The Time Australia Voted to Split in Half 

Thanks to Ridge for sponsoring this video! Get a keycase here with the code "EMPEROR" for 10% off: ridge.com/emperor

I can't believe they actually unironically called it "Westralia".

Western Australia was dragged kicking and screaming into federation, but I remember from what (little) research I did, South Australia was also pretty disgusted by the whole process as well. Like the cartoon you had up for Fiji and New Zealand's perspective, South Australians viewed themselves quite seperate from the East coast because they were settled almost exclusively by freed men and not convicts.

I love how each state was complaining to New Zealand about how unfair they're treated and how everyone looks down on them and NZ's just sitting there and patiently nodding along.

Missed the chance to say how Australia nearly became the "Land gone Asunder"

I really appreciate the attention to detail on the different regional drinks. Us Aussies really are very particular about our beers. Great video, thanks Tigerstar!

One of the best things about living in West Australia is the vast distance separating us from every one over East.

'...tear Aus apart!' lol

As a West Australian, I'm always happy to see the state getting some recognition, thanks for the video! I've always liked the idea that if West Australia were to secede it would be named after the Swan River, i.e. 'Swan River Federation', I think it has a better ring to it then just 'Westralia'.

Great video! Western Australian secession isn't something that talked about seriously nowadays, but the people there still have an independent streak. You sometimes see WA mining executives talk about secession so WA can keep more of its mineral wealth, and if you talk to some ordinary Western Australians they'll grumble about how the eastern states take their mineral wealth in return for little. You even saw this during the COVID pandemic, when WA closed itself off to the rest of Australia, limited and sometimes banned interstate arrivals even to returning WA residents and basically acted as their own country until March of this year. To extraordinary political advantage too, the guy who closed WA to Australia had a 91% approval rating at the height of the border closures and won 53 out of 59 seats at the state election.

Something you neglected to mention was that at the time of federation one of the largest settlements in WA was a gold mining town inhabited mostly by miners from the eastern states, they threatened to annex pretty much everything east of the wheat belt and make their own state if WA didn't join the federation.

The fellow on the right of the inset at 7:23 to 7:47 (Prime Minister Joseph Lyons), was my grandfather. I had no idea about the creation of the Grants Commission, I just knew he and my grandmother made a speaking tour of WA against secession. This was fascinating, thanks.

I've never heard of Cinderella state before, but I have heard of WA being ticked off that most of its finite mineral wealth goes either overseas or into other states' budgets instead of into developing WA so that it can thrive after the mines run dry. 'Exploited' is probably the term.

Please do more Australia videos! I’ve always been interested in how their “western era” pretty much reflects the US’ cowboys (bushrangers)

The only reason Western Australia joined was because they had a huge gold rush the year before the final referendum. Since there was free movement between the colonies, hundreds of thousands of Australians from the eastern colonies flooded across the border, were enrolled to vote, and then voted to join the federation. That's why they've always felt they were "tricked" into joining and, in a way, they were.

Secessionist talk in Western Australia started rising again during COVID, because the state government closed the borders into the state. The WAxit party was even registered for the state election last year.

I like how Turkey made a cameo just before the ad!

Westralia = Bestralia 0:34 an external territory not featured on this map are the Cocos/Keeling Islands, made up of the descendants of Malay workers who were brought there to work on a copra plantation. The islands used to be ruled by the Clunies-Ross family (who brought them there in the first place) for almost 150 years. The Malays arrived in 1826. The British annexed them in 1857 and transferred the islands to Australia in 1955. Despite this, the islands' real estate was still owned by the Clunies-Ross family until 1979. This happened in 1979 because the year before, fed up with the family's feudal style, forced them to sell the islands for over six million Australian Dollars (over 37 million in 2022 dollars). In 1984, under UN supervision, the islanders voted for integration with Australia by over 88 percent. Since 2018, the Cocos Malays have been seeking indigenous status from the government.

"We're the men from the land down under, And we will split off from the other!"

The ending was gold. This is content is also very different to the mapping videos I use to love years ago.

I really enjoyed this video especially the little details like different states drinking different (local) beers. Thanks!

Would this divided Australia going to be called Westralia and Östralia. Is it going to be divided between the Emus and the Kangaroos?

2:02 I love the sponsor “weird map of pre-1939 Turkey” with weird rump Kurdistan.

As an older Aussie I did not know about this. Always learning, and thank for the informative video.

Good video man always love seeing stuff about my home state. Loved the little cartoons aswell!

Turkey jumpscare 2:02

What;s the image of split Turkiye doin' in that split frame ~2:00?

Good video, nice to see that quality develops

Ending with a karaoke parody is unironically the best way i have ever seen a historical video end

Its not often you see an INXS reference in a history video but this one was great!

New Zealand just chilling. I love it.

The bar comments, the beers, the karaoke! All of it is just spot on!

