Talk:Western Australia

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To-do list for Western Australia: edit  · history  · watch  · refresh

See also: Talk:History of Western Australia and Talk:Perth, Western Australia

[edit] New articles required

  • Kimberley pipeline/canal
  • Social and Political Issues
  • Tourism Attractions in the State (Tell when done on Tom140996's Page called Chat Page Host: Tom140996)--Tom140996 06:56, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Gracetown cliff collapse, Gracetown, Western Australia
  • Flora of Western Australia

[edit] Dams of Western Australia

  • Canning Dam, Western Australia
  • Churchman Brook Dam, Western Australia
  • Lake Kununurra (see also Ord River, Lake Argyle, Kununurra)
  • North Dandalup Dam, Western Australia
  • South Dandalup Dam, Western Australia
  • Stirling Dam, Western Australia
  • Victoria Dam, Western Australia
  • Wungong Dam, Western Australia

[edit] Images required

List the article here but Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Western Australia has been created for this purpose. instructions are avialable on the page

[edit] Expand

Contents


[edit] Query climate

Lowest minimum temperature: -6.7 °C (19.9 °F), Booylgoo Springs, 187.3 km (116.4 miles) from Meekatharra, 12 July 1969 [1] this isn't right, there was a cold snap a couple of months ago i'm sure it got colder than that.Oxinabox1 12:09, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Almost. It got to -6.0°C at Collie on 17 June 2006. See here. Gazjo 12:21, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ranking of Towns

Since Perth, Fremantle and Rockingham are all part of the region of Mteropolitan Perth, and since Mandurah is fast becoming so can we please include the rankings of some of the other regional cities (Albany and Geraldton would be good) with up to date population figures. Foreigners are always interested to rate their city/town against those of WA.

John D. Croft 19:23, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of Western Australian towns

Can every body take five minutes to check the list to see if they can add any towns that have been missed from the list. Case in point I added Wubin which already has a wiki article, Cue and Paynes Find all are gazzetted towns with residentual populations.

I suggest including gazetted towns that are now abandoned as they sill played a significant part in our history and that of other countries, by this I mean towns that have been surveyed and lots designated for developement. Case in point Hebert Clerk Hoover President of the United States of America 1929 to 1933 was employed by a London Based Mining Syndicate and worked in Big Bell now abandoned during 1913-1914 Gnangarra 17:25, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

This sounds like a grand idea, although I think perhaps it would be best to have it as List of abandoned Western Australian towns, linked to prominently from this list. One possibility for the list is, if insufficient information exists for such communities is to make an article Abandoned communities of Western Australia or something like that (instead of making it a generic list), sectioned off by community, and those for which more than a sentence or three can be written linked to a main article for them. Tomertalk 20:33, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Most of these town sites still physically exist ad they are still recorded as town sites by DOLA (dept of Land Admin). A group article on the those abandoned is great and if a town warrants its own page then it could be linked from that. The link could be through the word abandoned. Gnangarra 01:04, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
Another thought is to just include the names of abandoned towns in List of Western Australian towns and just put an asterisk or something after the names of those that are now abandoned. Or, to have a List of abandoned Western Australian towns, with a "section" in the List of Western Australian towns that has as its sole contents {{:List of abandoned Western Australian towns}} (that would load the contents of the "abandoned" list when the regular list is loaded, without having to worry about double maintenance). The "abandoned" list could have a link to an article on top Abandoned towns in Western Australia, which article would actually discuss the fact that these towns exist and why, and then go on to list them each with a brief description. Meanwhile, in the "abandoned" list, I would recommend linking to each such community, and making those links redirects to the Abandoned towns in WA article, unless and until such time as they have articles of sufficient length to warrant their own independent articles. Thoughts? Tomertalk 02:05, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Inaccurate "income" text

Removed because of inaccuracy:

It is interesting to note that, even though the state encompasses only 10 per cent of the Australian population, it contributes around 25% of the country's wealth.

What do you mean? Do you mean 25% of Australia's wealth resides in WA (I don't think so)? Do you mean that WA contributes 25% of Australia's export income (which sounds quite plausible)? If so, correct the sentence and put it back in the main article. --Robert Merkel

Removed it again: Western Australia leads the country in wealth, with the state supplying 25% of Australia's overall wealth, despite less than 10% of the country's population residing there.

This is a variation on a theme consistently argued by partisans of the "WA is the best state, all the other states suck" school. Needless to add, it's nonsense.

There are any number of ways to calculate relative wealth and relative contribtions to the overall economy. By chosing an extreme and biased one, it is a simple matter to "demonstrate" whichever point one wishes to make.

