Swania (Differently)

Commonwealth of Swania
Timeline: Differently
OTL equivalent: Western Australia (minus Port Hedland)
Commonwealth of SwaniaTimeline: Differently ; OTL equivalent: Western Australia (minus Port Hedland)
Flag	Coat of arms
	Motto: ; "Cygnis Insignis"; (EN: "Bearing the Sign of the Swan")
Capital; (and largest city)	Swan River City
Official languages	English
Ethnic groups	(Not counting the undocumented migrants); 72.7% White Swanian; 12.4% Asian Swanian; 6.1% Aboriginal; 3.2% Bahian (all races); 2.7% Australite (all races); 1.3% African Swanian; 1.6% other
Religion	68.5% Christianity; -46.2% Protestantism (official); -16.8% Roman Catholicism; -3.4% Orthodox; -2.1% other Christian; 14.7% No religion; 7.2% East Asian religions; 9.6% other
Demonym(s)	Swanian
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Legislature	Parliament of Swania
Establishment
Area
Population
Currency	Swanian Pound (£) (CSW)
Drives on the	left

Swania, officially the Commonwealth of Swania and colloquially Western Australia or Westralia, is a nation on the western part of the Australian continent. It is bordered by Las Bahías, Aṉangu, and Mystras Australis to the east, Sophiahafen to the northwest, the Indian Ocean to the north, and the Southern Ocean to the south. It is the largest nation on the continent. As of 2017, Swania has about 32.6 million inhabitants of whom the vast majority (72 percent) live in the south-west corner; it is the second-most populous country in Oceania and the 53rd-most populous country worldwide. With a surface area of 2,402,503 square kilometers, it is Australia's and Oceania's largest country and the world's eleventh-largest country.

Settled by England as a penal colony for prisoners captured during the English Civil War, Swania would be properly consolidated into a colony by 1740. Swania achieved responsible government in 1890 and total independence in the 20th century. Today, its economy mainly relies on mining, oil and gas, services and construction; it is the largest iron ore producer in the world. The national bird is the Black swan (Cygnus atratus).

Swania is a member of the League of Nations, PANTO, the Australian Council (AC), the Oceania Union (OU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.

History[]

Pre-colonial history[]

The first modern human inhabitants of Australia arrived from the north about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Over thousands of years they eventually spread across the whole landmass. These Indigenous Australians were long established throughout Western Australia by the time European explorers began to arrive in the early 17th century. Australia as a continent would be discovered by Byzantine explorer Eutropius Lascaris. Lascaris would land in what would become the modern day nation of Swania on June 5th, 1601.

Byzantine claims (1603–42)[]

Upon the discovery of the continent, the Byzantines claimed the entire landmass as part of the territory of New Anatolia. With Dutch arrival in Australia in 1610, the Byzantines would forfeit these claims and refocus expansion on the west in what would become Swania. Despite these attempts at expansion, most development in New Anatolia would remain in the southern part of the continent in what would eventually become Mystras Australis. This was largely due to the desert terrain which made development unfavorable.

The Byzantine Empire would forfeit the claim to what would become to Swania in 1652 as the English began establishing penal colonies in the western part of the continent as the empire did not want to spend resources on controlling the convicts.

English settlement and penal colony (1651–1740)[]

At the conclusion of the English Civil War, over 80,000 Royalists were captured and imprisoned. while most prisoners went towards the North American colonies, the most dangerous criminals and political prisoners would be shipped across the ocean towards the western part of the Australian continent in order to keep them away from the mainland to prevent a counter-rebellion against Cromwell and in order to stake English claims in the region to prevent Spanish, Dutch, and Byzantine expansion.

Swan River City, Swania's eventual capital, would be established in 1829 by the non-convict elite of the penal colonies. With the constant growth of the penal colonies, the Swan River Colony would eventually be established in 1740 as a British colony.

Swan River Colony (1740–1890)[]

Formation and growth[]

Following its formation in 1740, the Swan River Colony began to expand beyond the function of a penal colony. The loss of the thirteen colonies in the American Revolution would lead to the United Kingdom refocusing much of its colonial development towards the Swan River Colony and the remnants of British North America. The population of the Swan River Colony would reach 1 million by 1800 with an influx of miners and ranchers coming to the colony. The industrial revolution would help drive even more people to the Swan River Colony throughout the early to mid 1800s with Swan River City developing into a major urban hub.

