The earliest civil disturbances were actions by the local indigenous population dealing with European settlers.
Demonstrations and protests are linked to a range of issues over time.
In the convict era, there were collective actions by convicts. Organised labour had to deal with issues on the Goldfields in the 1890s and 1900s with demonstrations and protest actions, while in Perth these occurred in the 1960s and 1970s over war and race issues.
There are some incidents in the 19th century where the causes are less clear. A restricted press and limited means of some groups to gain avenues to express their grievances in a dominated society, means that some disturbances were suppressed literally and disguised in the public record.
In some cases some smaller disturbances (alcohol-related fights) in the Goldfields (Kalgoorlie, Boulder and Coolgardie for instance) would not be considered full-scale riots, but nonetheless the charges found either in newspaper or police records would suggest a significance beyond a simple incidence of drunken behaviour.
Incidents
Many of these events/incidents are difficult to find from direct references, and require diligent examination of sources. Some are unlikely to show up in newspaper reports at all. In some cases incidents need checking and more accurate dating.
1853 - Convicts on 'Phoebe Dunbar' - "a disturbance of a rather serious nature" while at anchor.[2]
1854 - Convicts riot over religious issue - Fremantle Prison. Prisoners revolted when mass was cancelled due to the suspension of the Roman Catholic Chaplain for calling the Protestant Chaplain "an Agent of the Devil" during a sermon. Five prisoners received 100 lashes each as an example.[3]
^Stannage, Tom; Perth (W.A. : Municipality). Council (1979), The people of Perth : a social history of Western Australia's capital city, Carroll's for Perth City Council, ISBN978-0-909994-86-0
^"Domestic Sayings and Doings". The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News. 23 September 1853. p. 3. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
^"Domestic Sayings and Doings". The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News. 13 January 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
^"Ten-Foot Ned". Kalgoorlie Miner. Vol. 4, no. 974. Western Australia. 19 January 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 18 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^Webb, Martyn J. (Martyn Jack); Webb, Audrey; Kalgoorlie-Boulder (W.A.). Council; Webb, Martyn; Webb, Audrey (1993), Golden destiny : the centenary history of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, Published by the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder as a contribution to the centenary celebration of 1993, ISBN978-0-646-14254-8
^"TRAMWAY STRIKE". The Examiner. Vol. LXIX, no. 204. Tasmania, Australia. 27 August 1910. p. 8 (DAILY). Retrieved 18 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"RACIAL RIOT AT BROOME". The West Australian. Vol. XXX, no. 3, 964. Western Australia. 14 December 1914. p. 8. Retrieved 18 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^Yiannakis, John N; Hesperian Press (1996), Megisti in the antipodes : Castellorizian migration and settlement to W.A., 1890-1990, Hesperian Press, ISBN978-0-85905-218-4
^p.228 ofOliver, Bobbie (1995), War and peace in Western Australia : the social and political impact of the Great War, 1914-1926, University of Western Australia Press, ISBN978-1-875560-57-8
^"WESTERN AUSTRALIA". The West Australian. Vol. XLI, no. 7, 126. Western Australia. 30 March 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 18 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^Gifford, Peter (2005), No winners : the British seamen's strike of 1925, Hesperian Press, ISBN978-0-85905-355-6
^Bolton, G. C. (Geoffrey Curgenven); Edith Cowan University (1992), A fine country to starve in (New ed.), University of Western Australia Press in association with Edith Cowan University, ISBN978-1-875560-36-3
^S Wilson, Police perceptions of protest: the Perth "Treasury riot" of March 1931, Labour history no 52, May 1987, pp. 63-74
^many injured, 2 killed see A J Barker, Yanks in Western Australia: The impact of United States Servicemen in Gregory, Jenny (Jennifer Anne) (2000), On the homefront : Western Australia and World War II ([New ed.] ed.), University of Western Australia Press, ISBN9781875560905, retrieved 24 November 2016 p. 126 and appendix II. see also Barker, Anthony J; Jackson, Lisa, 1970- (1996), Fleeting attraction : a social history of American servicemen in Western Australia during the Second World War, University of Western Australia Press, ISBN978-1-875560-74-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"NATIVE QUESTION". The West Australian. Vol. 62, no. 18, 706. Western Australia. 27 June 1946. p. 11. Retrieved 18 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.