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State Magazine [1]

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Date: 2022-12-12  

Building lights from Perth’s modern skyline reflect off the Swan River at dusk. Photo by Opailin

By Elena Augustine and Hayley Roman

Then-Consul General David Gainer (second from right) visits Ganalili Center in remote Western Australia to learn about local Aboriginal culture and history, September 2020. Photo courtesy of U.S. Consulate Perth

The United States’ relationship with Western Australia (WA) stretches all the way back to the 1880s, before Australia was even united by federation. In 1897, a 23-year-old Herbert C. Hoover, still several decades away from his election to the U.S. presidency, responded to an advertisement seeking a mining engineer “young, fit, and able to survive in the harsh Australian conditions, a man of not more than 35 years, but with experience sufficient to the conditions.” WA, the advertisement continued, “was no place for a novice.” Future President Hoover described his new surroundings as a land that was filled with “red dust, black flies, and white heat.” He convinced the British company that he worked for to purchase and develop the Sons of Gwalia gold mine, of which he became superintendent. The mine was one of WA’s most successful, operating on and off for more than 100 years until its closure in 2006. Hoover was only in WA for a short time, but before leaving he made what history has revealed to be a wise assessment of the state’s future. He observed that “Western Australia is a country of surprises [that] can be expected to do so much.”

Consulate General Perth advances a range of key U.S. priorities, including supporting the development of technologies and securing access to critical minerals needed to advance American climate goals; strengthening supply chains and space cooperation; and underlining the commitment to ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific through the security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. (AUKUS), and other partnerships. Although, traditionally, a parochial place with a relaxed pace of living and work—Perth has the unique status of being the farthest Department of State post from Washington; WA has emerged in recent decades as a dynamic economic powerhouse, and Australia’s strategic gateway to the Indian Ocean. It is a global leader in mining and liquified natural gas (LNG) production, providing the world with 29% percent of its iron ore, 12% percent of its LNG, and 50% percent of its lithium supply. It has confirmed supplies of 41 of the 50 minerals designated as critical by the United States and is thus an essential partner in diversifying and securing global supply chains and will play an increasingly central role in enabling the world to meet net zero climate goals as demand for critical minerals skyrockets.

Management Officer Somer Bessire-Briers (left) and Political, Economic, and Public Affairs Officer Elena Augustine (right) from Consulate General Perth visit U.S. Air Force personnel based at Learmonth Solar Observatory, Exmouth, which is jointly run with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, November 2021. Photo courtesy of U.S. Consulate Perth

WA’s strategic location on the Indian Ocean, its status as host of Australia’s only submarine base, and specialized private sector expertise are essential assets for operationalization of the AUKUS. WA has a long history in space communications technologies and services—having supported NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions—and has emerging expertise in small satellites and remote operations. This history positions it as a continuing partner for future NASA projects. It is also developing renewable energy technologies using its abundant supply of solar, wind, and wave energy and has the largest number of hydrogen export projects under development in Australia.

Geographically, WA is enormous—covering the entire western third of Australia and making up the second-largest country subdivision in the world after Russia’s Sakha Republic—and the consulate covers its entirety. WA has a population of just 2.7 million, largely concentrated in the Perth area. More than 35% of this population was born overseas, making WA a multicultural society with notable diaspora from the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. This sees a local calendar with regular cultural events and festivals. Australia’s oldest intact rock art is in WA’s Kimberley region and is between 17,100 and 17,500 years old. WA’s Aboriginal inhabitants lived in the area for 50,000-70,000 years before European contact. The central two-thirds of the state is arid but WA also has tropical regions in the north and a southwest coastal area—where Perth is located—with a Mediterranean climate. WA is blessed with abundant natural beauty as well as access to both natural resources and renewable energy.

Western Australia boasts almost 14,000 miles of stunning Indian and Southern Ocean coastline including the popular Esperance area. Photo courtesy of U.S. Consulate Perth Royal Australian Navy Capt. Gary Lawton, Commanding Officer of HMAS Stirling (left), exchanges gifts with U.S. Navy Capt. Al Alarcon, commanding officer of USS Frank Cable, after the American ship arrived in Perth, April 2022. Photo courtesy of the Royal Australian Navy

As the only state that voted overwhelmingly to secede from the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933, Western Australians have a distinct sense of identity separate from their east coast counterparts, and often have a strong interest in developments in Asia. WA shares a time zone with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Shanghai; has almost 14,000 miles of Indian and Southern Ocean coastline; and the state capital of Perth is closer to Jakarta, Indonesia than it is to Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is far quicker, easier, and cheaper to fly to Bali—which many Western Australians consider their “backyard”—than to Australia’s east coast.

