellite television network specializing in home shopping. It is owned by parent company Direct Group Pty Ltd, a home marketi ...
(Carried by NEW
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
and affiliate)
* Gecko TV (Carried by NEW
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
)
Pay TV services are provided by Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...
, which acquired many of the assets and all the remaining subscribers of the insolvent Galaxy 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.
Radio
Perth has many radio stations on both AM and FM frequencies. ABC stations include ABC NewsRadio
ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...
(6PB 585 AM), ABC Radio Perth
ABC Radio Perth (call sign: 6WF) is the on-air identifier of a radio station located in Perth, Western Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasting at 720 kHz AM. It is the flagship ABC Local Radio station ...
(6WF 720 AM), Radio National
Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2.
History
1937: Predecessors an ...
(6RN 810 AM), ABC Classic FM (6ABC 97.7FM) and Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
(6JJJ 99.3FM). The six commercial stations are: Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations.
The network dates back to th ...
(6PPM), Nova 93.7
Nova 93.7 (call sign: 6PER) is a commercial radio station in Perth, Western Australia. Jointly owned by NOVA Entertainment and Australian Radio Network, it was established in the Perth market on 5 December 2002. Nova 93.7 was launched at 3pm b ...
(6PER), Mix 94.5 (6MIX), 96FM (6NOW) and AM 882 (6PR), AM 1080 ( 6iX) and AM 1116 (6MM)
The leading community radio
Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...
stations are Curtin FM
Curtin Radio is a radio station based in Perth. The station broadcasts from studios at the Bentley campus at Curtin University. As well as broadcasting on radio, the station also broadcasts digitally on CurtinDG as well as live-streaming via ...
100.1, 6RTR FM 92.1, Sonshine FM 98.5 (6SON) and 91.3 SportFM (6WSM).
Culture
Arts and entertainment
Western Australia is home to one of the country's leading performance training institutions, the acclaimed Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...
(WAAPA), as well as a burgeoning theatrical and musical scene. Notable musicians and bands to have been born in or lived in Western Australia include Adam Brand, Ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...
, Karnivool
Karnivool is an Australian progressive rock band formed in Perth in 1997. The group currently consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass, and Steve Judd on drums. Karnivool emerged from a band ...
, Birds of Tokyo
Birds of Tokyo are an Australian alternative rock band from Perth, Western Australia. Their debut album, ''Day One,'' gained them domestic success, reaching number three on the AIR Independent Album charts and spending a total of 36 consecuti ...
, Bon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980.
Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotlan ...
, Eskimo Joe
Eskimo Joe are an Australian alternative rock band that was formed in 1997 by Stuart MacLeod, on lead guitar, Joel Quartermain, on drums and guitar, and Kavyen Temperley, on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia, Austral ...
, Johnny Young
Johnny Young (born Johnny Benjamin de Jong; 12 March 1947) is a Dutch Australian singer, composer, record producer, disc jockey, television producer and host. Originally from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, his family settled in Perth in the early ...
, Gyroscope
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...
, the John Butler Trio
The John Butler Trio are an Australian roots/rock band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler, an APRA and ARIA-award-winning musician. They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums, Gavin Shoesmith on bass and John Butler on vo ...
, Tame Impala
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parke ...
, Kevin Mitchell, Tim Minchin, Troye Sivan
Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter, actor and YouTuber. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his thi ...
, The Kill Devil Hills
The Kill Devil Hills are an Australian acoustic, country-tinged rock band formed in 2003 in Fremantle by founding mainstays Brendan Humphries and Steve Joines. They have released four studio albums, ''Heathen Songs'' (August 2004), ''The Dro ...
, Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...
, The Pigram Brothers
The Pigram Brothers are a seven-piece Indigenous Australian band from the Pearl hunting, pearling town of Broome, Western Australia, Broome, Western Australia, formed in 1996.
They were heavily involved in Broome's musical and theatrical exports ...
, Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...
, Stella Donnelly
Stella Donnelly (born 10 April 1992) is a Welsh-Australian indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. After the success of her debut EP ''Thrush Metal'' in 2017, she signed with Secretly Canadian in 2018. She released her debut studio album ''B ...
and The Triffids
The Triffids were an Australian alternative rock and pop band, formed in Perth in Western Australia in May 1978 with David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist.McFarlane (1999). Encyclopedia entry fo"The Triff ...
