When Western Australia voted to leave Australia
On 8 April 1933 two-thirds of Western Australians voted to leave the Commonwealth and go back to being a British colony. The British Parliament refused to act on it, and Western Australia is still a state, but the idea keeps coming back.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 9 October 2026Suggest a correction
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A reluctant member
Western Australia nearly stayed out of Australia altogether. It had only recently won self-government from Britain, it was far from the eastern colonies, and almost half its revenue came from customs duties that federation would abolish.[3] It was won over by a special clause letting it keep those duties for five years, and the promise of a railway to the east.[3]
The biggest push came from the goldfields around Kalgoorlie, filled by migrants from the east during the 1890s gold rush. When it looked as though Western Australia might not join, they formed the Eastern Goldfields Reform League and began working towards a separate colony of their own.[3] In the referendum that followed, 44,800 voted for federation and 19,691 against, and 26,330 of the yes votes came from the goldfields.[3]
The 1933 vote
Only five years after federation, once the customs concession ended, the state’s Legislative Assembly declared federation “detrimental” and called for a vote on leaving, but nothing came of it.[3] The Great Depression revived the grievance: Western Australians felt ignored and neglected by the federal government, and the Dominion League, founded in 1930, campaigned for them to leave.[2]
On 8 April 1933 voters were asked whether Western Australia should withdraw from the Commonwealth.[1] Over 66% said yes, and they wanted the state to become a self-governing part of the British Empire again.[2] On the same day, though, they elected a government that opposed secession.[2]
London says no
The state government sent a delegation to Westminster, and in November 1934 the British Parliament was petitioned to “reconstitute Western Australia as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire”.[1][3] A joint committee of both Houses heard Western Australia and the Commonwealth in 1935 and found the petition couldn’t be received: Britain would act only on the “definite request” of the Commonwealth, expressing the wish of the Australian people as a whole.[3] In May 1935 the British Parliament refused to accept it.[2]
Government grants helped the economy recover, and the movement faded.[2] Australia’s constitution calls the federation “indissoluble” and has no way for a state to leave, short of a national referendum to change it.[2][3] Still, the idea returns whenever Western Australians feel short-changed by Canberra, as in 2017, over how GST revenue is shared.[3]
Timeline
190021 August 1900
Asking to join
After a referendum carried by the goldfields, Parliament asks for Western Australia to be an original state.[3]
1930
The Dominion League
A campaign to leave Australia begins.[2]
19338 April 1933
The vote
1934
The petition
Western Australia asks the British Parliament to make it a dominion.[3]
1935
Refused
A joint committee rules the petition can’t be received.[3][2]
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Sources
- [1]1933 Secession Referendum · Western Australian Electoral Commission
- [2]Western Australian Secession Referendum · Parliamentary Education Office, Parliament of Australia
- [3]WA state of secession? · Parliamentary Library FlagPost, Parliament of Australia (Dianne Heriot) · 1 September 2017
- [4]Western Australia (relation 2316598) · OpenStreetMap contributors
Outline, clipped to the coastline the site draws.
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.