82-553: Kalamunda National Park is a national park in Western Australia , 23 kilometres (14 mi) east of Perth , near the town of Kalamunda . The park is composed of typical Darling Scarp woodland including species of marri , jarrah and wandoo with a diverse understorey including a range of wildflowers. Piesse Brook flows through the park before joining the Helena River , making the park and important catchment area for both
164-467: A Mediterranean climate on the south-west and southern coastal areas. As of 2021, the state has 2.91 million inhabitants—11 percent of the national total. Over 90 percent of the state's population live in the south-west corner and around 80 percent live in the state capital Perth , leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. The Trans-Australian Railway and the Eyre Highway traverse
246-683: A capacity of 23,200 cubic metres per day (146,000 barrels per day) until its closure in 2021, producing most of the state's petrol and diesel. Kwinana also hosts alumina and nickel processing plants, port facilities for grain and other bulk exports, and support industries for mining and petroleum such as heavy and light engineering, and metal fabrication. Shipbuilding (e.g. Austal ) and associated support industries are found at nearby Henderson , just north of Kwinana. Significant secondary industries include cement and building product manufacturing, flour milling, food processing, animal feed production, automotive body building and printing. Western Australia has
328-527: A comparative advantage in resource extraction and processing. As a consequence: In 2019 Western Australia's overseas exports accounted for 46% of the nation's total. The state's major export commodities included iron-ore, petroleum, gold, alumina , nickel, wheat, copper, lithium, chemicals and mineral sands. Western Australia is the world's largest iron-ore producer (34% of the world's total), and extracts 66% (6.9% of world production) of Australia's 306 tonnes (9.8 million troy ounces) of gold in 2022. It
410-454: A further 1,196 species currently recognised but unpublished. They occur within 1,543 genera from 211 families ; there are also 1,276 naturalised alien or invasive plant species, more commonly known as weeds. In the southwest region are some of the largest numbers of plant species for its area in the world. Western Australia's ecoregions include the sandstone gorges of the Kimberley on
492-592: A further gas/condensate discovery at Angel in 1972. Five of the seven major sedimentary basins in Western Australia have known hydrocarbon accumulations,with 2007–08 production coming from the Carnarvon, Perth, Bonaparte and Canning basins. Sixty-one fields were on production during 2007–08 fiscal year. Petroleum in Western Australia is mostly sourced from the Carnarvon Basin , which stretches for 1,000 km of
574-409: A joint venture with Standard Oil of California. The new company was called West Australian Petroleum (WAPET) , and drilled its first well at Rough Range in 1953. This well produced at a rate of 550 barrels per day (87 m /d), and was probably the commencement of Australia's commercial petroleum industry. In the following year, WAPET geologists conducted a basic survey of Barrow Island . They were
656-403: A lack of storage and refrigeration facilities favour live animals over imports of processed meat. About half of Australia's live cattle exports come from Western Australia. Resource sector growth in recent years has resulted in significant labour and skills shortages, leading to recent efforts by the state government to encourage interstate and overseas immigration. According to the 2006 census,
738-464: A pipeline rupture and explosion at the Varanus Island facility caused a 3-month shutdown of the plant, reducing the state's supply of natural gas by one-third. In 2006, the state government announced a policy requiring that future developers of export gas projects set aside 15% of the reserves in each gas field for domestic use within the state. This policy replicated the initial State Agreement for
820-511: A result, the South West region of the state has a higher concentration of rare, threatened or endangered flora and fauna than many areas of Australia, making it one of the world's biodiversity "hot spots". Large areas of the state's wheatbelt region have problems with dryland salinity and the loss of fresh water. The southwest coastal area has a Mediterranean climate . It was originally heavily forested, including large stands of karri , one of