Probably the fairest overall method is to simply calculate the total paid by each state to the commonwealth and then compare it with the total of funds paid by the Commonwealth to each state. The details change a little over time, of course, but the overall picture is perfectly clear: the majority of Australia's funds come from Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland (which should be no surprise, as there are the most populous states with the most fertile agricultural areas and the heaviest concentration of both industry and commerce). All three subsidise the smaller states ("smaller", that is, in population terms).

Last time I looked at the exact figures for this, about ten years or so ago I think it was, Victoria remained the heaviest subsidiser, closely followed by NSW, and then Queensland - which had actually been a subsidisee (if you will excuse the made-up word) for a long time before its rapid economic and population growth in the 1960s and '70s and '80s. The most heavily subsidised states were Tasmania, WA, and SA. Again, this is exactly what you would expect.

All of the states regularly jockey for position in the funding carve-up. Victoria, NSW and more recently Queensland complain about having to pay more than their share, and the smaller states just as regularly advance reasons why the disparity should be seen as a good thing. While the larger states usually just tote up the figues and use these as evidence for their point of view, the three smaller states (for reasons unknown to me) tend to use quite different strategies: SA just asks for more money. Tasmania claims rather hysterically that if it doesn't get more money right away something really horrible will happen! WA uses the bizarre but surprisingly effective tactic of just telling astonishingly large fibs and ignoring the numbers altogether.

Robert, this is not true. See my amendment now to the income test. Western Australia does not fib. In fact it bases its claim to its disproprotionate contribution to export royalties, particularly to the mining sector. Western Australia does contribute more than 25% of Australia's export revenues. The more populous states contribute proportionately less per capita than do Western Australians.

Regards John D. Croft 03:13, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

In consequence, for many years back in the days of the old Premiers' Conferences when the financial carve-up was decided in meetings between the states and the Commonwealth once every year a small minority of numerically-challenged but belligerantly vocal West Australians used to peddle silly untruths about how their state "supported the rest of the nation" and then argue that the between-states breakup must be made "more fair".

Unfortunately, it seems that a few still believe this hoary old nonsense. It might be appropriate for Wikipedia to describe this decades-old interstate conflict somewhere (though I imagine that most other nations go through much the same sort of silliness when it comes to budget time and Oz is hardly unique), but if we are going to have state vs state productivity and expenditure figures at all, then we must insist that they be the correct ones, not imaginary things tossed out as half-remembered rhetoric from a speech by parochial politicians preaching to the choir.

Now if we are going to have some figures, let's get the right ones, shall we?

Proportion of revenue returned to each state or territory (cents in the dollar)

  • STATE - - - 1981/82 figure - - - 2001 figure - - - 2002 figure
  • Victoria: 82 88 87
  • NSW: 84 92 91
  • WA: 134 98 97
  • Queensland: 111 103 101
  • SA: 123 118 120
  • Tasmania: 162 150 155
  • ACT: 85 1.15 114
  • NT: 165 402 424
(Sources: Commonwealth Grants Commission, State revenue sharing relativities, 2002 update and CGC discussion paper 2001/14.)

Hmmmm .. Interesting. It seems that times have indeeed changed since I last looked at this issue a decade or two ago. Victoria (rather to my surprise) remains the state that pays the most and gets the least, NSW is close behind, and WA has now begun to pay a fraction more than its share. (For every dollar WA citizens pay in tax to the Commonwealth, in other words, they now get back 98c, as compared with 87c for Victorians, $1.01 for Queenslanders, or $1.55 for Tasmanians.) Doesn't seem to have made any difference to the prevalance of innumerate opinion though. But then, one wonders if the actual figures were ever really relevant. Tannin 09:38 Feb 11, 2003 (UTC)

From the Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/737D7D065952AE3CCA25688D000ABB09?Open

The gross state product of Western Australia per capita of population is greater than any other state, and greater than the gross domestic product per capita across Australia.


I am curious about the lack of consistancy of the GDP per capita rankings. Seeing as all states and territories use the same template, perhaps all states and territories should be ranked correctly also.

According to the wikipedia pages of the various states and territories, the GDP per capita statistics are as follows:

  • 1st. A.C.T. - 56,303
  • 2nd N.T - 51,634
  • 3rd W.A. - 50,355
  • 4th N.S.W - 45,153
  • 5th Vic - 44,443
  • 6th Qld - 40,170
  • 7th S.A. - 38,838
  • 8th Tas - 33,243

Both the pages of the A.C.T and W.A. show a ranking of first in this category.

I am also concerned at the use of wikipedia as a tool for inter-state bragging. W.A. has its high G.D.P. per capita for the simple reason of a tiny population for the massive area combined with high mineral wealth (remove the mineral sector and W.A. would be in poor shape). Does that make W.A. in any way superior or inferior? I can't see how. Furthermore, is it even relevant? No it is not. Mdgr 05:08, 4 October 2006 (UTC)


[edit] WA subsidising NSW and Victoria?

