Historical Australian Towns: Bunbury, WA: Faces the Indian Ocean

Bunbury, Western Australia, is known as the City of Three Waters, as it faces the Indian Ocean and is also situated on the shores of Koombana Bay and Leschenault Inlet.

As the largest regional city in Western Australia, Bunbury is a place of diverse history, interesting people and rich stories.

The Noongar Aboriginal People

Aboriginal people have lived on the Australian continent for thousands of years, probably landing here whilst searching for hunting and fishing grounds.

The Elaap Wardandi Noongar people have lived around Bunbury (Koombana or Koombarnup) for thousands of years. (Bibulmun/Piblemen people: Bates (1985) used the appellative: Bibbulmen to refer to all Noongar groups.

Modern humans reached Asia by 70,000 years ago. Aboriginal Australians probably landed in the northern part of Australia at least 65,000 years ago. These groups likely, interbed with Homo erectus, which had already been in Asia for at least 1.5 million years. The Denisovans, another extinct group, also inhabited this region and DNA evidence shows they interbred with modern humans. Melanesians and Aboriginal Australians carry about 3-5 % of Denisovan DNA.

During the coldest period of the last ice age, about 20,000 years ago, the sea level around Australia was about 120 metres below its present level. By 13,000 years ago, the sea level rose to around 70 metres below the present level. And one thousand years later, the sea was about 50 metres below present.

New Guinea and Australia were joined together in a landmass called Sahul, which separated by rising sea levels about 8,000 years. The disappearance of the land bridge isolated New Guinean and Aboriginal populations.

Sahul a technical name for the continent comprising mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, Seram, and neighbouring islands

Population groups from New Guinean and Mamanwa (Philippines) and other parts of Oceania are related populations, which diverged from Australian Aboriginal people about 36,000 years ago. Other genetic evidence shows that migration to Australia from the south of today’s India occurred about 4,000 years ago.

Corroboree with representatives from Gingin, Kellerberrin. Victoria Plains, Southern Cross, Guildford, Bunbury and BroomeWestern Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Wednesday 25 December 1907

Stone tools became more sophisticated about 4500 years ago, about the same time as the dingo appears in the fossil record. It is thought that the tool technology was either introduced from Indian arrivals or a result of climate change.

Megafauna, which were giant birds, reptiles, marsupials and animals like Diprotodon (meaning in Greek "two forward teeth"), became extinct in the same rapid timeframe—approximately 46,000 years ago. Scientists debate the causes of this extinction, but hunting and the use of fire seem to be significant.

Aboriginal hunter-gatherers', mostly lived in small communities and had low population densities. Labour was generally divided by gender, with women gathering wild plants and men fishing and almost always doing the hunting.

Animistic religions (the belief that everything has a spirit: trees, birds, rainstorms, rocks) were the norm for most hunter-gatherers worldwide.

Typically, children living in hunter-gatherer societies had relaxed childhoods with plenty of affection from their extended families.

The work of Aboriginal hunter-Gatherers' was varied, requiring skill, knowledge and intelligence.

Interestingly, Noongar people hunted and gathered food according to six seasons (weather patterns) called: Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang.

Cloaks (bookas) and bags (chootas) made from animal skins were used by Noongar people. And for ceremonial occasions, emu or cockatoo feathers and animal fur decorated the head. Ochre was used on the body during ceremonial or important occasions.

Western Australian Shields and Spear Throwers. Aboriginals of Australia. Image from page 96 of "The commonwealth of Australia; federal handbook, prepared in connection with the eighty-fourth meeting of the British association for the advancement of science, held in Australia, August, 1914" (1914)

A site in today's Pioneer Park, Bunbury, was identified as being related to ancient Noongar burial grounds. This recognition led to 3,000 shrubs being planted to represent the six Noongar seasons, and a path was constructed in the shape of a serpent (Dreamtime).

Sacred sites exist around Bunbury. An area of the paperbark wetlands was for "women's business", and the Gelorup Corridor contains a mens' site. Men and women had their own particular spiritual and sacred objects and sites.

The Preston River in the region is a mythological site that Noongar people believed was created by the Dreamtime spirit Ngarngungudditj Walgu (Hairy Faced Serpent). Many believe that he still lives there.

Native corroboree, Geraldton Express and Murchison and Yalgo Goldfields Chronicler (WA : 1896 - 1905), Friday 26 March 1897

Europeans

The first known ship to enter Koombana Bay at Bunbury was the Dutch ship Elburg in 1658.

Nicolas Baudin, aboard his ship Geographe, arrived at Koombana Bay, which he called, Port des Barques (port of the small boats) on March 11, 1803, and an officer, Bonnefoi de Montbazin, explored the area in a longboat resulting in the first plan of the bay and the lower estuary. Baudin named the area "Port Leschenault".

