1616    Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog makes second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, at the later-named Dirk Hartog Island off the Western Australian coast.

1829    Charles Fremantle arrives in the ''HMS Challenger'' off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.

1833    Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed.

1834    The Battle of Pinjarra is fought in the Swan River Colony in present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14 and 40 Aborigines are killed by British colonists.

1901    The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister.

1941    World War II: Battle between HMAS ''Sydney'' and HSK ''Kormoran''. The two ships sink each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen.

1964    Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.

1984    Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.

1989    The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

1993    Western Australia's and Australia's first female Premier, Carmen Lawrence, is voted out of office.