Western Australia

Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park
Jean-Marc La Roque / Auscape International

If there is one thing that defines Western Australia, it is its size. Spanning an area of 2.5 million square kilometres, it covers one-third of the Australian continent. In dramatic contrast to its size, its population is just over 2 million, around one-tenth of Australia’s total population. Over 72 per cent of Western Australians live in or around the capital city of Perth.

Within this great state are incredibly diverse landscapes – an ancient terrain of rugged ranges and dramatic gorges to the north, towering forests to the south, arid deserts to the east and 12 889 kilometres of the world’s most pristine coastline to the west. To match the huge variety in landscape is a huge variety in climate, from the tropical humidity of the north and the dryness of the desert to the temperate Mediterranean-style climate of the South-West.

After driving for hours along empty highways, you’ll get a true feeling for the state’s vastness. But you will be amply rewarded when you reach your destination. Western Australia boasts precious natural features, including the 350 million-year-old Bungle Bungle Range, the limestone sentinels of the Pinnacles Desert, and the majestic karri forests of the South-West. There is the extraordinary marine life of Ningaloo Reef, the friendly dolphins of Monkey Mia, and Rottnest Island’s famous quokkas.

Western Australia’s historic sites are also worth seeing. The Aboriginal people who first inhabited the land up to 65 000 years ago left a legacy of distinctive rock art. Albany, the site of the state’s first European settlement in 1826, boasts well-preserved heritage buildings, while gracious 19th-century buildings in the capital city of Perth and its nearby port of Fremantle hark back to the days of the Swan River Colony. Remnants of great gold discoveries remain around Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie from the 1890s, which transformed Western Australia into one of the world’s great producers of gold, iron ore, nickel, diamonds, mineral sands and natural gas.