White Western Australia

At the time of Federation Western Australia had several small but important Asian communities. In the Goldfields the Afghan community with their camels provided vital transportation services. Chinese and Japanese communites could also be found, although they were discriminated against and discouraged from participating in mining.  Around Perth Chinese market gardens began to be established - it represented one of the areas of business allowed the Chinese.  The others included laundries, trading companies, furniture making, and domestic service.