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1929
 In October 1929 more than a quarter of the population of Perth crammed the city's streets to watch the centenary parade. It was the biggest community event in the history of the State and the biggest display of local patriotism since the victory parade celebrating the end of the First World War some ten years before.
While the twenty-fifth anniversary of Federation in 1926 had passed almost
unnoticed in Western Australia, the centenary of the founding of the Swan
River Colony was celebrated with energy and enthusiasm. Huge crowds cheered
the passing cavalcade of military bands, vehicles, sporting bodies, social
clubs, community groups and some 48 floats representing a range of historical
scenes, displays of wildflowers, primary produce and the State's mining
industry. The parade was nearly two and a half kilometres in length, and
took an hour to pass any given spot. It was a reflection of local pride
in the achievements of the pioneers who established the colony on the Swan
River and in the State's role in feeding and clothing the British Empire.
Few among the crowds along St George's Terrace could have imagined that
within five years they would vote in overwhelming numbers to secede from
the Commonwealth of Australia. The federal government was a remote institution
about which local politicians and public figures like the editor of the
Sunday Times regularly complained, but there was little to suggest
that secession could become a popular issue for ordinary people. How did
it happen?
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