'History of West Australia: A Narrative of Her Past together with Biographies of her Leading Men' was compiled by W.B. Kimberly over a period of two years, and was published in 1897. The first (and larger) section is a history of Western Australia from the discovery of Australia through to May of the year of publication (1897). It includes detailed chapters on the discovery of Australia, the aborigines, the foundation of the colony, the foundation of Perth and Fremantle, exploration, social conditions, condition of settlement, native troubles, pastoral pursuits, laws, depression, the convict system, representative and responsible government, public works and the goldfields. Photo pages are dispersed throughout the history narrative.
The second section is a biographical section of notable Western Australians. The information on each person is quite detailed usually covering several pages. It provides information on the roles these people played in the colony of Western Australia as well as their education, achievements and family. Each biography is accompanied by a portrait.
This detailed and comprehensive account of Western Australia's past and her leading men provide a wonderful, easy to read and interesting tool for local and family historians.
Originally produced by Archive CD Books Australia in 2005, this title has now been remastered and re-released, and includes better searching capability. This CD contains high quality scanned images of the whole of the original book, and has been bookmarked for easy navigation. Pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged and printed out if required.