Continued growth and calls for autonomy[]

As the British Empire expanded, Swan RIver City would become the center for the British trade routes going through the Indian Ocean. These trade routes would result in the formation of a strong merchant middle class within the Swan River Colony largely concentrated in Swan River City. The emergence of a middle class also meant the emergence of a more educated population and greater calls for autonomy. As calls for independence grew more vocal throughout the 1880s, the British Parliament would consolidate the Swan River Colony into the Dominion of Swania on October 21st, 1890 which attained responsible government and a local parliament.

Dominion of Swania (1890–1948)[]

As Swania's population grew, so did the settlements expand further west and further away from Swan River City. This would lead to border conflicts with Mystras Australis. English settlements in Mystras Australis' eastern provinces would anger the government and lead to a diplomatic crisis ultimately resulting in Mystras Australis' entrance into the Great War and invasion of Swania.

Great War[]

Occupation of Mystras Australis[]

Mystras Australis would officially declare war on Swania on November 2nd, 1914 and invaded Swania through the Great George Desert. The Australite army under the command of general Alexius Bardas made progress in the grasslands of the George Desert, expelling Swanian settlers as they captured settlements in easten Swania. By early 1915, the front in the George Desert had stagnated as both sides struggled to break through in the vast expanse of the Great George Desert. Despite the stalemates in the desert, the Australite military made great advances along the southern coast of the continent. Around this time, a British naval fleet from India would be restationed to the Dominion of Swania in order to help defend it against the Australite invasion by blockading Mystras Australis in April of 1915. Despite the successes of the Australite military on land, the Australite navy was severely outmatched by the British-Swanian navy which destroyed a large portion of the Australite fleet within Theodora Harbor on June 7th, 1916.

Despite being outnumbered, Swania was able to successfully occupy Mystras Australis with the help of the British. June 7th would become known as Victory Day and is still celebrated in Swania.

Invasion of Sophiahafen[]

Upon the outbreak of the Great War, the Swanian military would almost immediately occupy the German port city of Sophiahafen in 1914 with only 3 casualties. Unlike Mystras Australis, the port city was easily occupied and was unable to mount any resistance due to being outnumbered by the Swanian military. The cutting off of Sophiahafen would cut off German supplies to German New Guinea, leading to the fall of New Guinea later that year in 1914.

British Hegemony on the Australian Continent[]

With the end of the Great War, British-Swanian hegemony was secured over the Australian continent and the Swanian economy boomed as a result. During this time the idea of an Australian continent unified under British rule was seeming more and more likely. The Dominion of Australia was a proposed nation state between the English-speaking nations of Swania, Melanesia, and Jamesland with the capital being based in Swania. Despite securing it's dominance on the continent, Swania found itself over-extended in attempting to occupy Mystras Australis and Mystras Australis remained in a constant state of military occupation and martial law.

With the outbreak of the Anglo-American war in 1923, the British took troops out of Eastern Swania to redirect them towards the frontlines of the war. As a result, the Swanian forces were overwhelmed by the Australite rebels and Swania lost control of Mystras Australis in 1926. The end of the occupation of Mystras Australis also marked the end of any efforts to consolidate Australia into a single nation state.

Despite losing Mystras Australis, Swania would remain in control of Sophiahafen for decades to come with the annexation of Sophiahafen being recognized at the Treaty of Versailles.

JohnCurtin — John Curtin, Prime Minister of Swania (1936 - 1944)

Post-Anglo American War[]

With Vitalius Kerularios routing the Swanian military out of Mystras Australis, Swanian forces retreated through the harsh and vast expanse of the Great George desert. The rise of the Kerularios regime in Mystras Australis would create worry and panic amongst the Swanian government and general population of an all out war between Swania and Mystras Australis. Due to their defeat in the Anglo-American war, the British presence was significantly weakened leaving Swania in a state of vulnerability.

During this period of tension, the troop presence at the border of the Great George Desert would increase significantly. Prime Minister John Curtin in a speech to Parliament in 1942 famously described the conflict as an "ideological struggle between Swanian Democracy and thuggish Australite dictatorship". During the premiership of Curtin, a series of military bases were constructed in the Great George Desert which would be known as the Curtin Line. The fall of the Kerularios regime in 1950 would reduce fears of war between Swania and Mystras Australis and both nations would eventually establish proper diplomatic ties by 1960 after Mystras Australis would join the Australian Economic Community.