902-545: A scientific paper, General view of the botany of the vicinity of Swan River . It discusses the vegetation of the Swan River Colony . Europeans began to settle permanently in 1826 when Albany was claimed by Britain to forestall French claims to the western third of the continent. Perth was founded as the Swan River Colony in 1829 by British and Irish settlers, though the outpost languished. Its officials eventually requested convict labour to augment its population. By
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#1733084474379984-623: A significant fishing industry. Products for local consumption and export include western rock lobsters , prawns, crabs, shark and tuna, as well as pearl fishing in the Kimberley region of the state. Processing is conducted along the west coast. Whaling was a key marine industry but ceased at Albany in 1978. Western Australia has the world's biggest plantations of both Indian sandalwood (northern WA) and Australian sandalwood (semi-arid regions), which are used to produce sandalwood oil and incense . The WA sandalwood industry provides about 40% of
1066-780: A significant impact on aspects of the industry. Among the measures proposed was an emissions trading scheme "which will make higher-emissions forms of energy generation more expensive, shifting demand towards lower-emissions sources, and towards technologies that capture and sequester emissions...and in transport, an emissions trading scheme will make higher-emissions forms of transport more expensive, shifting demand to lower-emissions forms" The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has identified petroleum facilities in Western Australia, including offshore platforms, ports, processing plants and pipelines, as potential targets of military or terrorist attack. Offshore structures and floating production and storage vessels have few defences against attack. In
1148-480: A whole, is characterised by a small number of producers and a small number of large industrial consumers, with limited depth in consumption. The state's two largest individual users of gas are Alcoa (which operates three alumina refineries in the south-west) and Burrup Fertilisers (which operates the world's largest ammonia plant on the Burrup Peninsula, near Dampier). Together they account for more than half of
1230-483: Is 1,862 km (1,157 mi). There are 20,781 km (12,913 mi) of coastline, including 7,892 km (4,904 mi) of island coastline. The total land area occupied by the state is 2.5 million km (970 thousand sq mi). The bulk of Western Australia consists of the extremely old Yilgarn craton and Pilbara craton which merged with the Deccan Plateau of India, Madagascar and
1312-737: Is Australia's leading oil (and condensate) producing State, having surpassed Victoria, where production from the Gippsland Basin off the southern coast has been steadily declining. Western Australia currently produces 71% of Australia's crude oil and condensate. Australian crude oil and condensate production is projected to increase in the medium term (mainly due to new supply sources in Western Australia) before declining gradually. Similar to petroleum industries in other market-capitalist economies such as those in Western Europe and North America,
1394-447: Is a major world producer of bauxite, which is processed into alumina at four refineries providing 11% of total world production. Until 2020 diamonds were extracted from the world's largest diamond mine in the far north Kimberley region. Coal mined at Collie is the main fuel for baseload electricity generation in the state's south-west. Agricultural production in WA is a major contributor to
1476-401: Is attributed by historians as an important factor driving the state's population and economic growth. Following a campaign led by Forrest, electors of the colony of Western Australia voted in favour of federation with the five other Australian colonies, resulting in Western Australia officially becoming a state on 1 January 1901. Western Australia is bounded to the east by longitude 129°E,
1558-567: Is currently tilted 10 degrees away from the South Pole towards Western Australia, allowing for aurora australis displays as far north as Geraldton . Western Australia is home to around 630 species of birds (depending on the taxonomy used). Of these around 15 are endemic to the state. The best areas for birds are the southwestern corner of the state and the area around Broome and the Kimberley. The Flora of Western Australia comprises 10,162 published native vascular plant species, along with
1640-497: Is now known as Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island . For the rest of the 17th century, other Dutch and British navigators encountered the coast of what Abel Tasman named New Holland in 1644, usually unintentionally as demonstrated by the many shipwrecks along the coast of ships that deviated from the Brouwer Route (because of poor navigation and storms). By the late 18th century, British and French sailors had begun to explore