Missed the opportunity to call it Östralia

Emperor Tigerstar karaoke sure is one thing I never knew I needed in my life. XD

I loved the little parody of the classic Aussie band INXS's song Never Tear Us Apart

"we gotta talk about our sponsor, turkey"

Great video. Would have loved if you featured the part of the Australian constitution where New Zealand is listed as a state. It was expected they would join last minute like Western Australia did

If you go to a super market in Western Australia, they seperate grosaires that are "product of Australia" and "product of western Australia"

Found your channel from the real life lore scotland video thanks for doing that video and im really enjoying your videos so far good work!

One thing that seems to never be mentioned when looking at the size of Australia and the relative lack of population is that a lot of the country could not support population due to the lack of rainfall. The mining town of Kalgoorlie in WA (which was the centre of one of the gold rushes) was only sustainable due to the water pipeline that was built from Perth to Kalgoorlie. It was designed by the engineer C.Y.O'connor.

As an Australian it’s hard to imagine how big the role the Brit’s played in Australian politics .

as a kiwi, I appreciate how NZ has a kiwifruit on their drink lmao

Dude, you’re hilarious! Thank you for your videos, always informative and funny af.

That musical number was dope. Subbed

As someone from Western Australia I think it would be pretty funny if we did break away

Ok, I saw your hidden prophecy about Turkey by the minute 2:02.

The song finished a bit prematurely, I was hoping for more, but a nice touch. Interesting story thanks.

The inxs bit at the end is gold I’ve subbed

Finally someone actually talking about Australia’s interesting history

Lmao loved the INXS bit at the end.

10:34 i love these little animations

Living in Western Australia right now, I can say there is still a bit of resentment towards the eastern states (basically as much as we feel towards America from what I’ve gathered from my mates) due to how much we feel we’re overlooked. I can see how this was built on from the initial referendums.

* Most colonies were granted "responsible government" before 1860. That meant that they elected their own governments, paid their own costs, maintained their own defence forces, etc. Britain had almost no control over them and they were *effectively* independent in all areas except foreign policy and even there, some colonies adopted their own foreign policies. So Tigerstar's depiction of them as answerable to Britain is not really accurate. If Britain had tried to intervene in any colony with Responsible Government, it would have created a huge furore, but they never did. * Western Australia had a low population and was fairly poor, so it only gained Responsible Government in 1890. They were strongly against joining the federation UNTIL they had a gold rush in the 1890s at the same time other colonies (especially Victoria) were suffering from a deep depression. The flood of Victorians (and others) migrating to W.A. tipped the balance there in favour of federation. * No other colony wanted Fiji to join the federation so it is inaccurate to say they were ever in contention. However New Zealand would have been welcome to join if they wanted to. In a time before planes, they were closer to the main cities of Melbourne and Sydney by sea than Perth was.

Since you’re going through Australian historical oddities bit by bit you should look at the 1975 constitutional crisis.

That karaoke *sniff snort*... so beautiful

2:02 Nice map there.

Western Australia recently had a de-facto secession. With COVID the State border was almost completely closed and to cross it you required a travel document "G2G" approved by Western Australian authorities and rarely issued. Internally, Western Australia was completely different from the rest of Australia with essentially no lockdowns and full freedom to travel within the State.

Tigerstar trying not to get sponsored by ridge challenge (impossible)

Great use of INXS at the end there 👏

Tasmania was left off the 2000 Olympics map, felt great. Also happened in the commonwealth games like 2 times also

Did you do the Australian-accented dialogue yourself? If not, who did you tap for those segments? Just curious. :)

2:01 that cursed map jump scare

Thumbs up for INXS mention

Definitely seems like Western Australia had more of a right to call themselves as "undemocratically forced to be part of Australia" after they voted in a legal refereendum for secession but it was ignored - especially since it was the last time the people of WA were officially asked that question. Stands in contrast to Scottish or Quebecois Independence (or British EU remainer/rejoiner) supporters today. Completley reasonable to campiagn for another vote, but not reasonable to say that you're being forced to be as you are now.

I thought that your video would be on Mark McGowan's border wall, due to covid, that basically did separate us in WA from the rest of Australia.

Actually we have 3 territories on the mainland, Aust Capital Territory, Northern Territoj ry and the Jervis Bay Territory. Just count the number of times the word "territory" appears on the map. We also have off shore territories.

As a note to hearing a mention of PM Joseph Lyons, I am reminded that one of PM Lyons' sons taught me Maths and Science when I was in Year 8 (D Class at that time) at Hobart Technical High School in 1961. It was something of a mystery for most of us why a man with a LLB was teaching High School and rumors were rife though no one actually hazarded an opinion as to what scandal had brought him so low. I will add that I remember him as one of the best teachers I ever had.

