Auralia was a proposed colony that would have been formed out of the south-eastern portion of the colony of Western Australia in the early twentieth century, and would have joined the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia. The name, loosely realting to ‘golden’ in Latin, denotes the gold industries that were alive at the time and which helped foment secession due to disillusionment with the Government.
The proposed colony would have comprised the Goldfields, the western portion of the Nullarbor Plain and the port town of Esperance. Its capital would have been Kalgoorlie.
The push to secession was prompted by perceptions that the Western Australian colony under Sir John Forrest was parochial and self-serving and was dragging its feet towards federating the state with the emerging Commonwealth. Many inhabitants in the goldfields had come to Western Australia from the other states in the previous decade when Kalgoorlie experienced a gold rush and their loyalties were thus not usually directed towards Perth. Sir John Forrest’s efforts to secure concessions before fully supporting Federation was alienating these new arrivals.
Eventually the proposal was dropped when Western Australia joined the federation in 1901.
(Credit – Wikipedia)
For futher information relating to this topic, click: NFSA Video – Constructing Australia.
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