1722-528: Is produced in the Canning basin, in which 250 wells have been drilled and 78,000 line-km of 2D seismic surveys has been shot. A local company, Arc Energy, currently the largest Perth basin producer, is actively exploring and drilling in the Canning basin. The North West Shelf Venture (NWSV), a consortium of six energy companies led by Woodside, operates five LNG trains near Karratha. It relies on natural gas supplied from North Rankin, Goodwyn and Perseus fields in
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#17330844743791804-479: Is the largest contributor to the country's petroleum exports. Western Australia's North West Shelf (NWS) is the primary location from which production originates. Oil exports are shipped from Port Hedland . Based largely on development of the reserves of the North West Shelf and onshore hydrocarbon basins , the industry extracts crude oil , condensate and natural gas from petroleum reservoirs deep beneath
1886-400: Is the northern tropical regions. The Kimberley has an extremely hot monsoonal climate with average annual rainfall ranging from 500 to 1,500 millimetres (20–60 in), but there is a very long almost rainless season from April to November. Eighty-five percent of the state's runoff occurs in the Kimberley, but because it occurs in violent floods and because of the insurmountable poverty of
1968-600: Is the westernmost state of Australia . It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia’s largest state, with a land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres (975,685 sq mi), and is also the second-largest subdivision of any country on Earth, surpassed only by
2050-624: The Group Settlement Scheme of the 1920s, which encouraged farmers to settle the southwest—increased awareness of Australia's western third as a destination for colonists. Led by immigrants from the British Isles, Western Australia's population developed at a faster rate during the twentieth century than it had previously. After World War II , both the eastern states and Western Australia received large numbers of Italians , Croatians and Macedonians . Despite this, Britain has contributed
2132-572: The Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons of Southern Africa, in the Archean Eon to form Ur , one of the oldest supercontinents on Earth (3 – 3.2 billion years ago). In May 2017, evidence of the earliest known life on land may have been found in 3.48-billion-year-old geyserite and other related mineral deposits (often found around hot springs and geysers ) uncovered in the Pilbara craton. Because
2214-513: The Nullarbor Plain in the state's south-east, providing the principal connection between Western Australia and the population centres in the eastern states . Western Australia's Indigenous peoples have been present for tens of thousands of years. Dutch explorers visited Western Australia from the 17th century, with Dirk Hartog 's 1616 expedition the first Europeans to make landfall. The British claimed Western Australia in 1827 and established
2296-632: The Sakha Republic in eastern Russia, and formerly Northwest Territories in Canada, before the creation of Nunavut. It is also the largest proper subnational entity, being a state rather than a territory or an autonomous region. Western Australia has a diverse range of climates, including tropical conditions in the Kimberley , deserts in the interior (including the Great Sandy Desert , Little Sandy Desert , Gibson Desert , and Great Victoria Desert ) and
2378-490: The Swan River Colony with Perth as its capital in 1829. The Western Australian gold rushes of the late 19th century resulted in a significant population influx. The colony was granted responsible government in 1890, the last of the Australian colonies to become self-governing, and federated with the other colonies in 1901. Western Australia's mining sector is a key driver of the state economy . The late 20th century saw
2460-550: The Wheatbelt and temperate southern coastal regions, pastoralism in marginal grassland areas, forestry in the south-west and fishing (including pearling and, historically, whaling ). Western Australia has a geological history dating back to 4.4 billion years ago when Hadean zircons were formed. The earliest direct known life on land, known as stromatolites , started to be created by microbes at around 3.48 billion years ago. The first human inhabitants of Australia arrived from
2542-484: The tallest trees in the world. This agricultural region is one of the nine most bio-diverse terrestrial habitats, with a higher proportion of endemic species than most other equivalent regions. Thanks to the offshore Leeuwin Current , the area is one of the top six regions for marine biodiversity and contains the most southerly coral reefs in the world. Average annual rainfall varies from 300 millimetres (12 in) at
