Western Australia Day

Last updated

Western Australia Day
Also called
  • Foundation of the Colony (1833–1876)
  • Foundation Day (1877–2011)
  • WA Day
Observed byWestern Australia
TypeState holiday
SignificanceFoundation of Western Australia in 1829
DateFirst Monday in June
2023 dateJune 5  (2023-06-05)
2024 dateJune 3  (2024-06-03)
2025 dateJune 2  (2025-06-02)
2026 dateJune 1  (2026-06-01)
FrequencyAnnual
Related to Australia Day, Norfolk Island Foundation Day

Western Australia Day or simply WA Day [1] (formerly known as Foundation Day) [2] [3] is a public holiday in Western Australia (WA), celebrated on the first Monday in June each year, [4] to commemorate the founding of the Swan River Colony in 1829. Because of the date of the Western Australia Day public holiday, Western Australia does not have the King's Official Birthday public holiday in June, as do most of the other Australian states; it is held in September or October instead. [5]

Background

HMS Challenger, under Captain Charles Fremantle, anchored off Garden Island on 25 April 1829. On 2 May, Fremantle officially claimed for Britain the part of the continent then called New Holland that was not already "included within the territory of New South Wales" which at the time extended to 129th meridian east of Greenwich. [6] : 11–12  The merchant vessel Parmelia – with the new colony's administrator Lieutenant Governor James Stirling, [7] other officials, and civilian settlers on board – arrived on the night of 31 May and sighted the coast on 1 June.[ contradictory ] It arrived in Cockburn Sound on 2 June, [6] : 11  and finally anchored there on 6 June.[ citation needed ] The warship HMS Sulphur arrived on 8 June, carrying a British Army garrison. The Swan River Colony was officially proclaimed by Stirling on 11 June.[ contradictory ] [8] [9] [10]

Ships carrying more civilian settlers began arriving in August, and on King George IV's birthday, 12 August, the wife of the captain of Sulphur, Helena Dance, standing in for James Stirling's wife Ellen Stirling, cut down a tree to mark the founding of Perth. [8]

In 1832, Stirling decided that an annual celebration was needed to unite the colony's inhabitants, including settlers and Aboriginal Australians and "masters and servants".[ This quote needs a citation ] He decided that the commemoration would be held on 1 June each year (or if a Sunday, on the following Monday), the date originally planned by Stirling for Parmelia's arrival in recognition of the first and greatest British naval victory over the French in 1794, the "Glorious First of June". [9] [11]

The holiday was celebrated as Foundation Day up until 2011; in 2012, it was renamed Western Australia Day as part of a series of law changes recognising Aboriginal Australians as the original inhabitants of Western Australia. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fremantle</span> Port city in Western Australia

Fremantle is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for Fremantle is Freo.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Stirling (Royal Navy officer)</span> Australian politician

Admiral Sir James Stirling was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia. In 1854, when Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and China Station, Stirling on his own initiative signed Britain's first Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty. Throughout his career Stirling showed considerable diplomatic skill and was selected for a number of sensitive missions. Paradoxically, this was not reflected in his personal dealings with officialdom and his hopes for preferment received many rebuffs. Stirling also personally led the attack in Western Australia on a group of approximately seventy Bindjareb men, women and children now known as the Pinjarra massacre.

The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it became the capital city of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Fremantle</span> British Royal Navy officer (1800–1869)

Admiral Sir Charles Howe Fremantle GCB RN was a British Royal Navy officer. The city of Fremantle, Western Australia, is named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Septimus Roe</span> Australian politician

John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in the Pinjarra massacre on 28 October 1834.

Parmelia was a barque built in Quebec, Canada, in 1825. Originally registered on 31 May in Quebec, she sailed to Great Britain and assumed British registry. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), in 1827–1828. In 1829 she transported the first civilian officials and settlers of the Swan River Colony to Western Australia. She then made two voyages transporting convicts to New South Wales, Australia. A fire damaged her irreparably in May 1839.

The Western Australian 175th Anniversary of European settlement was celebrated in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WAY 79</span> Sesquicentenary of state of Western Australia

WAY 79, also referred to as WAY '79 and WAY 1979, was the official 1979 sesquicentennial celebration of the European colonisation of Western Australia.