From Perth in western Australia. Have to say that was an awesome video. Should have showed the beer Emu export haha

great to see more australian history thats not just the emu war over again if your doing videos one states maybe look into the rail roads changeing gauge at the state border and the attempts at fixing it

For a brief, five frame moment I thought this video was going to be sponsored by Turkey.

this was quite an ausome video

The part about NZ vehemently rejecting the idea is completely inaccurate, NZ had every intention of creating a federation with the other colonies, it was a part of NSW to begin with. The NZ colonial government was at the mainland with the other colonies with the intention of signing the completed constitution. The NZ representatives disagreed with the amount of state autonomy and left without signing until it was amended at a later date. The remaining colonies didn't consider the NZ colony not signing it eventually when it was understood that the mainland colonies wouldn't budge, so the remaining colonies left New Zealand in the constitution to avoid the work required to have them enter the Federation after it was given Royal Assent by Queen Victoria. This relationship of being one group continued into the time of federation, with the two countries sharing one army called the Australia New Zealand Army Corp (ANZAC) in The Great War (WW1). Over the century since, the interpretation of New Zealand as a separate country grew to becoming normal, with the constitutional inclusion now considered a right granted to New Zealand to enter the Commonwealth of Australia as a state unilaterally. If New Zealand was willing to give up the benefits of being their own nation, they could enter as an Australian state in 2022 without any need for an Australian vote, as it is already granted in the constitution. To this day, Australian & New Zealand citizens are entitled to enter, work and reside in either country indefinitely in a similar way to the EU. The only exception is that the two governments can revoke that right for an individual citizen. The two countries also include the other's citizens in many of its government services that aren't entitled to non-ANZ citizens. The Fijian colony was briefly included in the plans of becoming a joint colonial federation, but was not received well by many from both the Fijian colony and the mainland colonies. In addition to this, both Australian's and New Zealanders held British subject status up until 1984, with Australia concluding its succession from the British government formally in 1986.

2:02 Why does the map of Anatolia that contains Kurdistan appear in a video dedicated to Australia?

Great video. The west is very independent minded to this day and talk of secession still pops up again every few years.

@4:05 the most interesting take-away is that women were allowed to vote in the referendum, however they weren't allowed to vote in federal elections until about 20 years later.

Þanks for uloading

The main grievance from WA was the tariff arrangements, tariffs not really being a thing anymore. Prior to Federation each colony had it's own set of tariffs to suit its own economy. eg NSW had tariffs to protect manufacturing but no tariffs on agriculture. WA had tariffs on agriculture but not on manufacturing, (because there was none). WA bought cheap manufactured goods from Singapore and India and sold agricultural products and gold. After Federation one set of tariffs was used for the entire country. Guess which ones. It was the opposite to what WA needed, so WA went from the first gold boom in the 1890s to an economic basket case within 5 years and stayed that way. When the depression hit, people starved. That was the situation when they voted to secede because it couldn't be any worse. After the secession vote the Commonwealth Grants Commission was set up to compensate WA for Federal decisions that favoured the east, like the tariffs. The CGC has since morphed into "fiscal equalisation" which is a different thing altogether.

Great to hear cloud cuckoo country's distinctive voice, one of the most underrated channels on this platform

I like how in the end the Australia singing doesn't have tasmania

TIGERSTAR PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO SOME SHORTS OF COUNTRIES SINGING AGAIN THAT WAS AMAZING

This says alot about Australian politics and society in general

I actually new that from hoi4 mod: Red flood ,of all places, where the referendum succeeds.

This isn't the only time they wanted to split, but more in the terms of states. There was a thing going around a little while ago about splitting North Queensland into it's own state away from Queensland. Honestly, it's not the worst idea, but it also is.

1:29 "we're a small island so people forget we really even exist " 10:55 *forgotten*

i love how ridge is now basically to be expected lol

And when asked my nationality overseas I always say I'm a " West Australian " not just Australian!

I just like the way you tell serious stories in a light hearted way

The thing you have to consider is how isolated WA was from the eastern states at Federation. There wasn't a land transport route at all, no roads or railways. Ship was the only way and it was about 5 times as far to sail as Melbourne to Devonport Tasmania. Essentially Western Australia was as isolated from the rest of Australia as New Zealand is. Even today there is still only 2 proper roads to the eastern states and 1 single-track railway, and those routes were essential for making WA authentically part of the rest of Australia.

Ah yes, when the Emus and Dingos negotiated spheres of influence

what is up with the map of turkey at 2:02

Queensland beer was 'Felons' a fairly recent bar in Brisbane... It should definitely be XXXX instead, the oldest brewery in queensland

I'm impressed you spelled Labor correctly, not that it's hard or anything but most Australians can't so nice work

"Australia is a nation that is really big in size, but simultaneously has a smaller population for it's size" Canada: Hold my Coffee :3

I am currently making a joke Hearts of Iron IV mod about what if Western Australia was independent. I think I called it "westralia mod"

You may want to consider sir John Kerr. Great video.

Turkey at 2:02 is subconsciously implanted as the sponsor

We are the "Quebec" of Australia. Even to this day, MANY West Australians are in favour of secession - MOSTLY due to how much of the nation's wealth is based on Western Australians' mineral wealth, with a VERY disproportionate amount of that revenue coming back into the state in terms of Federal Funding. Long live the Republic of Westralia!

It was too late to say “well the front fell off,” Man I miss Brains4Breakfast

Did something happen to the Lang video?

Thanks for making this video. I’m Australian and a history nerd, and most of this even I didn’t know. 😮 Pure speculation but I think the Japanese arriving on WA’s doorstep in 1942 might have persuaded WATo rejoin the Commonwealth post-war anyway.