Perth sits at the mouth of the Swan River in southwest WA, home of the Indigenous Whadjuk Nyoongar people. In 1829, Captain James Stirling took control of the area to form the administrative center of the Swan River Colony. Perth and WA’s early economies were dominated by whaling and agriculture but the discovery of gold in the Kimberley, Murchison, and Kalgoorlie regions in the 1880s and 1890s resulted in dramatic increases in population and economic prosperity and presaged WA’s continuing economic reliance on the mining boom and bust cycles. The booms have allowed Perth to develop into a leafy, modern city that ranks consistently among the top 10 most livable cities in the world, according to The Economist.

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy (second from left) and Consul General Siriana Nair (orange vest) visit Lynas’ rare earths operations in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, October 2022. Photo courtesy of Lynas Rare Earths

The state continues to be heavily dependent on mining, which comprises 47% of its economy. The Pilbara region about 800 miles north of Perth produces about 50% of Australia’s total exports by value, primarily LNG, which is exported to Japan (with key growth markets in China, the Republic of Korea, and India); and iron ore purchased by China. While 82% of WA’s iron ore goes to China, public views have shifted in recent months as China’s economic coercion measures—which hit WA’s barley, wine, and crayfish exports—underlined trade vulnerabilities. The state government is looking both for new markets in Southeast Asia and seeking to diversify into new areas—including making WA a hub for defense industry cooperation.

With Australian government support and investment, critical minerals processing capabilities in WA are under development with facilities to process graphite, lithium, vanadium, rare earths, and an integrated nickel-manganese-cobalt battery material refinery hub in various stages of approval or construction. WA also has the potential to establish a strong hydrogen export market and is focusing on green and blue hydrogen— the former produced using renewable energy, and the latter from natural gas—with 28 projects in production, research, and supporting infrastructure. The state has abundant access to renewable energy to produce green hydrogen and its geographic position creates opportunities for export to the western Indo-Pacific region. WA recently surpassed Qatar to become the world’s largest exporter of LNG and possesses much of the export infrastructure needed to transition from LNG to hydrogen exports. It is also developing enormous renewable energy hubs, including the nearly 10,000 square mile Western Green Energy Hub that, with 50 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity, will be the world’s largest renewable energy hub.

The state hosts roughly half of Australia’s navy and its only submarine base—which has exchange U.S. Navy personnel and carries out most of the maintenance work necessary for sustaining the country’s submarine fleet. The base also hosts regular port visits by U.S. naval vessels.

The city of Albany hosts an annual memorial service in 2020 in honor of U.S. submariners who departed the port during World War II and never returned, Aug. 28, 2020. Photo courtesy of U.S. Consulate Perth

WA is also one of the planet’s top spots for marine diversity. The ecologically rich surrounding waters offer many opportunities to dive year-round, with WA best known for its breath-taking whale shark encounters off the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, about 750 miles north of Perth. The state also boasts spectacular beaches, often with nearby campsites, plus extensive hiking opportunities through forest, cave, coastal and desert landscapes. The springtime wildflowers are a particular highlight for locals and visitors alike.

With its isolation protecting some of the world’s darkest and most beautiful night skies, Perth and WA are paradise for astronomers and amateur stargazers alike. From 1961 to 1972, ground stations in WA played key roles in NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions to the Moon. Australia is part of the U.S. surveillance network for space debris and WA hosts many world-class space facilities. The state government ambitiously plans to grow its space sector into a global center for small satellites (“CubeSats”) and remote operations in space through advanced remote asset management. WA’s reputation as a credible player in the international space industry grew in August 2021 with the release of Binar-1, WA’s first locally manufactured spacecraft, from the International Space Station. The Binar Space Program has six more launches planned over the next year. For context, only 15 Australian-built spacecraft have ever flown to space.

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy (left) and Consul General Siriana Nair (center) see a ‘Binar’ cube satellite at Curtin University’s Space Science and Technology Center, October 2022. Photo courtesy of U.S. Consulate Perth

The industry-led and WA government-funded Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) promotes Perth as a global center for remote operations in space. The technologies in question were largely developed by WA’s resources industry, which has introduced automated machinery and remote-controlled processes at mines and offshore oil and LNG fields, as well as technologies from self-driving trucks and trains to remote operations centers that monitor processes from thousands of miles off-site. The WA government invested $1 million into AROSE to develop a lunar rover concept as part of NASA’s Moon to Mars Demonstrator Feasibility Grants program. WA’s space capabilities mean there are regular U.S. visitors, developments and opportunities relating to space.” OR “ConGen Perth monitors and supports U.S-WA space coaoperation, including liaising with industry, researchers and visitors.

As WA’s leading role on global issues like securing critical minerals supply chains grows, ConGen Perth will continue to provide opportunities to advance the U.S.-Australia Alliance, report on WA’s world-class resources sector; promote business-to-business connections; provide American citizen services to the approximately 30,000 American citizens in the state; deepen military-to-military and space cooperation; and contribute to addressing climate change.

Elena Augustine is the political, economic, and public diplomacy officer and Hayley Roman is the media affairs director at Consulate General Perth.

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