Kalamunda National Park - Misplaced Pages Continue
2624-556: The 1890s around Kalgoorlie . In 1887, a new constitution was drafted, providing for the right of self-governance of European Australians, and in 1890, the act granting self-government to the colony was passed by the British Parliament . John Forrest became the first Premier of Western Australia . In 1896, after discoveries of gold at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie , the Western Australian Parliament authorised
2706-433: The 2016 census, 75.2% of inhabitants spoke only English at home, with the next most common languages being Mandarin (1.9%), Italian (1.2%), Vietnamese (0.8%), Cantonese (0.8%) and Tagalog (0.6%). According to the 2021 census, Christianity is the major religious affiliation in WA, followed by 41.1% of its population. In 1971, Christianity was followed by 85.5% of the population and it has been declining since, while
2788-559: The Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) which had been set up by the Australian government in the same year to conduct survey work. In the following year, AMPOL were awarded the first two exploration permits in Western Australia near Exmouth. Large-scale surveys were conducted in the Canning Basin in 1947, and in the same year, Ampol secured exploration permits for the Exmouth region. Ampol formed
2870-477: The Constitution and inter-governmental agreements (in particular, the 1978-79 Offshore Constitutional Settlement ). Onshore, and out to 3 nm (nautical miles) from the territorial sea baseline (coastal waters), petroleum operations are the responsibility of the state government. WA's offshore areas beyond the 3 nm limit are governed by Commonwealth legislation (Offshore Petroleum Act 2005) administered by
2952-615: The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. The Law of the Sea Convention gives effect to a system of Exclusive Economic Zones under which nations have sovereign rights over natural resources out to 200 nm from the coast (Australia claimed such rights in 1994 under the Maritime Legislation Amendment Act 1994). The convention also allows Australia to claim sovereign rights over seabed resources where
3034-524: The Earth's surface. A large plant located at Withnell Bay near Dampier , produces liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export to Asian customers. Crude oil and most petroleum liquids are exported. Australia's largest petroleum refinery at Kwinana in WA's south-West, closed in 2021. Natural gas is processed at plants located on islands off the WA coast (e.g. The "Gorgon Gas Project" on Barrow Island) and onshore, then transported by pipelines to gas users throughout
3116-584: The Gorgon and Jansz fields to Australia's Barrow Island , where 3 liquefaction trains will produce 15 million tons of LNG per year. In 2006-07, around two thirds of Australia's natural gas was produced in the Carnarvon Basin off the coast of Western Australia. Most of the gas produced in WA is transformed into liquefied natural gas (LNG) and exported to Japan. The remainder is used within the state. The domestic market for natural gas in WA, like that of Australia as
3198-724: The Helena and the Swan Rivers. No fees apply to enter the park but facilities exist within the park for visitors apart from several walk trails including the northern end of the Bibbulmun Track . The park lies within the Mundaring-Kalamunda Important Bird Area , so identified by BirdLife International because of its importance as a non-breeding season roost site and foraging base for long-billed black cockatoos . Western Australia Western Australia (WA)
3280-564: The NWSV dominates Australia's LNG market, additional projects are in various stages of planning, the largest of which is the Gorgon gas project . Chevron (along with joint venture partners Shell and ExxonMobil) is considering development of the Greater Gorgon gas fields, which contain recoverable reserves of 40 trillion cubic feet (1,100 km ). The project entails constructing subsea pipelines from
3362-484: The North West Shelf Project, and was based on a perceived decline in the availability of gas from non-export developments. For developers of large export projects, LNG exports generally offer higher returns than sales of gas into the domestic market. A federal parliamentary report referred to the state policy, stating that "while Western Australia presently consumes about 35% of Australia's domestic gas use, and
Kalamunda National Park - Misplaced Pages Continue
