Mitch

**__Western Australia__ ** __History Aboriginal History__ Aboriginals have been in Australia for about 120,000 years and in that time they have created twenty one different groups including Worora and Djargudi. A dreaming period was a creation time and the dreaming beings were thought of as ancestors, in a dreaming some beings walked on flat land and did what aborigines did like hunting for food and building shelters. Every person was associated with a particular being. Land associated with that being was very sacred and important to them. __European History__ In 1829 Europeans began the Swan River settlement, 16 years later the Swan River settlement experienced an epidemic of influenza 1845. Europeans didn't believe aborigines held any right to the land because they believed aborigines weren't using the land in ways profitably. They started growing crops where aborigines gather food. Aborigines got cut off from hunting food and in gathering areas so a battle is unavoidable. Aborignes were forced to attack British livestock in order to eat, the British thought this is against the law. In 1834 a British man named Nesbit was speared to death, which led to a party of soldiers, led by governer Stirling, went to the Pinjarra district where the murder happened and found a group of aborigines on the bank of the Murray River south of Perth. They shot them and about thirteen died. Europeans thought the killing was a good thing and thought the aborigines deserved what they were given. The incident is now known as the battle of Pinjarra.

__Facts__ The capital city of Western Australia is Perth. It’s total population is 1,602,559. Below is an illustration of the Western Australia flag.   It has a swan on it because Perth has a major river called the Swan River so they use the swan as their famous symbol. Lots of black swans are on the Swan River and that’s how it got it’s name. The cross in the upper left corner is from our British roots.

 Above is Western Australia’s floral and faunal emblems. The two animals are the Black Swan and the Numbat (top left) which are the faunal emblems, and the flower is the kangaroo paw (top right) which is the floral emblem. Western Australia has just about the most diverse climate in Australia. Western Australia has two distinct seasonal variations. The southern half of Western Australia has four seasons (Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring ) while the north part of the state has only the two (Wet and Dry). In the southern part of Western Australia it can get quite hot and cold, in Summer it can reach a maximum average of thirty two degrees celsius and same in the Winter except in the Winter they average fourteen degrees celsius. Western Australia is two hours behind Victoria for example if it was three pm in Victoria it would be one pm in Western Australia. This is called western standard time because obviously they are in the west of Australia. Western Australia’s second major industry is agriculture. Wheat, wool, beef and lamb are the states major products. Western Australia’s fishermen are the world’s major suppliers of Lobsters, Prawns and Pearls.

__Native Plants__ There are over 13,000 different plant species in Western Australia. Over 3,000 do not have a name, 2,800 of these are threatened, rare or poorly known. The current 'Plant of the Month' for Western Australia is the Native Foxglove. It looks like a pink trumpet.

__Native Animals__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Rotttnest Island is the only place in Western Australia where you will find an animal called a Quokka (above), they are known as mini kangaroos, as well as being marsupials. (mammals)The Busselton Wetlands is home to about 35,ooo birds and about 90 different species. Other Native animals include kangaroos, brush wallabies and koalas. Fresh water crocks can be found at Windjana.

__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Landmarks and Tourist Attractions __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Barracks Arch, Rottnest Island, Margaret River Wine Region, the WACA, Perth Town Hall, St John's Pro Cathedral, Freemantle Prison, Dingo flour sign, Kalgoolie Opal Mine and Cable beach resort are some of the major landmarks of Western Australia. There are too many landmarks to put into this Wiki so I have just named a few. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; msospacerun: yes;">

__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Top 10 FamilyTourist Attractions: __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; msospacerun: yes;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__Government and Laws__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In Australia there are three levels of government: federal, state and local. The Head of state in Australia is Queen Elizabeth two. Lots of people believe that the head of state should be an Australian. Those people also believe Australia should become a republic. The Senate is the Upper House, there are a total of 76 members in the Senate 12 from each state and two from each territory. The Senate reviews bills which are drawn up in the House of Representatives, if the Senators aren’t happy with any part of the bill, they send it back to be changed. A bill must be passed by both houses of parliament to become a law. There is a total of 148 members of the house of Representatives, the number of representatives from each state depends on the population of that state, but no state will have less than 5 members. Western Australia has 13 members. The leader of the government party – the party that won the last federal election – is the Prime Minister (At the moment it is Kevin Rudd) The party that lost the election is called the Opposition (Currently the leader of the opposition is Malcolm Turnbull) Elections for the House of representatives is held every 3 years it is important that elections are regularly so that people can change government if they are not happy with the way it is governing. The Premier of Western Australia is Colin Barnett he has been the premier of Western Australia since the 23rd of September 2008. If he was to go away or die Dr Kim Hames would be the Premier of Western Australia, because he is the Deputy Premier of Western Australia. The Legislative Council Chamber furniture and walls and carpet is red while the Legislative Assembly Chamber is all green. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Perth Zoo
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">SCITECH Discovery Centre
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">AQWA – Aquarium
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Perth Mint
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">WA Maritime Museum
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Swan Valley Wagon Trails
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Adventure Worlds
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Mount Romance Sandalford Factory
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Kodja Place
 * 10) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Caversham Wildlife Park

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Mapping and Directions __

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Western Australia is the largest Australian state. It has 12, 500 km of coastline and beaches. From top to bottom it is 400 km.

__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">References __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Tourism Western Australia [|http://www.westernaustralia.com]

Department of Environment and Conservation Western Australia []

About Australia []

Gott,R 1997, Western Australia, Heinemann Library, Melbourne