Western australia

Western Australia is the country’s largest state occupying an area of 1,021,478 square miles. With the exception of Russia’s Sakha Republic, it is also the largest individual subset of any country in the world. It was initially settled by indigeneous peoples more than 40,000 years ago and by the British around 1826. More than 2 million people reside in the state today and most of these live in Perth and smaller cities and towns extending along the coast line. Perth is Western Australia’s capital city which in itself is home to 1.5 million people who represent 75% of the state’s total population. It is a modern city with a definite British flavor. It is also the most isolated city, being closer to Jakarta, Indonesia than Sydney on Australia’s northeast coast.

There are significant climate and terrain extremes here. The land is old and eroded and contains soils with very poor fertility. The southeastern coast is a temperate climate that used to be heavily forested with Karri trees which are some of the world’s tallest As an agricultural area, the soils require heavy fertilization in order to be productive for farming. Massive clearing of the land has also made the area one that has the highest incidence of threatened and endangered species. It has also led to a very-high salt content and lack of fresh water. Rainfall here varies from 12 inches/year at the Wheatbelt region to 55 inches in the wettest places near Northcliffe. However, as a result of evaporation, it is very dry between November and March.

The central area of the state is mostly desert where few people live and where the only industry is mining. Rainfall is typically between 8 and 10 inches annually but fall sporadically in large amounts over a short period from cyclones in summer months. In the northern tropical regions of Western Australia (The Kimberly), one finds a hot, monsoonal climate with 20-60 inches of rainfall per year. The exception is the long rain-free season between April and November. It rarely snows in Western Australia except in the Stirling Mountains located near Albany, which is far enough to the south and has enough elevation.

Like most of the country, Western Australia has diverse ethnicity. Approximately 33% of citizens are of English ancestry followed by 27.8% of Australians, 7.6% Irish and lesser amounts of Italian, Scotish, German and Chinese. At last count, there were also enough indigeneous people to account for 3 percent of the total state population. This ‘mix’ provides the cultural diversity that helps Western Australia stand out amongst the states.

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