WA on the first Monday in June annually celebrates WA Day.

Western Australia Day is a public holiday in Western Australia, where it is a day off for the general population, and schools and most businesses are closed.

While the day was originally called “Foundation Day,” it has since been renamed to include all Western Australians, including aboriginal communities.  Foundation Day marked the day on June 1, 1829, when the first English settlers reached WA and established the Swan River Colony.

WA Day also serves as a basis for the Western Australian of the Year Awards, which celebrate outstanding achievements in the categories:

• Community,
• Professions,
• Sport and Youth,
• Aboriginal, Community,
• and Arts & Culture.

Unlike many other Australian states, Western Australia was colonised as a free settlement, not a penal colony and this is reflected in the diversity of farming and agriculture

The colony was the first to be developed entirely by free settlers. It wasn¹t until 1850 that convicts arrived and by that time the basic structure of the settlement had been established. The early growth of the city was slow. By 1849 the population was 1148. By 1891 it had only grown to 8447 and even in 1911, it was only a medium-sized country town with a population of 31,300.