Commonwealth of Swania (1948–present)[]

Australian Economic Community + Economic Boom[]

Though mining had been apart of Swania's economy since the 1800s, it was largely hoarded by the British who used the iron for naval construction. Gaining independence in 1948 allowed for Swania to export iron to any nation it chose to. By the 1960s, Swania had arisen as one of the largest iron ore producers in the world and through market liberalization and the Australian Economic Community began exporting its iron all across the world. As a result, the mining industry boomed and the impoverished eastern parts of the country began to prosper.

As a result of this massive iron production, many of the iron-focused public works product throughout the Australian continent from the high rises in French Australia's Louisbourg to the railroads of Mystras Australis and New Holland can trace the iron back to Swania.

Bahían Revolution and border crisis[]

Since gaining independence from Spain 1898, the Republic of Las Bahías was ruled by a series of British-backed dictators who seceded large portions of the Bahian economy over to British corporations. In exchange, Swania and Las Bahías enjoyed friendly relations with one another. Though these friendly relations came at the expense of the Bahían population which suffered under severe income inequality and poverty. It was this poverty which would result in the Bahian Revolution of 1955 in which Soviet-backed Communist revolutionaries would overthrow the Bahían government of Emilio Alvarado who would flee into Swania.

With the British-backed Alvarado government overthrown and British companies kicked out of Las Bahías, Swania would enter into a period of tension with the newly formed Proletarian State of Las Bahías and a new border crisis similar to the one with Mystras Australis just a decade prior had begun.

Unlike the border standoff with Mystras Australis, the Swanian-Bahían border crisis was much more deadly. Between 1955 until 1978, over 5 Swanian soldiers and 7 Bahían soldiers died while defending the border during border skirmishes. The Swanian-Bahían border conflict would become an unofficial proxy war of the Cold War with the Soviet Union backing Las Bahías and the western coalition supporting Swania. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1975 would greatly destabilize Las Bahías eventually culminating in the Bahían Civil War in 1988 and subsequent Swanian invasion.

Invasion of Las Bahías (1990–2000)[]

With the outbreak of Civil War in Las Bahías, Bahían refugees began flooding into Swania to avoid the violence and refugee camps were established in the northern parts of the country in late 1988. Due to the refugee crisis and reported atrocities being committed by the regime. After fierce debate in parliament, the parliament voted to intervene in Las Bahías on April 14th, 1990 with the first forces crossing the border on May 28th. With the Bahían military fractured into pro-Government and various rebel groups, the Swanian military marched across the Bahían desert effectively unopposed.

After 2 months of successful advances, Swanian forces would face a serious assault in the city of Nueva Madrid by communist-alligned troops, killing 6 soldiers and injuring many more. As Swanian forces began closing in on Puerto del Sol, the casualties became greater. After a year of fighting, Puerto del Sol would be captured by Swanian-Rebel troops and the Proletarian State of Las Bahías would formally be dissolved with a Swanian backed interim government taking control.

As Iraq's civil war rages, is containing ISIS enough? (CBS News, 2014) — Swanian soldiers firing upon socialist rebels on the outskirts of Nueva Madrid (1996)

Despite victory over the socialist government in 1991, Swania would remain in Las Bahías because many of the socialist government's forces refused to step down and a socialist insurgency would begin in late 1991, forcing the Swanian government to send an additional 15,000 troops into occupied Las Bahías. Prime Minister Andrew Peacock would call on the Australian Council and the Pacific Ocean Nations Treaty Organization to support Swania in their intervention. The Democratic Republic of Las Bahías would be established on May 15th, 1995 as a Swanian-backed parliamentary republic.

Throughout much of the late 1990s, the Swanian government would engage in nation building and helped build up the Bahían military to help combat the Socialist insurgents. By 1997, the people of Swania had grown weary of the war and anti-interventionist sentiment grew. Many believed that since the socialist government had been toppled and socialist resistance leader Juan Magrina captured, the calls for withdrawal became universal. As the issue became more politically unpopular, the Swanian military officially withdrew from Las Bahías on February 15th, 2000. Prime Minister Richard Court would declare "mission accomplished", however he would lose re-election in 2002 due to many Swanians believing he prolonged necessary involvement in the Bahían Civil War. Many also believed that his decision to accept nearly 200,000 Bahían refugees alienated his conservative base, leading to the Conservative Party's downfall in 2002.

