OzPedia- Western Australia

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[FACT PAGE] - [GEOGRAPHY] - [CLIMATE] - [HISTORY]

Fact Page
Capital City:
Perth

Major Cities:
Broome

Area:
2,525,500 sq km

Population:
1,649,900

Did you know?
Western Australia is the largest and the least populated of the Australian states.

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Geography
The state's land is characterised by tablelands. Almost 90 per cent of the state's region consists a tableland with an average height of 300 m to 450 m. The southwest, northwest and Kimberly regions contain many rivers flowing to the sea, including the Fitzroy, Fortescue and Ashburton rivers. The Pilbara and Hamersley Range in the northeast are particularly rich in mineral

If you go further inland the arid plateau slowly transforms into desert. Large numbers of salt lakes in the southwest are believed to be the remnants of ancient river systems. The salt lakes, bordering the wheat belt and the jarrrah forests of the extreme southwest, contain precious gold-bearing rocks around Kalgoorlie. To the southwest is the limestone Nullarbor Plain which extends into South Australia.

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Climate
Western Australia is the place to be, if you like variety in your climate. There are three prominent climatic regions. Travel to the northern part for a tropical experience or to the south-west corner if you rather a temperate climate or the vast interior for a outback adventure.

Summer temperatures range in the mid twenties öC (mid eighties öF) to the o occasional hot day in the high thirties öC (mid nineties öF). The average winter temperature is 16öC (60öF).

As you move further away from the coast, rainfall decreases and temperature variations are more noticeable. Annual rainfall averages 635 mm near the coasts, but most of the interior receives less than 255 mm a year.

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History
Aboriginal occupation of Western Australia dates back more than 40,000 years, while Makassan (Indonesian) fishermen were probably occasional visitors to the north-west coastline. Dirk Hartog was the earliest recorded European landing in 1616. Other explorers visited the are over the next two centuries but were rather uninterested with what they found. it was not until colonies had been established on the eastern coast, that they made any attempt fro settlement on the western coast, known as New Holland.

There had already been a few abandoned attempts at settlement but it wasn't until 1829 that a successful colony was set up near the mouth of the Swan River and formally claimed by Britain. The colony grew slowly due to the shortage of labour. This forced the colonists to seek convict labourers. Prisoners were sent from the east to the west in 1850 for a period of eighteen years.

Gold was discovered in the south-central regions of Western Australia, near Kalgoolie. This led to a god-rush whereby unsuccessful people who had come to Australia in search for gold in the east travelled to the west for another try at luck. It also spurred development of the towns, especially near where gold was found (Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie).

Western Australia became a state in 1890.

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