[11] The reported changes were put into place in an effort to reject all affiliations to other political organisations from the other states, and expansion of the party's platform.

[18] However, falling wheat prices after 1908 and a drought in 1911–1912 caused major hardship to the newly established farmers, especially in the eastern wheatbelt which had lower rainfall, less capital and less preparation.

This led to some resentment towards the Liberal government then in power, and especially towards Minister for Lands James Mitchell, who had adopted a particularly enthusiastic attitude towards settlement in such areas.

[19] Two new events on the horizon brought things to a head—the 1911 state election which produced the first majority Labor government in Western Australia (including several members from agricultural areas); and an attempt by the Rural Workers Union to bring agricultural workers into the Commonwealth arbitration system to regulate their wages and working conditions.

[20][21] At its second conference in June 1912, held at Perth Technical School, the FSA decided to adopt a political platform and elect members to Parliament who were pledged to support it.

The FSA's leadership at this time was dominated by conservative established farmers, and particularly by its founding president Alexander Monger, a former member of the Liberal party.

However, the association had also been highly successful in attracting Labor supporters, so the entire question of the platform was referred to a special conference held in March 1913.

Strongly influenced by eastern Wheatbelt representatives, the conference was militant in tone and decided by a vote of 103 to 17 to form a country party in both State and Federal parliaments.

Their initial view of the FSA had been positive—federal member for Swan and former Premier (1890–1901), Sir John Forrest, believed the movement "would be of great use to the Producers, add to the strength of Liberalism and prove advantageous in every way".

The FSA's first meetings were at the Liberal League's clubrooms in Perth, and its Executive was dominated by well-established families from the established farming districts around York and Beverley, epitomising the conservative values of pre-1890s Western Australian society.

The emergence of a three-party contest with a new Country Party remaining "entirely distinct from and not allied with any other Party" and representing the political interests of farmers, a compromise that both the Executive and the membership wholeheartedly supported, resulted in sharp criticism from key Liberals such as Forrest, who engaged in a two-month correspondence with Monger until April 1914 attempting to convince him to rejoin the FSA to the Liberal cause, and State opposition leader Frank Wilson.

The party had to act carefully, as Labor had committed to an agricultural relief programme and the Executive was wary of upsetting the radical eastern wheatbelt branches.

On 30 September 1915, the seat of Roebourne, previously held by Joseph Gardiner, was declared vacant and was won at a by-election two months later by the Liberal Party, leaving Labor with no majority in the Assembly.

During this time in March 1949, James Mann, the member for Beverley, led a breakaway faction out of the Country Party, and initially sat as an Independent.

However the National Country Party's reduced position led to public discussions about establishing a clear separate identity from the Liberals.

Tensions grew over rural and education issues and, ultimately, milk quotas for dairy producers leading to a split.

[32] At the 1977 state election the Liberals gained seats while the National Country Party stood still, resulting in the latter losing one of its three ministerial posts.

The schism was triggered over a political donation of $200,000 from mining entrepreneur Lang Hancock through the party president from which offers of campaign assistance were made to parliamentary officeholders to vote to oust Old.

Court's strong domination of conservative politics had resulted in the National Country Party having only minor influence and the split galvanised demands for greater independence.

The National Country Party was by this stage $1.25 million in debt, largely due to the failure of a grocery store it had entered to raise funds.

[36][37] The conservative parties were in opposition through most of the 1980s with Labor yet to suffer from major fallout from the WA Inc fiasco and the 1987 stock market crash.

In 1989 Liberal opposition leader Barry MacKinnon was pushing for the Nationals to help block supply in the Upper House to topple the Dowding government.

In February the following year, Cowan and the Nationals had reversed their stance and decided to block supply in a bid to present themselves as a decisive and consistent conservative force.

At the 2005 state election the Nationals retained the same number of seats but the Labor Party retained power and came close to a majority in the Legislative Council and successfully implemented the ending of a malapportionment that had given the non-metropolitan parts of the state fewer voters per electorate than in the metropolitan parts; the National Party had long benefited from this arrangement.

[44] Grylls sought to reposition the Nationals, taking them beyond their traditional rural base and making a greater appeal to regional Western Australia.

Together with three independents, the Nationals ultimately supported the Liberals led by Colin Barnett to form an informal governing coalition after several days of negotiations.

Unlike traditional non-Labor Coalition governments, however, the National members only had limited collective responsibility, and reserved "the right to exempt [themselves] from Cabinet and vote against an issue on the floor of the Parliament if it's against the wishes of the people [they] represent.

In the 2010 federal election, Tony Crook won the Australian House of Representatives seat of O'Connor for the National Party of Western Australia from long-term Liberal incumbent Wilson Tuckey.

Fellow Goldfields resident Dave Grills won a seat in the multi-member Mining and Pastoral Region upper house electorate, along with Jacqui Boydell.

While the statistics reflect exact counts, it may not be possible to strictly compare vote percentages over time due to the number of uncontested seats prior to 1971.