The largest of the Australian colonies, though least populous, formerly called the Swan River Settlement, 1500 m. long and 1000 m. broad, and embracing an area nearly equal to one-third of the whole Australian continent; great part of it, particularly in the centre, is desert, and the best soil is in the W. and NE.; emigration to it proceeded slowly at first, but for the last 20 years it has been steadily increasing, especially since the discovery of gold, and it is now opening up; in 1890 it received a constitution and became self-governing like the other possessions of Great Britain in Australia; Perth, on the Swan River, is the capital, and the chief exports are wool and gold.