Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Narelle Miragliotta, Sarah Murray and Justin Harbord
Key terms/names
Constitution Act 1889 (WA), Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899 (WA), Electoral
Act 1907 (WA), Federation, secession, Western Australian Constitution Act 1890
(UK)
This chapter furnishes an overview of the political history of Western Australia
(WA), explores the state’s relationship to the federation and outlines its key constitutional,
political and electoral features. It is argued that while WA shares much
in common with its federal counterparts, there are several areas of difference that
continue to shape its relationship to the federation.
European settlement
Indigenous peoples inhabited the territory of what is now WA for many millennia
before the official establishment of the Swan River Colony, in June 1829, by British
legislation introduced the month prior. The British view of this land at that time
hasbeendescribedas:anarea‘thathadbeenknowntotheEuropeanslongerthan
any other part of the continent and was the least wanted’. 1 British settlement was
Miragliotta, Narelle, Sarah Murray and Justin Harbord (2019). Western Australia. In Peter J. Chen,
Nicholas Barry, John R. Butcher, David Clune, Ian Cook, Adele Garnier, Yvonne Haigh, Sara C. Motta
and Marija Taflaga, eds. Australian politics and policy: senior edition. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
DOI: 10.30722/sup.9781743326671
1 Bolton 2008, 5.
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