. The West Australian Music Industry Awards
The Western Australian Music Industry Awards (commonly known as WAMis) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM). The WAMi Awards are Western Aust ...
(WAMis) have been awarded every year to the leading musicians and performers in WA since 2001.
Notable actors and television personalities from Western Australia include Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...
, Sam Worthington
Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an Australian actor. He is best known for playing Jake Sully in ''Avatar'' and its sequel, ''Avatar: The Way of Water''; Marcus Wright in ''Terminator Salvation'', and Perseus in '' Clash o ...
, Ernie Dingo, Jessica Marais
Jessica Dominique Marais (born 29 January 1985) is a South African-born Australian actress best known for her roles on Australian television in '' Packed to the Rafters'' and '' Love Child''. She also co-starred on the American drama series '' ...
, Megan Gale
Megan Kate Gale (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian model and actress. Born in Perth, Western Australia, Gale won a model contest when she was 18 in her home town. In 1999 she was cast in a series of commercials for the Italian telecommunicat ...
, Rove McManus
John Henry Michael McManus (born 21 January 1974), better known by the stage name Rove McManus, is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the e ...
, Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...
, and Melissa George
Melissa George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian actress and entrepreneur. A former national artistic rollerskating champion and model, George began her acting career playing Angel Parrish in the Australian soap opera Home and Away (1993– ...
. Films and television series filmed or partly filmed in Western Australia include ''Rabbit-Proof Fence
The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, formerly known as the Rabbit-Proof Fence, the State Vermin Fence, and the Emu Fence, is a pest-exclusion fence constructed between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits, and other agricultural pests from th ...
'', '' The Heights'', '' Mystery Road'', ''These Final Hours
''These Final Hours'' is a 2013 Australian sci-fi apocalyptic thriller film written and directed by Zak Hilditch and starring Nathan Phillips and Angourie Rice. It was selected to be screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of t ...
'', ''Cloudstreet
''Cloudstreet'' is a novel by Australian writer Tim Winton published in 1991. It chronicles the lives of two working-class families, the Pickles and the Lambs, who come to live together in a large house called Cloudstreet in Perth, Western Aust ...
'', ''Jasper Jones
''Jasper Jones'', is a 2009 novel by Australian writer Craig Silvey. It has won and been shortlisted for several major awards including being shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. The novel was selected by the American Librar ...
'', ''Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
'', '' Bran Nu Dae'', '' Red Dog'', '' ABBA: the Movie'' and ''Last Train to Freo
''Last Train to Freo'' is a 2006 Australian film based on Reg Cribb's 2001 play '' The Return'', and directed by Jeremy Sims.
Synopsis
Two thugs from the Perth suburb of Midland catch the last train to Fremantle. When a young woman, unaware t ...
''.
Noted Western Australian Indigenous painters and artisans include Jack Dale Mengenen
Jack Dale Mengenen (circa 1922 – 8 February 2013) was an Australian Indigenous Australians, indigenous artist, painter, and folklorist. He was also a "custodian" of the traditional culture, stories, and beliefs of his Ngarinyin language, Ngariny ...
, Paddy Bedford
Paddy Bedford (circa 1922 – 14 July 2007), aka "Goowoomji", was a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist from Warmun in the Kimberley, and one of eight Australian artists selected for an architectural commission for the Musée du quai Bra ...
, Queenie McKenzie
Queenie McKenzie (Nakarra) (formerly Oakes, or Mingmarriya) (c. 1915 – 16 November 1998) was an Aboriginal Australian artist. She was born on Old Texas Station, on the western bank of the Ord River in the East Kimberley.
Early life
M ...
, and siblings Nyuju Stumpy Brown and Rover Thomas
Rover Thomas Joolama (1926 – 11 April 1998), known as Rover Thomas, was a Wangkajunga and Kukatja Aboriginal Australian artist.
Early life
Rover Thomas was born in 1926 near Gunawaggii, at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route, in the Grea ...
.
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Perth, Western Australia. Its principal concert venue is the Perth Concert Hall. WASO also gives concerts at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. , W ...
(WASO) is based at the Perth Concert Hall. Other concert, performance and indoor sporting venues in Western Australia include His Majesty's Theatre, the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia
The State Theatre Centre of Western Australia is a theatre complex located within the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. The larger of three dedicated performance areas is known as the Heath Ledger Theatre in honour of Perth-born ...
