The human history of Western Australia commenced "over 50,000 years ago and possibly as much as 70,000 years ago" with the arrival of Aboriginal Australians on the northwest coast. The first inhabitants expanded across the east and south of the continent.
The first recorded European contact was in 1616, when Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog landed on the west coast, having been blown off course while en route to Batavia, current day Jakarta.
Although many expeditions visited the coast during the next 200 years, there was no lasting attempt at establishing a permanent settlement until December 1826. An expedition on behalf of the New South Wales colonial government, led by Major Edmund Lockyer, landed at King George Sound, and founded what became the port city of Albany. On 21 January 1827 Lockyer formally took possession for the British Crown the portion of New Holland not yet claimed by the crown; that is, the portion west of 129th meridian east. This was followed by the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829, which ultimately became the present-day capital, Perth. The harsh conditions faced by the settlers resulted in population growth being minimal until the discovery of gold in the 1880s. Since the gold rush, the population of the state has risen steadily, with substantial growth in the period since World War II.
Western Australia gained the right of self-government in 1890, and joined with the five other states to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The desire of Western Australians to revert to complete self-governance, separate from the Commonwealth, culminated in 1933 with a successful referendum for secession supported by 68% of electors. In 1935 the British parliament declined to act since secession would require the assent of the Australian parliament, and the movement lapsed with an improving economy and generous federal grants.
Aboriginal settlement
When Australia's first inhabitants arrived on the northwest coast 50,000 to 70,000 years ago the sea levels were much lower. The Kimberley coast at one time was only about from Timor, which itself was the last in a line of closely spaced islands for humans to travel across. Therefore, this was a possible (even probable) location for which Australia's first peoples could arrive via boat. Other possible immigration routes were via islands further north and then through New Guinea.
In 1999 Charles Dortch identified chert and calcrete flake stone tools, found at Rottnest Island, as possibly dating to at least 50,000 years ago.Hesp, Patrick A., Murray-Wallace, Colin V. and C. E. Dortch, (1999), "Aboriginal occupation on Rottnest Island, Western Australia, provisionally dated by Aspartic Acid Racemisation assay of land snails to greater than 50 ka" (Australian Archaeology, No. 49 (1999). A 2018 study using archaeobotany dated evidence of continuous human habitation at Karnatukul (Serpent's Glen) in the Carnarvon Range in the Little Sandy Desert from around 50,000 years ago.
Over the next tens of thousands of years various groups of Indigenous Australians slowly moved southward and eastward across the landmass. Aboriginal people were well established throughout Western Australia by the time European ships started accidentally arriving en route to Batavia (now Jakarta) in the early 17th century.
Early visits by Europeans
The first European to sight Western Australia was the Dutch explorer, Dirk Hartog, the first European to suggest to have found a continent there, who on 26 October 1616 landed at what is now known as Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island. Before departing, Hartog left behind an inscribed pewter plate affixed to a post. In 1696 the plate was discovered and replaced by Willem de Vlamingh and repatriated to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. A multitude of Dutch visits followed during that century, charting virtually the whole of the west coast, the Western Australian south coast and Australia's northern coast.
The first English vessel to visit, when attempting to sail the Dutch-established Brouwer Route to the Indies, was Tryall, an East India Company-owned East Indiaman under the command of John Brookes who in 1622 sighted Point Cloates before later on 25 May wrecking on Tryal Rocks, off the northwest coast of Australia. Some of the 143 crew remained on the Monte Bello Islands for 7 days, during that time sighting Barrow Island, before sailing to Batavia in a longboat. A second boat brought some more crew to Batavia, so just over 40 people survived, including Brookes. Almost one hundred crew apparently perished in the wreck. Tryall became Australia's oldest known shipwreck.
A later English visitor was William Dampier, who in 1699 sailed down some of the western coast of Australia. He noted the lack of water and in his description of Shark Bay in his account "A Voyage to New Holland", he expressed his frustration:
A number of sections of the Western Australian coastline were given names which did not last past the exploratory era in names of features – such as Eendrachtsland. However some names, such as t Landt van de Leeuwin (Leeuwin's Land), materialised at a later date as Cape Leeuwin.
Timeline of European discovery and exploration
Below is a timeline of significant events from the 1616 landfall of Dirk Hartog until the eventual settlement of the Swan River Colony in 1829:
Colonial era King George Sound
The first formal claim of possession for Great Britain was made on 29 September 1791 by Commander (later Captain) George Vancouver RN, on a spot he named Possession Point, at the tip of the peninsula between the waters he also named Princess Royal Harbour and King George the Third's Sound at Albany (the Third was dropped from the name in 1826).
In the early 19th century, the British became concerned about the possibility of a French colony being established on the west coast of Australia. In 1826, the Governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling, ordered the establishment of a settlement at King George's Sound. An army detachment was sent from Sydney headed by Major Edmund Lockyer with eighteen soldiers, one captain, one doctor, one storekeeper and twenty-three convicts.
