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The vote
 Western Australians went to the polls on 31 July 1900 to vote on whether the colony should federate with the five other Australian colonies. For the first time in the colony's history women over the age of twenty one were able to participate in the democratic process. As in many of the Australian colonies, Aborigines and non-Europeans were excluded from voting on the grounds of race. Chinese market gardeners, Japanese pearlers, tribal and urban Aborigines, and Afghan cameleers were all excluded from the referendum.
 With
96,065 electors on the roll, a total of 44,800 voted in favour of Federation
with just 19,691 opposed. Voting was not compulsory and nearly a third of
the electorate did not cast a ballot, however the two to one margin represented
a resounding victory for the 'Yes' campaign. The goldfields returned the
strongest vote in favour of Federation of more than twenty to one. Only
in the conservative, more established agricultural districts of the western
coast did the 'No' vote narrowly prevail.
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