, the Crown Theatre and Perth Arena
Perth Arena (known commercially as ) is an entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located on Wellington Street near the site of the former Perth Entertainmen ...
, which opened in 2012. Performing arts companies based in Perth include the West Australian Ballet
West Australian Ballet is the State ballet company of Western Australia and is based in Perth, at the Western Australian Ballet Centre in Maylands.
The company was founded in 1952 by Madame Kira Bousloff (formerly of the Ballets Russes) and ...
, the West Australian Opera
West Australian Opera (WAO) is the principal opera company of Western Australia and is a resident company at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth.
The company formed in 1967 and works in close association with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. It pr ...
, the Black Swan State Theatre Company
Black Swan State Theatre Company (formerly The Black Swan Theatre Company) is Western Australia's state theatre company. It runs an annual subscription season in Perth at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, tours its productions reg ...
and the Perth Theatre Company
Perth Theatre Company was a live theatre company in Perth, Western Australia.
History
Perth Theatre Company was founded as SWY Theatre Company by graduates from the specialist Theatre Arts course at John Curtin Senior High School in 1983. Betwe ...
.
Western Australia has served as the setting for a number of works of Australian literature
Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, ...
. Prominent authors include Katharine Susannah Prichard
Katharine Susannah Prichard (4 December 18832 October 1969) was an Australian author and co-founding member of the Communist Party of Australia.
Early life
Prichard was born in Levuka, Fiji in 1883 to Australian parents. She spent her childhoo ...
, Randolph Stow
Julian Randolph Stow (28 November 1935 – 29 May 2010) was an Australian-born writer, novelist and poet.
Early life
Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow was the son of Mary Campbell Stow née Sewell and Cedric Ernest Stow, a ...
, Tim Winton
Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Fr ...
, Kim Scott
Kim Scott (born 18 February 1957) is an Australian novelist of Aboriginal Australian ancestry. He is a descendant of the Noongar people of Western Australia.
Biography
Scott was born in Perth in 1957 and is the eldest of four siblings with a ...
, Sally Morgan, Joan London, Mary Durack
Dame Mary Durack (20 February 1913 – 16 December 1994) was an Australian author and historian. She wrote ''Kings in Grass Castles'' and ''Keep Him My Country''.
Childhood
Mary Durack, born in Adelaide, South Australia, to Michael Patrick ...
and Craig Silvey.
The public Art Gallery of Western Australia
The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...
is part of the Perth Cultural Centre
The Perth Cultural Centre is an area of central Perth, Western Australia, near the James Street Mall.
It is home to a number of cultural institutions including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, State Library o ...
. Founded in 1895, it houses the State Art Collection, comprising works from local and international artists, dating back to the 1800s. The Perth Cultural Centre
The Perth Cultural Centre is an area of central Perth, Western Australia, near the James Street Mall.
It is home to a number of cultural institutions including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, State Library o ...
is also home to the Western Australian Museum
The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''.
The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...
, State Library of Western Australia
The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Culture and t ...
, State Records Office, and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in a heritage-listed building in Perth, Western Australia.
History 1896–1959: Schools
The building at 53 James Street, Northbridge, which ...
(PICA).
Sport
A number of national or international sporting teams and events are based in the state, including:
* Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
: The West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...
and the Fremantle Dockers
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...
compete in the Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
(AFL). They also have women's teams playing in the AFL Women's
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...
league. The West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...
(WAFL) is the main local football competition, but other local and amateur football leagues exist across the state.
* Baseball: The Perth Heat
The Perth Heat is a baseball team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the Australian Baseball League. It is now the most successful team in ABL, winning 15 Claxton Shields.
Australian Baseball League (1989–19 ...
compete in the Australian Baseball League
The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...
.
* Basketball: The Perth Wildcats
The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle".
Afte ...
(men) and Perth Lynx
The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, t ...
(women) compete in the National Basketball League and Women's National Basketball League
The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...
, respectively.
* Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
: Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
represent the state in first-class and List A
List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...
domestic cricket, with the Perth Scorchers
The Perth Scorchers is an Australian domestic Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the Western Australian city of Perth in the Big Bash League (BBL).
The Scorchers are the current BBL Champions, having defeated the Sydney Sixers in the ...
competing in the Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...