News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 3 April 1952

Nicolas Baudin, aboard his ship Geographe, arrived on March 11, 1803,News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Thursday 3 April 1952

While the coast around Bunbury was seen and explored by various maritime expeditions prior to English settlement: The French, Dutch and English and American whalers had been in the region, it was the persistent rumours of French interest in the west coast of Australia, which led to the British establishing a convict outpost from Botany Bay at Albany in 1826.

After this, the Swan River Colony was established in 1829. And soon, there were settlements at Fremantle, Perth and Guildford.

In November 1829, Dr Alexander Collie and Lt. Preston RN left Fremantle in two whaleboats and explored the coast around Port Leschenault (later Bunbury).

In March 1830 a military post was established at Port Leschenault, due to fears of Aboriginal people "attacking" settlers. No settlers arrived within six months, and there were no Aboriginal attacks.

Frederick Ludlow, an early colonial settler in Western Australia, is credited with the discovery of the Capel River in 1834. The river's name, however, honours Capel Carter Brockman, a daughter of John Bussell.

Lieutenant Henry William St Pierre Bunbury then travelled overland to Port Leschenault from Pinjarra (a town in the Peel region of WA) in December 1836 and a plan for a township was made. In his honour, Governor Stirling renamed Port Leschenault "Bunbury" in 1837.

Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 29 November 1936

Land Grants

In 1838 land was granted to James Stirling and a large farm established.

The first settlers in the area, John and Helen Scott arrived 1838. They established Eelup Farm (on the site of the large Eelup Roundabout) on the banks of the Preston River, named for the Aboriginal people of the area.

The First Settlers at Bunbury : Mr. and Mrs. John Scott, who arrived in the State from Scotland in 1830 and settled at Bunbury in 1835. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 14 November 1929

During the 1840s, three American whaling ships were wrecked in Koombana Bay at Bunbury. The Samuel Wright (1840) and North America (1840) lie close together beneath a car park in Bunbury. Read here

The first hotel licences at Bunbury were granted in the 1840s.

Leschenault Homestead and its related buildings, located near the Bunbury Inner Harbour, were built between 1840 and 1870, for William Pearce Clifton (Known as Pearce).

"Pearce's Store with its sailcloth and tarpaulin roof. The farmyard is on the left. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 24 March 1927

By 1841 there were 400 settlers living around Bunbury.

In 1841 Bunbury town lots were surveyed by W. H. Ommaney and Bunbury opened for public selection. By 1842 there were about 16 buildings.

The Minningup property was first surveyed in 1843 for James Kay Child, a merchant who arrived in the colony in 1841. The name "Minningup" is Aboriginal for "meeting place". Child was involved in Whaling and brewing "Colonial Sugar Beer".

Thomas Watson in 1846 was contracted to carry the monthly mail on a new track between Albany and Perth, via Australind, Bunbury,

Letter carriers were first tried between Fremantle and Bunbury in 1849.

The school opened by Mr Ommaney in 1850 became a government school in September 1850.

Commercial and farming interests struggled until after 1850, with the arrival of significant convict labour. (over 9,500 convicts were transported to Western Australia)

Whaling (the hunting of whales for meat, bone, blubber and oil) was one of the early industries at Bunbury.

An 1850 report from the Bunbury station states that Jack Crow, an Aboriginal man working as an oarsman, was receiving three meals a day, a payment of 2 shillings and sixpence as soon as a whale was grounded and a further sum of twenty shillings (£1) at the end of the season.

Old Picton Inn, a "wattle and daub" dwelling, was built on the northern bank of the Preston River, from 1850, by James Thompson Lawrence.

Old Picton Inn, Bunbury WA, Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 29 November 1936

A Military Village

The Comptroller General of Convicts wrote in December 1851:

"At Bunbury also, a military village has been formed under your Excellency’s sanction. At the station, nine allotments have been marked off for a small pensioner village. These have been cleared by the ticket-of-leave men and comfortable stone cottages erected on five of them,......"

Situated on Stephen Street, near the edge of the lagoon, Bunbury's first hospital was established as part of the Convict Depot.

"We omitted to mention last week having received more than one communication from Bunbury correspondents, complaining of the want of a Medical Officer in that district. This subject has frequently been alluded to before, and we trust that no opportunity will be lost in supplying this, the most important, want that a country district can experience. In fact, how the Convict Depot at Bunbury is without medical attendance of any kind, we are at a loss to make out."
Inquirer (Perth, WA : 1840 - 1855), Wednesday 19 July 1854

Bunbury supplied three bushels of wheat to the historical London Exhibition of 1851.

The gaol in Bunbury was completed in 1852. The Military Barracks were situated on Prinsep and Wittenoom Streets.

