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Western Australia Day or simply WA Day (formerly known as Foundation Day) is a public holiday in Western Australia (WA), celebrated on the first Monday in June each year, 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.

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. The merchant vessel Parmelia – with the new colony's administrator Lieutenant Governor James Stirling, other officials, and civilian settlers on board – arrived on the night of 31 May and sighted the coast on 1 June. It arrived in Cockburn Sound on 2 June, and finally anchored there on 6 June. 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.

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.

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". 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".

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.

In November 2024, premier Roger Cook stated he was open to the idea of moving Western Australia Day to a date closer to summer, citing the more favourable climate. His comments came after the 2024 WA Day Festival was cancelled due to poor weather, with the event postponed to 24 November 2024.

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. ^ 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. ^ 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. ^ "The story behind WA Day". Celebrate WA. Perth, WA. Archived from the original on 30 September 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
9. ^ 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.
12. Spagnolo, Joe (24 November 2024). "Premier Roger Cook open to changing date of WA Day public holiday". Perth Now. Retrieved 24 November 2024.

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