Independent Western Australia

[Aozhouhuaren]

I read the other day that there was a referendum held, i think in 1931 or 32, on whether Western Australia should be declared independent from the rest of the states. The public voted against the idea overwhemingly. I always wondered if the vote went the other way, would Western Australia be able able to sustain itself as an independent economy and whether it would still remain a sovereign state to this day. Western Australia would also have to dramatically increase military numbers to defend such a vast territory by at least introducing National service.What would socio-political atmosphere of this independent Western Australia look like. And some final questions, what would the name be of this sovereign nation? Would this independent Western Australia change it's name, would it keep it based on that it is still geographically linked to the rest of the Australian continent or would it ditch "Australia" because the political affliation with the other states is no more.

 

[Max Sinister]

Wasn't that entrepreneur who discovered the mountain of a billion tons of iron ore in WA behind that? Forgot his name, as well as that of the mountain...

He was certainly a bit crazy... he also wanted to use nukes to build canals...

 

[BlackMage]

Wasn't that entrepreneur who discovered the mountain of a billion tons of iron ore in WA behind that? Forgot his name, as well as that of the mountain...

He was certainly a bit crazy... he also wanted to use nukes to build canals...

No, that was Lang Hancock in the 1970s. He wanted an independent Westralia to avoid tariffs, and where he could exercise his crazy environmental dreams.

In OTL, the public did not vote against the idea overwhelmingly; they voted for it, by 66%. Nearly every electorate voted for independence as a separate dominion. They appealed to the Privy Council, and the Privy Council said no. And that was that. 'Indissoluble union' means exactly that.

 

[BrianP]

In OTL, the public did not vote against the idea overwhelmingly; they voted for it, by 66%. Nearly every electorate voted for independence as a separate dominion. They appealed to the Privy Council, and the Privy Council said no. And that was that. 'Indissoluble union' means exactly that.

There was more. The people voted for secession, but at the same time voted out the Mitchell Government who first proposed the idea and put in one that didn't seem to keen on it. It was a catch 22. The Dominion League was more or less on its own and did not get the approval of Britain like they wanted.

 

[BlackMage]

But, going with the premise that they do secede (presuming the Privy Council decides otherwise), here's my basic predictions.

-More xenophobia than in OTL, but not to a large extent. National Service might happen, but we won't get a militarised society. This is simply because who will invade?
-John Curtin was from Western Australia, and yet opposed to secession. He might either switch to the Western Australian Parliament, possibly becoming Prime Minister of the independent dominion (because there's no denying his talent), might switch to another Australian seat, or may drop out of politics altogether. In such a case, we get a Forde leadership in World War 2, which could have interesting consequences; Forde would never have stood up to Churchill like Curtin did.
-Western Australia stays more conservative than the Australian norm; they weren't quite at the Bjelke-Peterson stage, but they were pretty damn close. Without a Whitlam revolution, they may stay 'more British than the British'.
-The two-party system probably remains intact, simply because of class alignments; the working class voted Labor, the upper class voted Nationalist (maybe the Nationalist Party survives in WA?) and the middle class alternated. Without the Liberal Party, however, with instead the more conservative Nationalists surviving, WA stays much more conservative. If White Australia does get rescinded, however, far-right movements (like One Nation) may enjoy more success in an insular Western Australia.

 

[Anaxagoras]

They appealed to the Privy Council, and the Privy Council said no. And that was that. 'Indissoluble union' means exactly that.

Actually, I think it was the British Parliament, not the Privy Council. And they didn't exactly say no. They simply said that they couldn't intervene in Australian affairs without the request of the Australian Parliament. As no such request was forthcoming, they declined to get involved.

 

[Wendell]

Might an independent Western Australia eventually go the way of Newfoundland?

 

[BlackMage]

Might an independent Western Australia eventually go the way of Newfoundland?

Well, this is presuming Western Australia secedes after Federation, not before. Quebec is probably a better analogy; after all, if they went to all that trouble to secede, they won't be too anxious to rejoin. WA's got a lot more population and resources, too.

Still, Federation has been good to Western Australia; until the mining boom they were pretty much dependent on farming and goldfields. Tariffs between them and the other Australian colonies would be disastrous for all concerned.