Bunbury jetty, WA, Coolgardie Pioneer (WA : 1895 - 1901), Satu
rday 26 August 1899
The timber Jetty located at Bunbury Harbour, was originally built by convicts in 1864. After this, products produced in the area were exported, such as grain, wool and timber.

Bunbury had become an important port. The jetty, however, underwent several extensions reaching 1,800 metres.

Convict transportation to WA ceased in 1868.

The Mechanics Institute was built on the corner of Wittenoom and Wellington Street, in1868.

Pastoral industries and mining industries were thriving in the region, such as tin mining at Greenbushes (1888) and coal at Collie (1889). The first major gold discoveries were made in Western Australia in August 1885.

In 1877 the overland telegraph line was constructed which connected Western Australia with South Australia.

Between 1879 and 1885 the government funded the construction of railway lines that connected Perth and regional areas. Bunbury station was opened by Sir John Forrest on 14 November 1894 (line reached Bunbury in 1893).

In 1883 St Joseph's School was opened in Bunbury by three Sisters of Mercy.

1890s

Western Australia had become self-governing in late 1890. The Married Women's Property Act, No. 20 of 1892, entitled a woman to retain her own separate property upon marriage.

The 1890s WA gold rushes caused large influxes of prospectors from overseas and the local population grew. Bunbury also became a popular holiday destination for people from Perth and the goldfields.

Early retail development was focused around Victoria Street.

There were three royal commissions to inquire into the treatment of Aboriginal people in Western Australia in the period from 1880 – 1910.

Sisters of Mercy Convent Bunbury, WA, from 1897, W.A. Record (Perth, WA : 1888 - 1922), Saturday 10 December 1904

The original railway building at Bunbury was constructed in the 1880s. However, the railway had not been connected to Perth. On 14 November 1894, the first station opened as the terminus for the South Western Railway. A railway was built from Bunbury south-east to Boyanup in 1891.

Track layers, The Great Wester Railway, WA, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 21 November 1917

The Old Bunbury railway station was the main railway station for Bunbury from 1894 until 1996.

In 1896 Edward Crossley bought land on Stirling Street, Bunbury, and constructed a building at the front of the property and ironworks and foundry behind. The ground floor of the residence was used as a show room where iron products were displayed, such as beds, baths and other hardware items. This building was later extended and became known as the Red Mill Store.

The old District Hospital was located in the area where the Bunbury Public Library is today. The foundation stone for the hospital was laid in 1897.

Bunbury Council Chambers were built in 1897 and were remodelled and extended in 1935-36.

Bunbury Council Chambers were built in 1897, Argonaut (Perth, WA : 1899 - 1900), Saturday 28 October 1899

Bunbury Hospital, WA, was located in the area of today's Bunbury Library in the CBD. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 9 September 1898,

Aboriginal people in the Bunbury district, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 11 March 1898

Ramsay's Shop, Bunbury, WA, Clare's Weekly (Perth, WA : 1897 - 1899), Saturday 24 December 1898

Bunbury, Western Australia, 1899

1900s

At the turn of the century the population was about 3,000.

Bunbury was the first town in Western Australia to stop using kerosene fuel and use electric light for street lighting. The original electric power station was completed in November 1902 on the site of the old the Military Barracks (corner of Prinsep and Wittenoom Streets). Now demolished.

Sunday Best - Waiting to vote in the Federation Referendum, Bunbury, 1900, State Library of WA

Rose Hotel, Bunbury WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 18 January 1902

Extending the Bunbury Jetty, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 1 November 1902,

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal matters held in 1904 found many cases of abuse of Aboriginal people and their rights. Recommendations were made to protect Aboriginal people. However, the removal of Aboriginal children from their families, and the establishment of reserves and missions was legalised at this time.

Aboriginal camp, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 1 November 1902

Burlington Hotel, Victoria Street, Bunbury, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 14 November 1903

Hockey at Bunbury, Ladies V Gentlemen, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 10 October 1903

Bunbury City Band, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 28 September 1907

Bunbury, Western Australia. From; Glimpses of Australia : Souvenir for the United States Navy, August-September, 1908.Sydney : Government Printer, 1908. Special Collections

The South Bunbury Football Team, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 24 July 1909

Marching in the streets of Bunbury, Western Australia - 1909, Kaye

The arrival of the Governor at Bunbury WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 22 January 1910

A rake of coal for Bunbury leaving the Scottish Colliery Mine, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 29 November 1912