Whatever the foregoing the real figures are contained here where you'll see that the true picture far exceeds what some in the Eastern States think we dream up. Unfortunately most of the wealth that the Commonwealth collects from WA isn't from Income Tax nor GST, so to quote the Grants Commission figures actually hides the truth. Much easier to see the picture when you look at the Treasury website "In 2003-04, it was estimated that Western Australia received $196 million more in GST revenue grants than the amount of GST that was raised in Western Australia. However, when all Australian Government revenues and expenditures are taken into account, the Australian Government raised around $3 billion more in taxes and other revenues from Western Australia than it returned to Western Australia in expenditures."[1] "In per capita terms, Western Australia’s contribution is substantially larger than the other two contributors, New South Wales and Victoria (the other States are all net recipients). Western Australia’s net fiscal subsidy to the Federation has grown substantially over the last two decades, coinciding with the boom in petroleum production (including LNG) and the emergence of Western Australia as a force in the Australian economy generally."[2] petedavo 09:04, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WA Queen's bday holiday

Can anyone tell me why WA celebrates its Queens Birthday holiday at a different time to the other Australian states? Its been bugging me since a friend pointed it out and asked if Australia still had a queen.

The national Queen's Birthday holiday clashes with the state Foundation Day holiday.
Foundation Day is a genuine anniversary, unlike the Queen's Birthday which is an arbitrary date, so the problem was resolved by moving the Queen's Birthday to a different arbitrary date, even though this means WA is out of sync with the rest of the country. —Paul A 03:03, 6 Oct 2003 (UTC)
Additional to this its timing was originaly chosen to align with the Perth Royal (Agricultural) Show, which its still does and this also co-insides with the school holidays. Gnangarra 03:37, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] History of population in Westerna Australia

I'm looking for a data series showing the population growth in WA since 1829. Does anyone know where this may be? -- Ian ≡ talk 07:08, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

This graph shows proportional population since 1881, but it may still be of interest -- Chuq 11:56, 8 September 2005 (UTC)
Thanks. From the reference on that chart I was able to pick up some data, but I'm still looking. -- Ian ≡ talk 04:05, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Hi Ian. This page from the ABS Year Book 2005 shows the populations of the States and Territories in certain years from 1901.--Cyberjunkie | Talk 06:28, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Ian, ABS produced individual WA Year Books up until recently- they have population data going back to 1829, including Indigenous numbers as well. Available at State Library or most unis. 22December 2005

[edit] Daylight Savings

Perhaps someone could find the right place to add the three referendums we have had on daylight savings (1975, 1984, 1992), all rejected [1]. Also the trials that preceeded the referendums in 1983 and 1991 I think it was, and perhaps the general public opinion at the time? Nachoman-au 12:50, 30 October 2005 (UTC)


'Western Australia does not have daylight saving, considering the major population centres in the south of the state experience very early sunrises in summer and early sunsets. This means that most outdoor activities, for which Western Australia is famous, wind down by about 8pm.'

the section I cut from the main page, my reason. Given that Western Australians have on three seperate occasions freely voted for no day light saving this has no relevance on a page about Western Australian in a topic on Geography. Queensalnd also has no daysaving but its page doesnt mention it in any way. The appropriate placement would be on the page about Australia as part of disection of the time zones across the country, even there it would only be as a minor footnote.
Also what is an early sunset is it 3pm, 6pm, 7pm 8pm. Perth experiences the same amount of daylight as anywhere else on same lattitude. Any activity requiring daylight will always have the same amount/quantity of time available to use irreguardless of when the timed day starts and finishes. Gnangarra 07:46, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] New articles

Ian ≡ talk 14:44, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Retail hours

I have removed the bias and negativity from the part about retail hours and corrected time errors. Maybe it should be expanded to some industry specific hours like alcohol, motor vehicles, chemists etc Gnangarra 01:31, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Temp extremes

I question the accuracy as the source page isn't by the BOM. I know Adelaide has exceeded the temperature max (50.7) for SA as stated on the site. I'm sure a number of centres have recorded higher then the 50.5 claimed Gnangarra 22:31, 19 February 2006 (UTC)


Also what about highest rainfall, made these could be included in the info box Gnangarra

[edit] History

As I already wrote on Talk:Perth this article here does not have historical info at all, while the Perth article does have some bits and pieces which are related to the whole WA. Comments and flames are welcome. -- Goldie (tell me) 00:12, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Most popular sport - please define

The claim that aussie rules is the most popular needs to be defined, it certainly has the most accumulated spectators per season but Netball has more participants and lawn bowls has more club members. Both have state teams and have hosted international competitions Gnangarra 10:52, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Shooting in WA

Perhaps it's also worth mentioning that Western Australia has the strictest gun laws of any State in Australia, much to the eternal annoyance of Sporting Shooters both there and elsewhere in Australia... WA doesn't recognise out of state Firearms Licences automatically, and shooters intending to import "High Calibre" weapons need permission from the Police Commissioner, AFAIK.

