, under Captain
Charles Fremantle, anchored off
Garden Island on 25 April 1829. On 2 May, Fremantle officially claimed for Britain the part of the continent then called
New Holland that was not already "included within the territory of
New South Wales" which at the time extended to
129th meridian east of
Greenwich. Ships carrying more civilian settlers began arriving in August, and on
King George IV's birthday, 12 August, the wife of the captain of
Sulphur, Helena Dance, standing in for James Stirling's wife Ellen Stirling, cut down a tree to mark the founding of
Perth. The holiday was celebrated as Foundation Day up until 2011; in 2012, it was renamed Western Australia Day as part of a series of law changes recognising Aboriginal Australians as the original inhabitants of Western Australia. In 2025, a review of Western Australia's public holidays resulted in the
Public and Bank Holidays Amendment Bill 2025, which proposes the addition and shifting of a number of public holidays, including moving Western Australia Day from June to the second Monday in November. The bill started proceeding through Parliament in late 2025; if the legislation passes the new date will not come into effect until 2028. ==References==