Premier commemorates Foundation Day in London

Premier Colin Barnett will attend the 45th Western Australia Foundation Day service in London with representatives of founding families, friends and those with connections to WA.

The service will be held at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy and has become an annual event to mark the WA Foundation on June 1, 1829 and recognises how European settlement brought about a meeting of cultures.

The Premier’s Foundation Day speech at the service will touch on Western Australia’s transforming eras of the gold rush of the 1890s and the iron ore developments of the 1960s and how we are now in our third great period of development.

“Foundation Day provides an opportunity to remember WA’s pioneer settlers, their remarkable endeavours - and hardships,” the Premier said.

“They had a strong imagination, the daring to explore the unknown and a willingness to try something new - qualities that have continued right through to the modern WA we see today and will continue into the future.

“Previous periods of growth were characterised by big thinking and bold decision making and that is needed again, as well as commitment and responsibility to ensure the prosperity of this period is shared more widely.

“Today, we need to focus on our growing connection to Asia - we are now part of Asia and that is where our future lies. This is not just an economic connection, but also a social and cultural connection and with that comes the realisation that Asia's problems are now our problems.

“Early settlers realised that the State’s isolation and small population meant it had to import convicts and look to exports to succeed. But they would never have contemplated that the economic success of the State would be as great as it has been: the once ‘Cinderella state’ is now Australia’s dominant economy.”