Western Australia Day is an annual public holiday in Western Australia. It celebrates the arrival from England in 1829 of James Stirling and the first party of settlers in the transport ship Parmelia. They founded the Swan River settlement, the first settlement in what is now the state of Western Australia. Western Australia Day is actually June 1, but the holiday is observed on the first Monday in June. The main activities are a flag-raising ceremony in Fremantle and a pioneers’ memorial service in the historic East Perth cemetery on the preceding Sunday.
The holiday was originally celebrated as Foundation Day. In 2012, its name was changed to Western Australia Day. The change was part of an effort to recognize Australia’s Aboriginal peoples as the country’s original inhabitants and to emphasize the many cultures that make up modern Western Australian society.