Anyone know why WA has such strict gun laws? As far as I understand, the State is more or less completely empty outside the five major population centres named in the article, so you'd think there'd a be very strong rural element wanting less restrictions on legitimate firearms ownership. --Commander Zulu 07:58, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

I think your question answers itself. The restrictions appear to be on people importing weapons from the outside. People, rural or otherwise, who want to shoot here already have the appropriate licenses and guns, no? --Nickj69 10:52, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
No licensing has always been very controlled in WA, think there are some political events behind the reasonings, in 1996 the WA gun licensing requirements were stricter than those imposed/proposed after Port Arthur, the only effect the new laws had in WA was with the guns that could be owned. Gnangarra 11:45, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Prehistory

From the article:

The first inhabitants of Western Australia arrived on the northwest coast about 55,000 years ago. Over the next 20,000 years they slowly moved southward and eastward across the landmass.

The question of how long Western Australia has been peopled is still a huge bone of contention in archaeological and anthropological circles. I suggest that we probably shouldn't be claiming anything more specific than between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago, and the assertion should be referenced, and ideally it should be presented as one of a number of positions on the issue. Snottygobble 11:43, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

The recent WA Mseum reports on the finding of a stone axe on Rottnest estimates human settlement of the state at 70,000 years ago (based on the dating of Aeolian sandstone above and below the site. Perhaps we should extend the 60,000 upwards to 70,000.
Regards John D. Croft 19:18, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of historic buildings in Perth, Western Australia

Above article is now open for business. Additions and photographic additions are welcomed. -- I@n ≡ talk 13:33, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia

Wikipedia editors should be aware of this project - here -- I@n ≡ talk 14:49, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Add Official fossil Emblem to insignia box?

The Gogo Fish Mcnamaraspis kaprios has been added to the Premier's web site since it was put up for proclamation as such in 1995.

I am attracted to recognition of the fossil flora and fauna as being just as distinctive to a geographical region as its living biome but would like others to confirm that this is a recognised emblem and not just a publicity gimmick. The practise is already widespread in the United States, but I can understand those who would want to keep "symbol creep" to a minimum.

Thedarky 05:36, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Radio

  • The main section on radio services in WA seems a little 'light-on'. More like a plug for a major commercial stations. I would think it more useful if we stated the number of stations across both bands, maybe the split between those located in Perth and those outside etc.? Rob 08:52, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Zilch on either the earlier incarnations and earlier mix of radio stations as well SatuSuro 09:12, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Change to Western Australia article

A recent change to the Westen Australia article, regarding fertility of the soils was made. Unfortunately the way the article now reads it sounds like all of the soil is infertile. This is clearly not true. What do people thing? Maybe reword, i.e. due to the infertility of parts of the West Australia soil (e.g. place a, place b, place c) (reference here)...? Rob (Talk) 00:37, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

  • I have done a bit of a fix, but I'm no soil expert if someone can improve on it. Gazjo 11:47, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sport - Cut/move

I have move the subsection (list of events) from this article to Sport in Western Australia. The reason being its a list of unconnected events, not entirely relevant to the main article on WA. Gnangarra 08:25, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Most Southerly Coral Reef In The World

The article on Lord Howe Island claims _it_ has the southern-most coral reefs. Can Rottnest's reefs be truly described as coral reefs? Or is Lord Howe Island turning some true but narrow claim (which I can't be bothered to chase down) to uniquesness into a (false) broad one?

(I edited the article to only claim coral reefs since since I'm sure any number of Southern ocean islands not to mention Tierra Del Fuego must have more southerly rock-reefs).

[edit] Albany historical society web page

I was listen to 6PR tonight and they gave a new just started web page for Albany historical Society. This site may have some useful information to expand this article and others on the region. --Gnangarra 13:27, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Motto

I removed the motto. As far as I can tell, it is not official; it was part of an unofficial coat of arms, but nothing more. [2] Pruneautalk 09:55, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.dtf.wa.gov.au/cms/uploadedFiles/commstate_relations_report_march2006.pdf The Department of Treasury and Finance recently released a Discussion Paper on Commonwealth-State Relations
  2. ^ http://www.dtf.wa.gov.au/cms/uploadedFiles/commstate_relations_report_march2006.pdf The Department of Treasury and Finance recently released a Discussion Paper on Commonwealth-State Relations

Is this the place to ask questions? Vicki R 12:28, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

About what? SatuSuro 12:32, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Scott davis answered me, thanks.Vicki R 13:17, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

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