Western Australia is the state where Estonians first set foot in Australia – long before the country was officially mapped. It is believed that four sailors as part of Willem Vlamingh’s 1696 expedition were Estonian and their exploration of the Swan River area would make them amongst the first European visitors to what is now the site of Perth.

WA was relatively late to be colonised (1829) and as a large, harsh and resource rich State, drew in new arrivals to Australia to work in the expanding agricultural and mining industries. Estonians were no exception. Like all of Australia, the World War 2 displacement saw the greatest number of arrivals which resulted in Eesti Tare being established in the suburb of Bayswater in 1966 along with other pockets of Estonian community ranging from a basketball team (Kalev) to hosting radio programs on 6NR.

However, with the iron curtain preventing free flow between Estonia and Australia, the local Estonian population aged, and with their offspring assimilating into the broader Western Australian community, the WA Estonian hub became less frequented and eventually unsustainable. Eesti Tare was sold in the nineties and there was a gap in Estonian cultural traditions being maintained within the community. In the 2000s, increasing numbers of young Estonians began to visit and the Honorary Consul to WA started holding events such as Independence Day and Jaanipaev, rebuilding Estonian community over nearly 20 years.

The strong WA economy continued to draw Estonian arrivals to make Western Australia their home – whether temporarily for backpacking work or permanently – and a new critical mass of Estonians in WA has blossomed.