WESTERN AUSTRALIA, a British colony, and the western section of the great island-continent of Australia, embraces the whole of that island V. of the 129th mer idian. Its extreme length from n.e to S.W. is 1370, its average breadth is 650 m., and its area is estimated at 978,000 sq.miles. Pop. '76, 27,821. Revenue '77, £165,412; ex penditure, £182,159; and public debt, same year, £161,000. This colony was formed in 1829, and in 1851 had only 5,886 inhabitants; but within recent years a considerable number of emigrants have been sent out under the auspices of the. government emigra tion board. Western Australia was formerly named Swan River Settlement, from the [ river Swan, which joins the Indian ocean, after watering a considerable district in the extreme s.-w. Of the whole vast area, this district in the s.w. is uow, as formerly, the only portion inhabited. There, mountain-ranges rising in elevation from the coast inland, run parallel with each other from s. to n., the highest summit being 5,000 ft. above sea-level. The climate is agreeable and salubrious; the soil, both on the coast and in the interior, is light and dry. Bands of fertile land, where the sandal-wood and other trees grow abundantly, and which are suitable for the culture of the vine, olive, and fig, occur in the middle districts of the country, Rivers, of which the Swan is the chief, abound; but are not of much usb for navigation. Magnetic iron ore, lead, cop
per, and zinc ores are found in large quantities, and a little coal has been found. In 1874, 144 vessels, of 65,351 tons, entered the ports. There is a pearl-fishery on the u.w. coast, producing to the value of £74,000 in 1874. Imports in 1877 (chiefly groceries, beer, ironmongery, and clothing), amounted to £362,706; exports (chiefly wool, sandal-wood, timber, copper-ore, and horses), £373.351. The capital is Perth, and there are several smaller towns. The colony became (1849), at the request of the colonists, a settlement for convicts, and has much benefited by their labor, a great extent of road and many public buildings having been constructed by them. In 1868 the home authorities were, however, persuaded by the Australian colonists finially to discontinue transportation to 1 Western Australia.