3444-556: The Northwest Shelf (NWS). The majority of LNG produced by the NWSV is exported to Japan, with occasional spot sales to the United States, Spain and Korea. A fifth LNG train is currently under construction and is expected to increase export capacity by an additional 4.2 million tons, bringing total capacity to around 16 million tonnes per year. The cost of the project is estimated at $ 1.6 billion, with startup in late 2008. Although
3526-572: The Western Australian coast. The Baudin expedition of 1800–03 included the coast of Western Australia and resulted in the Freycinet Map of 1811 , the first published map featuring the full outline of Australia. The name New Holland remained in popular and semi-official use until at least the mid-1850s; that is, it was in use for about 206 years in comparison to the name Australia which to date has been in use for about 195 years. The origins of
3608-701: The bulk of LNG exports, there is still a very healthy reserves-to-production ratio in excess of 100 years. Australia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol treaty in March 2008 is likely to increase the country's use of natural gas to displace more carbon-dioxide-intensive coal. The first draft report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review (released on 4 July 2008), which identified the impacts of climate change on Australia and proposed numerous public policy measures designed to mitigate these effects, may have
3690-763: The coast around the Margaret River wine-growing area. Going east along the Southern Ocean coast is the Goldfields-Esperance region, including the Esperance mallee and the Coolgardie woodlands inland around town of Coolgardie . Deserts occupy the interior, including the Great Sandy-Tanami desert , Gibson Desert , Great Victoria Desert , and Nullarbor Plain . In 1831 Scottish botanist Robert Brown produced
3772-659: The coast of Western Australia. On 7 March 1831 it was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony, and named Albany in 1832. In 1829 the Swan River Colony was established on the Swan River by Captain James Stirling . By 1832, the British settler population of the colony had reached around 1,500, and the official name of the colony was changed to Western Australia on 6 February that year. The two separate townsites of
3854-718: The coastal plains, in some cases forming a sharp escarpment (as with the Darling Range/ Darling Scarp near Perth). The extreme age of the landscape has meant that the soils are remarkably infertile and frequently laterised . Even soils derived from granitic bedrock contain an order of magnitude less available phosphorus and only half as much nitrogen as soils in comparable climates in other continents. Soils derived from extensive sandplains or ironstone are even less fertile, nearly devoid of soluble phosphate and deficient in zinc , copper, molybdenum and sometimes potassium and calcium . The infertility of most of
3936-425: The colony developed slowly into the port city of Fremantle and the state's capital, Perth . York was the first inland settlement in Western Australia, situated 97 kilometres (60 mi) east of Perth and settled on 16 September 1831. York was the staging point for early explorers who discovered the rich gold reserves of Kalgoorlie. Population growth was very slow until significant discoveries of gold were made in
4018-689: The company was unable to use its 'peakload' gas-fired power stations because of maintenance being carried out on the main pipeline from the north-west. On 2 January 2008, an electrical fault resulted in a production shutdown at the North West Shelf Venture's Karratha Gas Plant. Production resumed on 4 January and normal gas supplies was re-established by 6 January 2008. It was a complete shutdown affecting both LNG exports and domestic gas production. Domestic gas supplies were cut by 2/3. The most serious and significant disruption occurred in June 2008, when
4100-621: The continent. This is a large (172,300 km ) basin that formed during the separation of Australia and Greater India in the Permian to Early Cretaceous period. It includes a significant onshore component and extends offshore to the edge of continental crust in water depths of up to 4500 m. The Officer basin, straddling the WA-SA border in the south-east section of the state, is a poorly explored basin, with limited seismic coverage, although more than 20 exploration wells have been drilled. A small amount of oil
4182-539: The continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm. State agencies also administer some aspects of federal petroleum-related legislation on behalf of the Commonwealth. Production refers to the process of extracting the hydrocarbons from existing wells, along with initial separation of the wellstream components (which typically include varying proportions of crude oil, natural gas, and water), prior to transportation to end-use markets or further processing and refining. Most of
