| Show western australia now in spotlight breaks with commonwealth by ti two 0 to one vote washington at the polls and at a her he r gold mines western alias activities tivi tivit ties les have drawn the spotlight of news with the definiteness of a two to one referendum she has recently proclaimed her secession from the commonwealth suggesting the first break breah in the confederation of the six australian states that has existed for 82 years although authorities maintain that the action can have little effect because there Is no governmental machinery ma allowing any state to with draw yet western alias protest has been made an outburst of gold fever too inspired by the present high prices of that metal has awak ened new activity at her onetime one time boom mines western australia comprising ap proximately one third of the whole island continent has made rapid strides in its century of development says a bulletin from the national geographic society especially during the last half century it has seen alg progress yet vast areas in its square miles are desert and waste land A had bo gold mining gave the land its first boom kalgoorlie Cool gardle kimberley and other gold fields poured millions into the worlds coffers in 1903 when it reached its highest point western australia produced worth of the precious metal in 37 years of its ita greatest activity its mines minas enriched the worlds gold sup ply by kalgoorlie with its famous gold bold en mile abile and other nearby mines mushroomed almost over night into a roaring camp and became much like san francisco in 51 or dawson in 09 former president hoover as a young mining engineer once worked in this rich mining district and successfully cess fully put many sick mines into profitable operation As gold production waned western australia once known as the land of sin sun and sand became a new land and of promise through its wheat fields forests and cattle and sheep grazing areas today however kal gourlie la Is again taking on many of the aspects of a rip roaring mining camp and many of the sw aggles or sundowners are again plodding the sun parched regions to set out new claims A chemical syndicate Is also reworking to a profit old tailings and poorer however that western au w MI ever again produce the quantities of gold that hat it once did yet et some of the old pros are always hoping that they will one day strike it rich important wheat region in less than a quarter century of agricultural development western aus increased her export of wheat from 35 to of the slight ly more than four and three quarter million acres of land now under cultivation ti nearly four lillon acres are devoted to the growing of wheat with a recent yield of more than bushels on more barren areas graze more than head of sheep and cattle the woo wool clip furnishes the largest export next nest to gold and wheat the cities along the west coast are not large perth rth the capital has only a little more than population many of the others live i only by virtue of their position a as s exporting centers for the cattle and sheep country broome along the northern part of the coast Is one of the most interesting because of the fact that it la Is one of the few asiatic towns in the 98 per cent british born population of australia there live anny japanese chinese malays balays laos and Koep angers from timor who are engaged in the pearl and pearl shell industry western australia may well feel a certain independence from the rest of australia because she Is more or less isolated by a great desert region miles wide and 1000 miles long air services and the transcontinental train system with its branches how ever do link up many of the towns in western australia and bring them into close communication with canberra the new capital and cities on the eastern coast despite the fact that the western province provi neb does have much barren waste land and in some cases has had to pump water through mile lengths of pipe line it does docs hold promise for great development in the future for there are many areas still unexploited also with a climate ranging from tropical to temperate a fairly wide range of products can be grown successfully |
