Europeans arrive
In 26 October 1616 a Dutch explorer, Dirk Hartog landed at (what is now called) Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island. Prior to departing, Hartog left behind the pewter plate affixed to a post, bearing a inscription (within translation from either a original Dutch):

This shell, today called a Hartog plate is the oldest-known artefact of European exploration around Australia however extant. Within 1697 the Flemish sea captain Willem de Vlamingh also reached the isl& and choosing Hartog's pewter shell however touching its original position he flushed it & replaced it by owning a second shell. A original was returned to Holland where it still is saved in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. delaware Vlamingh's shell employed all the crucial sailors on the voyage & concluded by having:

Dirk Hartog's plate in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Inside 1699, William Dampier sailed down the coast of Western Australia. He noted a deficiency of h2o. A description of Shark Bay in his account "A Voyage to New Holland", he expresses his frustration:

Inside 1818 the French explorer Louis de Freycinet, while researching a coast, come through delaware Vlamingh's shell & flushed it to France. A shell was sooner or later returned to Australia in 1947 and is currently housed within the Maritime Museum in Fremantle.

British settlements
A number one formal claim of possession for Britain was made by Commander George Vancouver RN (later captain) in 29 September 1791 on a spot he known as Possession Point, at a tip of the peninsula between the waters he as well named -- King George III Healthy & Princess Royal Harbour at Albany. A "third" (Three) was dropped late.

In the early 1800s the British became concerned all about the possibility of a French colony being established on the coast of American Australia & so, within 1826, the New South Wales governor Ralph Darling established a award at King George Healthy. The penal award in the area was considered however rejected. Instead, the little detachment headed by Edmund Lockyer with 18 soldiers, 1 captain, 1 doctor, of these shopkeeper & Xxiii convicts were sent as a labour click.

Fallowing a formal declaration around 1829 of the Swan River Colony (some 410 kilometre north West) (watch in the image below), control of King George Healthy was transferred from either New South Wales to Western Australia and continued under a Government Resident. Captain James Stirling decreed that the personal injury settlement would exist as known as "Albany" from 1832.

Swan River Colony
A Swan Flow of any stream Colony was a title given to the British colony established on the Swan River by Captain James Stirling in 1829. A settler foremost sighted land in 1 June, the official Proclamatiin was mass produced on 18 June, and a foundatiin of the colony took place on 12 August. Them separate townsites of a colony developed slowly into the larboard city of Fremantle and the Western Australian capital city Perth.

Convicts
Despite its foundations as a "free settlement", American Australithe became a penal colony in 1850. Between so & 1868, over 9000 convicts were transported to American Australia in 43 convict ships.

Late nineteenth century
Until a 1870s the economy of the state was based on wheat, meat and wool. A early explorers opened higher a inland however it were non followed by great developers because 100% it noticed was desert. Notable explorers of the interior were: Major Peter Egerton Warburton who made the precarious journeying from either Alice Springs to the Western Australian coast. A.C. & F.T. Gregory in the 1840s and 1850s carried out extensive explorations along the celibate's american coastline & boondocks. Ernest Giles twice traversed the Gibson Desert.

Early governance
When Lieutenant Governor, Stirling had resole authority to draft laws & decide day-after-day-to-day affairs. Within 1832 he appointed a Legislative Council of quaternary government officials to assist him, & around 1839, four appointive settler were added.

By 1859, all the other Australian colonies experienced their have parliaments & settler within American Australia began pushing for the perfect to govern themselves. A British Colonial Office opposed this because of a slow rate of growth & the presence by so of convicts. Petitions request for a few of the positions in the Legislative Council to exist as filled by popularly elective settler were presented to London in 1865 and 1869. Within 1870 this was granted, although a Governor can however veto the Councils decisions.

Inside 1887 an new constitution including the right of self-governance was drafted & sent to London by Governor Broome for approval. Partially due to the increasing wealth which was existence generated by gold rushes, this was travel by the House of Commons and assented to by Queen Victoria in 1890. The last Governor, Sir William Robinson, was re-appointed to supervise the vary. He surpass train from either Albany to Perth & towns en route lit balefire & humans gathered at railway sidings to celebrate his arrival and a recently constitution. His arrival within Perth in October 21 1890 saw a city decorated by having elaborate flowered arches spanning the city's main streets & buildings were adorned using banners & flags.