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#17330844743794264-432: The development of the state's significant iron ore mining industry – the world's largest – as well as primarily offshore petroleum and natural gas resources . Gold mining retains a significant presence and many other mineral commodities are mined, with Perth being a major centre for associated services. Outside of mining, primary industry is the other significant contributor to the state's economy, including agriculture in
4346-569: The edge of the Wheatbelt region to 1,400 millimetres (55 in) in the wettest areas near Northcliffe , but from November to March, evaporation exceeds rainfall, and it is generally very dry. Plants are adapted to this as well as the extreme poverty of all soils. The central two-thirds of the state is arid and sparsely inhabited. The only significant economic activity is mining. Annual rainfall averages less than 300 millimetres (8–10 in), most of which occurs in sporadic torrential falls related to cyclone events in summer. An exception to this
4428-408: The first civilians to visit the area since British atomic testing on the nearby Monte Bello Islands . The company achieved major commercial success with a large discovery on the island in 1964, which was followed by a large scale operation which continues to this day. In 1966, WAPET discovered WA's first commercial quantities of natural gas near Dongara. Construction of the state's first gas pipeline
4510-599: The generally shallow soils, the only development has taken place along the Ord River . Snow is rare in the state and typically occurs only in the Stirling Range near Albany , as it is the only mountain range far enough south and sufficiently elevated. More rarely, snow can fall on the nearby Porongurup Range . Snow outside these areas is a major event; it usually occurs in hilly areas of southwestern Australia. The most widespread low-level snow occurred on 26 June 1956 when snow
4592-415: The greatest number of immigrants to this day. Western Australia—particularly Perth—has the highest proportion of British-born of any state: 10.3% in 2011, compared to a national average of 5.1%. This group is heavily concentrated in certain parts, where they account for a quarter of the population. Perth's metropolitan area (including Mandurah ) had an estimated population of 2,043,138 in June 2017 (79% of
4674-461: The high cost of transporting crude oil to Australia. The state's heavy reliance on gas from the north west has become a prominent public issue on several occasions when disruptions to supply has occurred. On 18 February 2004, Western Power (electricity provider) imposed compulsory restrictions on power usage in Perth. This occurred on a day when the temperature was expected to reach nearly 42 °C and
4756-404: The industry covers areas such as policy development, safety and environmental regulation, investment facilitation, provision of infrastructure, releases of new exploration areas, acquisition of regional geological data. The legal framework within which petroleum exploration and development occurs is a result of the division of responsibilities between the Commonwealth and the states/territories under
4838-609: The international sandalwood oil market. In recent years, tourism has grown in importance, with significant numbers of visitors to the state coming from the UK and Ireland (28%), other European countries (14%) Singapore (16%), Japan (10%) and Malaysia (8%). Revenue from tourism is a strong economic driver in many of the smaller population centres outside of Perth, especially in coastal locations. Petroleum industry in Western Australia The petroleum industry in Western Australia
4920-629: The late 1960s. The quantity of Perth basin oil production rose substantially in 2001 when the Cliff Head field (10 km off the coast near Dongara in 15 m of water) was brought into production., about 320 km north of Perth . The refinery mostly produced petrol and diesel, along with jet fuel, bitumen and liquid petroleum gas (LPG). Australia's refineries have experienced declining gross margins for several years, mainly due to competition from foreign refineries, an oversupply of refining capacity in Asia, and
5002-483: The median individual income was A$ 500 per week in Western Australia (compared to A$ 466 in Australia as a whole). The median family income was A$ 1246 per week (compared to A$ 1171 for Australia). Recent growth has also contributed to significant rises in average property values in 2006, although values plateaued in 2007. Located south of Perth, the heavy industrial area of Kwinana had the nation's largest oil refinery with