Big Bash League
The Big Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash Le ...
.
* Field hockey: The WA Thundersticks, Thundersticks (men) and Diamonds (women) compete in the Australian Hockey League.
* Netball: The West Coast Fever compete in the ANZ Championship.
* Rugby league: The West Coast Pirates compete in the S. G. Ball Cup.
* Rugby union: The Western Force competes in the National Rugby Championship.
* Soccer: Perth Glory field Perth Glory FC, men's and Perth Glory FC W-League, women's teams in the A-League Men and A-League Womens (Australia), A-League Womens, respectively.
* Tennis: The International Tennis Federation, ITF Hopman Cup, an annual international team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament.
* Water Polo: The UWA Torpedoes water polo club competes in the Australian National Water Polo League, National Water Polo League (NWPL).
International sporting events hosted in the past in Western Australia include the Tom Hoad Cup (water polo), the Perth International (golf), the 2006 Gravity Games (extreme sports), the 2002 Women's Hockey World Cup, the 1991 FINA World Aquatics Championships, the World Rally Championships and the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
Western Australia's largest sports stadium is Perth 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.
Wine
Winemaking regions are concentrated in the cooler climate of the West Australian wine#South Western Australia, south-western portion of the state. Western Australia produces less than 5% of the country's wine output, but in quality terms is considered to be very much near the top.[T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 589 Dorling Kindersley 2005 ][winepros.com.au, ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'' pg 76]
Western Australia
/ref> Major wine producing regions include: Margaret River (wine region), Margaret River, Great Southern Wine Region, The Great Southern, Swan Valley (Western Australia), Swan Valley as well as smaller districts including Blackwood Valley, Manjimup, Western Australia, Manjimup, Pemberton, Western Australia, Pemberton, Peel (Western Australia), Peel, Chittering Valley, Perth Hills
Perth Hills is a term used primarily for marketing purposes to identify the part of the Darling Scarp and hinterland east of the scarp that lies within the Shire of Mundaring, City of Swan, and the City of Kalamunda and as part of the constituen ...
, and Geographe Bay, Geographe.
Sister states
Western Australia has five sister states:
* East Java, Indonesia
* Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
* Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh State, India
*Tuscany, Tuscany Region, Italy
* Zhejiang, Zhejiang Province, China
In 1981, a sister city, sister state agreement was drawn up between Western Australia and Hyōgo Prefecture in Japan that was aimed at improving cultural ties between the two states. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of this agreement, the Hyōgo Prefectural Government Cultural Centre was established in Perth in 1992. Prior to that, the Western Australian government opened an office in Kobe, the largest city in Hyōgo, to facilitate maintenance of the relationship in 1989.
Following the Great 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. The two governments signed a memorandum of understanding on the 20th anniversary in 2001 that aimed to improve the economic relationship between the two states.[
Further to the sister state relationship, the City of Rockingham in Western Australia and the Akō, Hyōgo, City 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.
]
See also
* Outline of Australia
* Index of Australia-related articles
*
* Government of Western Australia
* Mining in Western Australia
* Petroleum in Western Australia
* Western Australian shark cull
Lists
* List of Western Australian towns
* List of statues in Western Australia
* Local Government Areas of Western Australia
Notes
"West Australia" and its related demonym "West Australian" are occasionally used, including in the names of the main daily newspaper, ''The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
'', and the state-based West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...
, but are rarely used in an official sense. The terms "Westralia (disambiguation), Westralia" and "Westralian" were regularly used in the 19th and 20th century. The terms are still found in the names of certain companies and buildings, e.g. Westralia House in Perth and Westralia Airports Corporation, which operates Perth Airport, as well as in the names of several ships.
In Australia, the Southern Ocean, body of water south of the continent is officially gazetted as the Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...
, whereas the International Hydrographic Organization
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States.
A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters a ...
(IHO) designates it as part of the Indian Ocean.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Welcome to Western Australia
a tourist website run by Tourism Western Australia, the statutory authority responsible for promoting Western Australia as a tourist destination
Western Australia government's website
Watch historical footage of Western Australia
from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's collection.
Watch audiovisual material relating to Western Australia
on the National Film and Sound Archive'
''australianscreen online''
{{Authority control
Western Australia,
Former British colonies and protectorates in Oceania
States and territories established in 1829
States and territories of Australia
1829 establishments in Australia