Andrew Peacock, Prime Minister of Swania during the Sophiahafen Crisis

Sophiahafen independence (1994)[]

sThe city of Sophiahafen, having been under Swanian administration for 80 years, saw a surge of support for independence at the outbreak of the Swanian invasion of Las Bahías. This independence movement was largely due to the drafting of 5,000 Sophiahafener men in 1992. While some burned their draft cards, others took to the streets to protest and riot. On August 12th, 1992; Sophiahafener protestors managed to block off and shut down the port of Sophiahafen, the largest trading port in the Indian Ocean. This shutdown would temporarily damage global trade and the stock market. Following the Independence Party's majority in the city council in the 1993 elections. Following this pro-seperatist upset, Andrew Peacock agreed to grant Sophiahafen independence in order to keep morality high in the rest of Swania and not avoid a diplomatic fallout and sanctions from the Germanic League.

Prime Minister Peacock's decision to concede to the separatists was met with controversy at the time. Many within his own Conservative party felt he had sold away Swania's biggest port for nothing and made Swania look weak and believed he had led Swania to surrender to the Germanic League. Others in the Social Democratic Party and pro-Peacock conservatives believed it was the right thing to do as riots and a potential separatist uprising would've undermined the war effort in Las Bahías and Swania's stability. This polarizing decision would result in Peacock's downfall and his loss in the 1995 general election.

21st century[]

After withdrawing from Las Bahías in 2000, Prime Minister Richard Court would be voted out of office for prolonging Swanian involvement in Las Bahías. Christine Milne of the Social Democratic Party would be elected Prime Minister in the 2002 general elections and would pursue a policy of non-interventionism, scaling down the budget of the Swanian military and instead using the money to further bolster Swania's welfare state and programs. The welfare programs pursued by the Milne Government were generally viewed as favorable by the larger public and working class, though met opposition from Conservatives within parliament and the Swanian middle class who viewed the programs as wasteful spending and handouts to the poor. Despite opposition, Christine Milne was able to stay in power from 2002 until 2013, the longest continuous tenure of a Swanian Prime Minister.

From 2013 until 2019, the Conservative Party would rule Swania under the leadership of Scott Morrison until the Social Democratic Party would regain power in the 2019 elections under the leadership of Mark McGowan.

Politics[]

Prince Amadeo of Belgium — Richard V, King of Swania

The politics of Swania take place within a framework of a unitary, parliamentary, representative democratic monarchy, in which the head of State is the monarch who appoints the Governor-General as vice-regal representative while the Prime Minister acts as the head of government and is indirectly elected by the Swanian people. The current monarch, Richard V, reigns under the official title of King of Swania, having served in that position since he ascended the throne in 2014.

Western Australia was granted self-government in 1890 with a bicameral Parliament located in Swan River, consisting of the National Assembly (or lower house), which has 59 members; and the National; Council (or upper house), which has 36 members. Suffrage is universal and compulsory for citizens over 18 years of age.

Demographics[]

General[]

According to the 2021 estimate, Swania had a relatively young population. About 22.5% of the population was under 14 years old, 65.8% was between 14 and 65 years old and 11.7% was over 65 years old. Median age was 32.5. Fertility rate in 2022 was 1.96 and 2.02 in 2023. Age structure over the years:

Year	%<14	%15-65	%>65	TFR
1950	25.9	65.4	9.5	2.3
1960	26.7	64.5	8.8	2.4
1970	29.2	62.8	8.0	2.6
1980	31.0	61.3	7.7	2.7
1990	30.2	61.7	8.1	2.6
2000	26.5	61.8	9.7	2.3
2010	23.8	64.4	10.8	2.1
2020	22.5	65.8	11.7	2.0

The 2020 census defines that a person is as White Swanian mainly if they have either Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, Italian and German ancestry (other European ancestries like French, Swedish, Portuguese and Russian are also included).

Ethnicity[]

White Swanians[]

The Swanian 2021 census defines that a person is as White Swanian mainly if they have either Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, Italian and German ancestry (other ancestries like French, Swedish, Portugese and Russian are also included).

Italian Swanians[]

A sub-group of White Swanians, they mostly live in the province of Kimberley (which population has 31.4% full Italian ancestry). They are a mix of both Southern and Northern Italians that came to Swania in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Provinces[]


Map number	Province Name	Population	Capital
1	Esperance	4,302,000	Oldfield
2	Gascoyne	4,513,000	Lyndon
3	Gold Fields	2,718,000	Victor Bay
4	Kimberley	5,332,000	Northport
5	Leonora	1,658,000	Jilbadji
6	Perth	8,297,000	Swan River City
7	Pilbara	2,097,000	Karratha
8	Wheabelt	2,389,000	Canning
9	Wiluna	1,361,000	Gibson Junction