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#17330844743795084-426: The meridian 129 degrees east of Greenwich, which defines the border with South Australia and the Northern Territory , and bounded by the Indian Ocean to the west and north. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) designates the body of water south of the continent as part of the Indian Ocean; in Australia it is officially gazetted as the Southern Ocean . The total length of the state's eastern border
5166-612: The natural gas consumed in WA. Most of the remaining gas is used for electricity generation and by other smaller industrial and commercial users. Residential gas users consume only about 2% of the natural gas produced in the state. There are three main 'supply lines' for WA's domestic gas: Oil production in Australia increased gradually after 1980, peaking in 2000 at 805,000 barrels per day (128,000 m /d). In 2003, production fell dramatically to 630,522 bbl/d (100,245.0 m /d). In 2006, Australia produced approximately 562,000 bbl/d (89,400 m /d) of oil. Western Australia
5248-505: The north "over 50,000 years ago and possibly as much as 70,000 years ago". Over thousands of years they eventually spread across the whole landmass. These Indigenous Australians were long established throughout Western Australia by the time European explorers began to arrive in the early 17th century. The first Europeans to visit Western Australia were those of the Dutch Dirk Hartog expedition, who on 25 October 1616 landed at what
5330-521: The northern coast, and below that the drier Victoria Plains tropical savanna inland, and the semi-desert Pilbara shrublands , Carnarvon xeric shrublands , and Western Australian mulga shrublands to the southwest. Southwards along the coast are the Southwest Australia savanna and the Swan Coastal Plain around Perth, with the jarrah-karri forest and shrublands on the southwest corner of
5412-455: The ocean depth is about 100 m. There are currently four major natural gas transmission pipelines supplying the Western Australian gas market: Refining refers to the transformation of crude oil and condensate into end-use petroleum products. The state's only oil refinery, owned and operated by BP , was located at Kwinana , and was commissioned in 1955, but closed in 2021. With a production capacity of 132,050 bbl/d (20,994 m /d), it
5494-570: The only mountain-building since then has been of the Stirling Range with the rifting from Antarctica , the land is extremely eroded and ancient, with no part of the state above 1,249 metres (4,098 ft) AHD (at Mount Meharry in the Hamersley Range of the Pilbara region). Most of the state is a low plateau with an average elevation of about 400 metres (1,200 ft), very low relief, and no surface runoff . This descends relatively sharply to
5576-443: The percentage of people who identified as having no religious affiliation has increased from 8.7% in 1971 to 42.9% in 2021. A small minority of the population are Muslims (2.5%), Buddhists (2.2%) and Hindus (2.0%). Western Australia's economy is largely driven by extraction and processing of a diverse range of mineral and petroleum commodities. The structure of the economy is closely linked to these natural resources, providing
5658-468: The present state began with the establishment by Lockyer of a convict-supported settlement from New South Wales at King George III Sound . The settlement was formally annexed on 21 January 1827 by Lockyer when he commanded the Union Jack be raised and a feu de joie fired by the troops. The settlement was founded in response to British concerns about the possibility of a French colony being established on
5740-538: The raising of a loan to construct a pipeline to transport 23 megalitres (5 million imperial gallons) of water per day to the burgeoning population on the goldfields. The pipeline, known as the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme , was completed in 1903. C. Y. O'Connor , Western Australia's first engineer-in-chief, designed and oversaw the construction of the pipeline. It carries water 530 km (330 mi) from Perth to Kalgoorlie , and
5822-401: The soils has required heavy application by farmers of fertilisers. These have resulted in damage to invertebrate and bacterial populations. The grazing and use of hoofed mammals and, later, heavy machinery through the years have resulted in compaction of soils and great damage to the fragile soils. Large-scale land clearing for agriculture has damaged habitats for native flora and fauna. As
