Western Australia tried to become its own country more than once.
There was a time when the people of Western Australia were so sold on leaving Australia, they held a state referendum to get a sense check - and the majority of people voted 'yes'.
When talks were ramping up about uniting the British colonies in the 1890s, Western Australia and Queensland were concerned federation would give NSW and Victoria an advantage over other states. Western Australia is mentioned elsewhere in the constitution, though, as one of the states of the Commonwealth of Australia.Professor Emerita Anne Twomey, a constitutional law expert from The University of Sydney, told The Feed: "It also mentions New Zealand, by the way, in case it happened to be a last arrival, but New Zealand didn't and Western Australia did."
"So it was basically people who had come from other Australian colonies to follow the mining, who were the ones that tipped it over the edge."One big hesitation to federation was the difference in how Western Australia generated revenue, compared to the other states. It called for a referendum to assess public support to withdraw from the Commonwealth. Not much happened... this time.The closest Western Australia ever came to secession was in 1933. The secession movement grew in support after a Dominion League, which was essentially a lobby group, formed to drive the cause. Again, discussion on tariffs seemingly disadvantaging Western Australia during the Great Depression had mounted concerns.But actually implementing this sentiment was unsuccessful.
In other words, the only legal path to secession would be a successful national referendum where a majority of voters in the majority of states would have to agree to dissolve the union, just as they agreed to create it in the Federation referendums.
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