<i>The Foundation of Perth 1829</i> 1929 painting by George Pitt Morison

The Foundation of Perth 1829 is a 1929 oil-on-canvas painting by George Pitt Morison. It depicts a reconstruction of the ceremony by which the town of Perth, Western Australia was founded on 12 August 1829. Morison painted the work as part of Western Australia's centenary celebrations, and presented it to the Art Gallery of Western Australia in February 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Dale</span> English army officer and explorer

Lieutenant Robert Dale was the first European explorer to cross the Darling Range in Western Australia.

The following lists events that happened during 1829 in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark John Currie</span> British Royal Navy admiral (1795–1874)

Captain Mark John Currie RN played a significant role in the exploration of Australia and the foundation of the Swan River Colony, later named Western Australia.

Perth is the capital city of Western Australia. It was established by Britain as the Swan River Colony in 1829. The area had been explored by Europeans as early as 1697, and occupied by the Indigenous Whadjuk Noongar people for millennia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Mackie</span> Australian politician (1799–1860)

William Henry Mackie was an early settler of the Swan River Colony holding a number of public positions including that of the first Judge of the colony. Mackie was born at Cochin, India and as a child returned to live in Derry before attending school in Twickenham, Middlesex. He later entered Trinity College, Cambridge and became a member of the Inner Temple in November 1822.

Dr Alexander Collie was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who journeyed to Western Australia in 1829, where he was an explorer and Colonial Surgeon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray River (Western Australia)</span> River in Peel region of Western Australia

The Murray River is a river in the southwest of Western Australia. It played a significant part in the expansion of settlement in the area south of Perth after the arrival of British settlers at the Swan River Colony in 1829. It should not be confused with the Murray River in southeastern Australia, which is the longest river in the country.

Henry Willey Reveley (1788–1875) was a civil engineer responsible for the earliest public works at the Swan River Colony, the foundation of the state of Western Australia.

William Lane Milligan (1795–1851) was a British military surgeon. He became an early resident of the Swan River Colony in Western Australia.

John McKail was an early settler of Western Australia. He was among the first arrivals in the Swan River Colony in 1829, but in 1835 was banished to Albany after trouble with the law. In Albany, he set up as a merchant and subsequently developed interests in a number of fields. He owned hotels, invested in whaling, and exported sandalwood to Asia. McKail served in the Legislative Council from 1870 to 1871, as one of the council's first elected members.

References

  1. ↑ "What is WA Day?". Celebrate WA. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  2. ↑ "Western Australia Day (Renaming) Bill 2011". Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 King, Rhianna (2012). Foundation Day makes way for WA Day – WA Today. Published 10 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  4. ↑ Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972 (PDF) (s. 5). Western Australia. 12 February 2022. p. 5. Retrieved 17 June 2024. Western Australia Day (Monday on or first Monday following the 1st June).
  5. ↑ "Public holidays in Western Australia". Government of Western Australia, Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  6. 1 2 Western Australian Year Book (PDF). Perth: Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1979. ISSN   0083-8772. LCCN   86641587. OCLC   8261989. Wikidata   Q126683302. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  7. ↑ "Lieutenant-Governor Stirling's Instructions 30 December 1828 (UK)". Museum of Australian Democracy. 30 December 1828. Retrieved 17 June 2024. You will assume the title of Lieutenant Governor, and in that character will correspond with this department, respecting your proceedings, and the wants and prospects of the settlement you are to form.
  8. 1 2 "The story behind WA Day". Celebrate WA. Perth, WA. Archived from the original on 30 September 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  9. 1 2 Calder, Mary E. (1977). Early Swan River Colony. Adelaide, SA: Lansdowne Press. p. 22. ISBN   9780727003485.
  10. ↑ Fraser, Malcolm A. C. (1898). Western Australian Year-book for 1896–1897. Perth: The Registrar General. p. 13. ISSN   0083-8772. LCCN   86641587. OCLC   463673381. Wikidata   Q126683302 . Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "Government Notice". The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal . 27 April 1833. p. 66. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
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