Gold discovered
The major vary in the state's fortunes occurred in the 1880s when gold was discovered & prospectors per tens of hundreds to thousands swarmed through the land around a desperate attempt to discover newly goldfields. Paddy Hannan's discovery at Kalgoorlie, and a early discoveries at Coolgardie, sparked true gold fever. Around 1891 the rush to the Murchison goldfields began when Tom Cue discovered gold at the town which okay, bears his title. In the years that followed 12 of gold towns - Day Dawn, Meekatharra, Nannine, Peak Hill, Garden Gully, Dead Finish, Pinnicles, Austin Isl& and Austin Mainland - grew higher simply to die once a seams were exhausted and a gold fever moved on.

A inflow of mineworker from either either a eastern states & from overseas increased a presence of trade unions in American Australia. A Trades and Labor Council, Perth was established in 1891 using Perth Trades Hall opened in 1912. A 1st edition of the Westralian Worker appeared in September 7, 1900 and was followed shortly afterwards per opening of the Kalgoorlie Trades Hall, the 1st such hall within American Australia. The Trades Hall was opened around Fremantle in 1904.

Federation
In January 1 1900, Western Australia, along sustaining a more 5 British colonies of Future South Wales, Queensl&, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria federated formed the Commonwealth of Australia, of which they apiece became component states.

Development during the early twentieth century
A wealth generated from either gold soon disappeared & per early years of a twentieth century the economy was over again dependant on wool and wheat. This dependency intended that the striking fall around wool and wheat prices in the late 1920s - early 1930s saw the state's economy collapse. It was does'nt to recoup until fallowing World War II when the Federal Government's postwar immigration policy saw the immense inflow of migrator, 100% of the babies from either Britain, in the period 1947 to 1970.

Timeline of European discovery and exploration
1616 - Dirk Hartog in the Eendracht arrives at Cape Inscription and leave pewter shell. Coastal regiin in the neighborhood is shown on Hartog's maps when Eendrachtsland. Believed to exist as number one landfall in Western Australian soil by Europeans. (An earliest 1603 encounter in the northern coast of Australia near Papua New Guinea by the Duyfken is credited as existence a number one Australian visit by European explorers.) 1618 - The Zeewulf makes landfall n of Eendrachtsland. 1619 - Frederick de Houtman in two ships attached for Batavia found unsafe shoals which were afterwards known as Houtman Abrolhos. Ensuing successful navigation of the Abrolhos, Houtman manufactured landfall in the region Hartog got found. 1622 - Leeuwin makes landing south of Abrolhos. 1627 - Gulden Zeepaert skippered by Francois Thijssen sails along south coast towards Great Australian Bight. 1629 - Batavia strikes a reef of the Abrolhos. Skipper Francisco Pelsaert sails a ship's microscopic boat to Batavia for rescue. Fallowing giving Tierce months late finds grounds to believe of mutiny & numbers of former survivors murdered. 1658 - three Dutch ships visit to the south coast: Waekende Boey under Captain S. Volckertszoon, a Elburg under Captain J. Peereboom & a Emeloort under Captain The. Joncke. 1688 and 1699 - William Dampier in the Cygnet explores the north-west coastline & sails down the coast. 1791 - George Vancouver makes formal claim at Possession Point, King George Sound, Albany. Little penal payout constituted. 1797 - Willem de Vlamingh find Hartog's plate & replaces it by using his have. He too explores Swan Flow of any stream region. 1801 and 1803 - the Naturaliste captained by Jacques Felix Emmanuel, Baron Hamelin visits what is nowadays understand when Garden Island. He list it Isle Buache. 1803 - Matthew Flinders sights Cape Leeuwin en route to charting of southern Australian coastline. By 1806 has completed the number one circumnavigation of Australia 1818 - Louis de Freycinet finds de Valmingh's shell & removes it to France. 1826 - small award established in behalf of New South Wales at Albany 1827 - James Stirling explores Swan River area. 1829 - Charles Fremantle declared the Swan River Colony for Britain. Shortly fallowing, Stirling makes formal proclamation of possession.