Europeans began to settle permanently in 1826 when Albany was claimed by Britain to

forestall French claims to the western third of the continent. Perth was founded as
the Swan River Colony in 1829 by British and Irish settlers, though the outpost
languished. Its officials eventually requested convict labour to augment its
population. In the 1890s, interstate immigration, resulting from a mining boom in
the Goldfields region, resulted in a sharp population increase.

Western Australia did not receive significant flows of immigrants from Britain,
Ireland or elsewhere in the British Empire until the early 20th century. At that
time, its local projects�such as the Group Settlement Scheme of the 1920s, which
encouraged farmers to settle the southwest�increased awareness of Australia's
western third as a destination for colonists.

Led by immigrants from the British Isles, Western Australia's population developed
at a faster rate during the twentieth century than it had previously. After World
War II, both the eastern states and Western Australia received large numbers of
Italians, Croatians and Macedonians. Despite this, Britain has contributed the
greatest number of immigrants to this day. Western Australia�particularly Perth�has
the highest proportion of British-born of any state: 10.3% in 2011, compared to a
national average of 5.1%. This group is heavily concentrated in certain parts,
where they account for a quarter of the population.[17]

In terms of ethnicity, the 2001 census data revealed that 77.5% of Western
Australia's population was of European descent: the largest single group was those
reporting English ethnicity, accounting for 733,783 responses (32.7%), followed by
Australian with 624,259 (27.8%), Irish with 171,667 (7.6%), Italian with 96,721
(4.3%), Scottish with 62,781 (2.8%), German with 51,672 (2.3%), and Chinese with
48,894 responses (2.2%). There were 58,496 Indigenous Australians in Western
Australia in 2001, forming 3.1% of the population.

According to the 2011 census data, the most common ancestries in Western Australia
were English 29.0% (848,230), Australian 24.8% (724,360), Irish 6.4% (187,038),
Scottish 6.4% (186,475) and Italian 3.8% (111,894).[18] There were 69,664 (3.1%)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians living in Western Australia in
the 2011 census.[18]

Ethnicity Population Percentage

English 848,230 29%
Australian 724,360 24.8%
Irish 187,038 6.4%
Scottish 186,475 6.4%
Italian 111,894 3.8%
Indigenous 69,664 3.1%
In terms of birthplace, in the 2011 census 33.2% of the population were born
overseas � the highest proportion of any state or territory. People born in the
United Kingdom (230,410), New Zealand (70,736) and South Africa (35,326) were the
largest groups of immigrants, accounting for 45% of the state's overseas-born
population.[17]

Perth's metropolitan area (including Mandurah) had an estimated population of 1.729

million in 2011 (77% of the state).[19] Other significant population centres
include Bunbury (64,385),[20] Geraldton (31,349),[21] Kalgoorlie-Boulder (30,841),
[22] Albany (26,643),[23] Karratha (16,475),[24] Broome (12,766)[25] and Port
Hedland (13,772).[26]