5904-555: The state and national economy. In the period 2010–2019 wheat production in WA has averaged nearly 10 million tonnes (22 billion pounds), valued at $ 2.816 billion in 2019, accounting for half the nation's total and providing $ 2–3 billion in export income. Other significant farm output includes wool, beef, lamb, barley, canola, lupins, oats and pulses. There is a high level of overseas demand for live animals from WA, driven mainly by southeast Asia's feedlots and Middle Eastern countries, where Islamic dietary laws and
5986-429: The state's petroleum production occurs at offshore production platforms, although many wells are situated on the mainland and on several islands off the coast such as Thevenard Island and at Barrow Island where commercial oil production in WA commenced in 1964. WA's largest production platforms are North Rankin A and Goodwyn A - both operated by Woodside Energy - located approximately 130 km west of Dampier, where
6068-451: The state). Other significant population centres include Bunbury (73,989), Geraldton (37,961), Kalgoorlie-Boulder (30,420), Albany (33,998), Karratha (16,446), Broome (14,501) and Port Hedland (14,285). At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were: 3.1% of the population, or 75,978 people, identified as Indigenous Australians ( Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders ) in 2016. At
6150-537: The state. The earliest petroleum-related activity in the state was in 1902, with the first oil exploration well drilled near the Warren River area in the southwest. Traces of oil were found in a bore near Fitzroy Crossing in 1919. Formal exploration in Western Australia started in 1946, when the Australian Motorists Petrol Company (AMPOL) commenced an exploration programme, using the services of
6232-442: The state. In 2007, the industry produced 126 million barrels (20,000,000 m ) of crude oil/condensate, and 30 billion cubic metres of gas. Approximately 65% of the gas was transformed into 12 million tonnes of LNG (all of which was exported), with the remainder of the gas being sold to users in Western Australia. Primary production by the industry was valued at $ 16.7 billion, accounting for 31% of all natural resources produced in
6314-477: The structure of the WA petroleum industry is characterised by the involvement of private corporations, with an important regulatory role occupied by the federal and state governments in most aspects of the industry. Australian companies operating in the industry include Woodside Energy and Santos . Foreign-owned companies involved in the state include Apache Energy , BP , Chevron , ExxonMobil , Shell , Inpex and ConocoPhillips . Government involvement in
6396-537: The time transportation ceased in 1868, convicts outnumbered free settlers 9,700 to 7,300. In the 1890s, interstate immigration, resulting from a mining boom in the Goldfields region , resulted in a sharp population increase. Western Australia did not receive significant flows of immigrants from Britain, Ireland or elsewhere in the British Empire until the early 20th century. At that time, its local projects—such as
6478-400: The west and northwest coast, from Geraldton to north of Port Hedland. In area, the onshore part of the Carnarvon Basin covers about 115,000 km and the offshore part covers approximately 535,000 km with water depths up to 3,500 m. Less than 5% of the state's gas comes from fields near Dongara, part of the Perth basin, which extends about 1300 km along the southwestern margin of
6560-617: Was completed in 1971. The pipeline transported gas from Dongara to Perth, Kwinana and Pinjarra. Originally known as the WANG Pipeline (after WA Natural Gas Pty Ltd which was a WAPET subsidiary), it is still in operation and now known as the Parmelia Pipeline. Woodside received its first permits to explore the Carnarvon basin in 1963. The 1971 gas/condensate discoveries by the BOCAL consortium at Scott Reef, North Rankin and Goodwyn were followed by
6642-636: Was reported in the Perth Hills , as far north as Wongan Hills and as far east as Salmon Gums . However, even in the Stirling Range, snowfalls rarely exceed 5 cm (2 in) and rarely settle for more than one day. The highest observed temperature of 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) was recorded in Onslow on 13 January 2022. The lowest temperature recorded was −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) at Eyre Bird Observatory on 17 August 2008. The south geomagnetic pole
6724-508: Was the largest of Australia's seven refineries, accounting for almost 20% of national refining capacity. As most of the crude oil and condensate produced in WA is exported to Asia by ship , the Kwinana refinery relied mainly on shipments of crude oil from elsewhere in Australia and overseas. For many years, a small amount of crude oil has arrived for processing at the refinery via road tanker, having been produced at onshore wells near Dongara since
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