Western Australia

Western Australia is the official YouTube channel of the state of Western Australia which is one of the six states which together with two internal self-governing territories for the federated commonwealth of Australia. The channel uploads mainly promotional vlog-style content targeting tourists, it also uploads music videos. The channel is directly managed by the Western Australian government. It is the largest state by land area, and the second largest subdivision of any country in the world.
== Historical Background ==
Before European arrivals, indigenous Australians had lived in modern-day Western Australia for up to 60,000 years in over 100 separate groups, one of the most notable being the 14 Noongar nations in the Southeast, which is now mostly occupied by the Greater Perth Metropolitan Region.
One of the first European contacts to Western Australia was by Dutch sailor Dirk Hartog with the ship Eendracht, he named the land after the ship in his maps, now in the modern-day Gascoyne region at Cape Inscription. Between 1618 and 1622 several successful landings occurred by Dutch sailors, including those of the ship Leeuwin in the latter year. The first English ship to encounter Western Australia was the British East India Company's Tryall which was wrecked on a rocky reef now named after it near the Montebello islands (part of Western Australia) in 1622, with survivors getting to the aforementioned archipelago before going to Indonesia. In 1629, the Dutch ship Batavia wrecked on a reef near Beacon island on it's maiden voyage due to a suspected mutiny plot, after the skipper left to find rescue, a mutiny occurred, with many found murdered upon the skippers return. From the 1650s to 1690s several more shipwrecks and explorations of the Western Australian coast, including the exploration of the Swan river in 1697. In 1772 the first French claim was made at Turtle Bay, North of Dutch claims. In 1786, Sweden contracted the establishment of a colony on the Swan river. In 1791 the first British claim at Possession Point in King George Sound (now Albany) is made by George Vancouver. In 1827 and 1829 the British crown formally annexed the Western portion of New Holland on behalf of New South Wales, with James Stirling founding the Swan River colony in 1829, with exploration efforts by Cap. Charles Fremantle.
Both the King George Sound settlement and Swan River colony became the colony of Western Australia in 1832 which created the Western Australian legislative assembly (now the lower house). In 1834 at least 50 and up to 150 indigenous Australians were slaughtered in the Pinjarra massacre (also known as Battle of Pinjarra) on the order of James Stirling. In 1849 the first gold discoveries were made in the Toodyay area. Economic issues caused the Western Australian colony to become a penal convict colony from 1850 to 1868, with over 9,000 convicts processed. The mid-1860s saw the first permanent settlements in the North of the state, such as Roebourne which was gazetted in 1867.
In 1871 the first locomotive in Western Australia, an 0-4-0WT began operation, named Ballaraat, it was used for by a timber tramway, it is now preserved and on display in Busselton, being the oldest Australian-built locomotive preserved in the world. In 1876 construction started on Western Australia's first government railway, opening in 1879 from Geraldton to Northampton for mainly for mineral traffic, though the railway was the first in the state to carry passengers, it was known as the Northern railway. In 1881 the government's Eastern railway opened from Fremantle to Guildford. During the 1880s the largely Wheat and Wool economy began to have significant contributions from gold mining which were compounded by the gold rush of the 1890s which led to the boom of cities like Kalgoorlie and the establishment of towns like Coolgardie, this also led to a boom in expansion and ridership for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR).
In 1890 the the Western Australian parliament was founded, with the first elections held in 1891 with John Forrest becoming the first premier. Despite initial opposition, Western Australia agreed to federate with the five other Australian crown colonies to form the Commonwealth federation of Australia in 1901, becoming a state. In 1911 the states first university, the University of Western Australia (UWA) is established. A 1912 cyclone claimed the lives of over 150 people, being Australia's worst maritime natural disaster event of the 20th century, as it resulted in the sinking of Koombana. In 1916 Western Australia was the only state to have a majority in favour of conscription for WWI. Edith Cowan became the first woman elected to any Australian parliament, being elected to the Western Australian parliament in 1920. A 1933 referendum had 68% of the population in Western Australia in-favour of succeeding from Australia, likely due to poor economic depressions caused by the Great Depression, succession was denied by the crown.
Australia's second deadliest cyclone of the 20th century hit the Lacepede islands near Broome in 1935, with 141 dead. During WWII HMAS Sydney was sunk of the coast of Carnarvon with over 600 lives lost. In 1942 the Japanese imperial air-force attack Broome, resulting in 88 deaths, with more casualties all over the Northern regions. The first mass strike of indigenous Australian workers occurred in 1946, known as the Pilbara strike due to it's location, with over 800 workers taking part. The worst civil aviation disaster in Australian history occurred in 1950 when a Douglas DC-4 named Amana crashed near York, killing all 29 people. A 1961 bushfire in Dwellingup left over 800 people homeless. 1961 also saw the beginning of the minerals boom, and 1962 saw indigenous Australians granted full voting rights in Western Australia. The last person executed in Western Australia was serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, at Fremantle prison in 1964. Donald Campbell broke the world water speed record on Lake Dumbleyung in Bluebird K7 in 1964. In 1970 the Indian Pacific train made the first uninterrupted journey from Sydney to Perth by rail.
== Content ==
The first video uploaded to the channel was Antony Gormley Sculptures - Lake Ballard, Western Australia on 27 January 2011, it is almost 2 minutes long, having over 59,600 views as of 15 March 2024, 55 likes and 1 commenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeIDvX23HYs. As the title suggests, the video is about 50 steel sculptures by Antony Gormley which are displayed on the salt lake Lake Ballard, near the town of Menzies (76km from Lake Ballard). The most popular video on the channel as of 15 March 2024 is Ningaloo Reef Whale Sharks, Exmouth, Western Australia, with over 278,000 views, 178 likes and 22 comments, the video was uploaded on 26 September 2013 and is over 1 minute longhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_hbQO0W1kE. Again the videos title makes its contents obvious, its worth noting that the Whale Shark is Western Australia's state fishhttps://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/WebCMS/webcms.nsf/resources/file-38-symbols-of-wa/$file/Sheet%2038%20-%20Symbols%20of%20Western%20Australia.pdfhttps://www.pmc.gov.au/publications/australian-symbols-booklet/state-and-territory-symbols/symbols-western-australia. The channel trailer as of 15 March 2024 is Drive the Dream with Daniel Ricciardo | A Western Australian Road Trip Adventure, uploaded on 28 September 2023, it has over 138,000 views and 108 commentshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lj93Kvv168.
== Other Channels ==
Other channels managed by the Western Australia's tourist sector include, Western Australia - Like No Other, created in 2020 and Tourism Western Australia Corporate, which is the least active has only over 300 subscribers as of 16 March 2024.
== References ==
Category:Australian YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2007
Category:Film YouTubers
Category:Vlogging YouTubers
Category:Music YouTubers