On 21 January 1827, the whole of Australia was claimed as British territory for the first time when Major Lockyer formally annexed the western portion of the continent in a ceremony on King George Sound.
In March 1831, the penal settlement was withdrawn, and the control of King George's Sound was transferred from New South Wales to the Swan River Colony. Captain James Stirling decreed that the settlement would be named Albany from 1 January 1832.
The Swan River Colony
The first documented European settlements were established at the Swan River by James Stirling in 1829. The colonists first sighted land on 1 June, arrived in Cockburn Sound on 2 June, an official proclamation was made on 18 June and the foundation of the colony took place on 12 August. As Lieutenant Governor, Stirling had sole authority to draft laws and decide day-to-day affairs. On 6 February 1832, the colony was renamed Western Australia.
Major towns of the colony developed slowly into the port city of Fremantle, the main settlement of Perth upriver, and Guildford.
Expansion 1829–1850
Much of the land around the Swan River Colony was unsuitable for agriculture and it was inevitable that the colony would have to expand beyond the Swan River area after the most fertile locations were quickly settled.
Sheep farming was the most successful early agricultural activity, and the basis of all expansion until the 1850s.
Convict era
While Western Australia was initially a "free settlement", economic problems for settler capitalists led them to seek the transportation of British convicts. Western Australia became a penal colony in 1850.
The Gregory brothers led major exploration expeditions to many parts of the colony, including:
By 1859, all the other Australian colonies had their own parliaments and colonists in Western Australia began pushing for the right to govern themselves. The British Colonial Office opposed this because of the slow rate of growth and the presence of convicts. Petitions asking for some of the positions in the Legislative Council to be filled by elected members were presented to London twice during the 1860s.
By 1868, over 9,000 convicts had been transported to Western Australia on 43 convict ship voyages, outnumbering the 7300 settlers in the colony at the time.
In 1867 John Boyle O'Reilly, a Fenian convict, escaped on a boat to the United States, where he published a novel on the Western Australian penal system. He would provide advice to an 1876 expedition of the Catalpa, which rescued another six Fenian convicts.
Expansion 1861–1885 Wool production, usually on large stations, was also the basis of expansion further east and northward.
The first permanent European settlements in the North West (later divided into the Pilbara and Kimberley regions) took place in the mid-1860s, initially at the Harding River, De Grey River and Roebourne (gazetted in 1867). Pearling also came to dominate the North West, initially in Nickol Bay, with a fleet at Tien Tsin Harbor (later renamed Cossack). In the North West, unlike southern Western Australia, the labour force was dominated by Indigenous Australians, often under harsh forms of unfree labour.
In 1870, some members of the Legislative Council were elected for the first time, although only male settlers with significant property could vote and the Governor could still veto the council's decisions.
John Forrest led two major expeditions:
In 1872, controversial explorer Peter Egerton Warburton made a journey from Alice Springs to the Western Australian coast.
Ernest Giles twice traversed the Gibson Desert between 1872 and 1876.
During the 1870s, the Murchison and Gascoyne regions were also settled by Europeans.
Other notable events
Gold discoveries, 1885–1900
Until the 1880s the economy of the state was based largely on wool and wheat. A major change in the colony's fortunes occurred in 1885 when gold was discovered and prospectors by the tens of thousands swarmed across the land in a desperate attempt to discover new goldfields.
In 1887 a new constitution, including proposals for responsible government, was drafted and sent to London by Governor Broome for approval. It was argued that due to the increasing wealth being generated by gold rushes, Western Australia should become a self-governing colony. The (53 & 54 Vict. c. 26 (Imp)) granting self-government was passed by the British Parliament in 1890, implementing the constitution defined in the (52 Vict. No. 23 (WA)), giving the colony independence from the UK in matters other than foreign policy, defence and "native affairs". The Legislative Council, through the Aborigines Protection Act 1886 (50 Vict. No. 25 (WA)), had established the Aborigines Protection Board. Aboriginal affairs remained under the control of the British government, not the Western Australian one. Governor Broome had earlier warned the British Colonial Office that Western Australians could not to be trusted in matters relating to Aboriginal persons. Section 70 of the constitution stated that £5,000, equivalent to in , or one percent of state revenues, whichever was the greater, was to be allocated to Aboriginal persons for their welfare and advancement. Many settlers resented these clauses, and Western Australia has never honoured this clause to its own constitution. A previous governor, William Robinson, was re-appointed to supervise the change. He travelled by train from Albany to Perth and towns en route lit bonfires and people gathered at railway sidings to celebrate his arrival and the new constitution. His arrival in Perth on 21 October 1890 saw the city decorated with elaborate floral arches spanning the city's main streets and buildings were decked with banners and flags.