WWI

Studio portrait of 6059 Private (Pte) Edward Walter McKernan, 16th Battalion, of Bunbury, WA. A boatman prior to enlistment, Pte McKernan embarked on board HMAT Miltiades(A28) on 7 August 1916. He served in Belgium and France. On 11 April 1917 he was wounded and captured at Bullecourt. He died as a prisoner of war in a German military hospital at Valenciennes, France, on 13 June 1917. He was 25 years of age. AWM

Name: Philip Urquhart
Age: 21
Birth Year: abt 1893
Birth Place: Bunbury, Western Australia
Dossier Year Range: 1914-1920
Enlistment Place: Blackboy Hill, Western Australia
Served: 19Aug15-9 Oct19

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS ROLL OF HONOUR

1920s

Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 18 September 1921

John Forrest was born near Bunbury, in 1847. He was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 7 May 1925

Storm damage at Bunbury, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 29 July 1926

Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 26 June 1927

S S Newton loading wheat at Bunbury Jetty, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 24 March 1927

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 4 October 1928

BUNBURY CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS: Tableaux and Procession. (1929, November 14). Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954)

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 14 November 1929

Soldiers reunion at Bunbury, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 21 March 1929

The Chandler Boys' Farm and Roelands Native Mission Farm

The Chandler Boys' Farm was established in 1932 on a property at Seven Hills, in Roelands, near Bunbury. This was a privately-run training centre for unemployed boys aged over 14. The Chandler Boys' Farm closed in 1937, and the land was used from 1938 for the Roelands Native Mission Farm.

Boys at Chandler Boys Farm erecting mud huts, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 25 May 1933

Roelands Native Mission Farm was established in 1938, beginning as a farm for Aboriginal families. However, by 1941, it only catered for Aboriginal children. Roelands Native Mission Farm was closed in 1975, and a new facility, called Roelands Village, was opened. In 2013 renovations were undertaken to transform it into a "place of healing" and education.

West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Friday 5 May 1950,

1930s

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 20 November 1930

Manjimup and Warren Times (WA : 1927 - 1954), Thursday 6 March 1930

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 9 November 1933

Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 11 March 1934

Haywards Drapery, Bunbury WA, DON PUGH

The Council Chambers was remodelled in the Art Deco Style in 1936.

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 2 November 1939

Victoria Street, Bunbury WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 2 November 1939

The Court House was built in 1906 to replace an earlier, colonial built court house in Wittenoom Street. Bunbury Courthouse, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 2 November 1939

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 2 November 1939

1940s and WWII

West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Tuesday 5 March 1940

Bunbury WA, surf carnival, West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Tuesday 5 March 1940

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 9 January 1941

Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Saturday 7 June 1941

Light horse parade through Bunbury, WA, West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Wednesday 23 April 1941

Australia: Western Australia, Bunbury, 25 March 1942

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 28 March 1946

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 28 August 1941

South Western Times (Bunbury, WA : 1932 - 1954), Thursday 24 February 1944

Studio portrait of WX26698 Private (Pte) Keith Mort, 2/48th Battalion, of Bunbury, WA. A printing apprentice prior to enlistment, Pte Mort served in North Africa, New Guinea and Borneo. He was killed in action at Tarakan on 6 May 1945, aged 23 years. AWM

Surfing at Bunbury, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 1 March 1945

South Western Times (Bunbury, WA : 1932 - 1954), Thursday 4 April 1946,

South Western Times (Bunbury, WA : 1932 - 1954), Thursday 5 February 1948

Anzac Day, Bunbury, WA, South Western Times (Bunbury, WA : 1932 - 1954), Thursday 28 April 1949

1950s

By 1957 the population of Bunbury was approximately 10,800.

Bunbury, WA, in the 1950s, SLWA

Bunbury's, New Fire Engine, WA, South Western Times (Bunbury, WA : 1932 - 1954), Thursday 15 May 1952

West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Thursday 3 September 1953

1960s

Vietnam. 1966-06-18. Private Jeff Darby of Bunbury, WA, and the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), shovels dirt as he digs a weapon pit in a rubber plantation, on 6RAR's first operation against the Viet Cong. AWM

Bunbury Regional Hospital was opened by the Premier, Sir David Brand, in 1966.

On 3 March 1968, the Mayor of Bunbury, Dr Ernest Cosmo Manea, unveiled a memorial at the Centenary Gardens on the site of the first railway station at Bunbury in 1893.

1970s

Old Bunbury railway station - with 3 different style Westrail passenger buses - copy of pre-digital photo, User:JarrahTree

Bunbury Regional Prison, located in College Grove, a southern suburb of Bunbury, opened in February 1971.

Syd Jackson (born 1944) began playing football at the age of eight for Roelands Aboriginal Mission in Western Australia. He played first grade for Bunbury at 16 and then as a centreman for East Perth from 1961 to1967. He moved to Melbourne the following year.

1980s

In the 1980s, the Lord Forrest Hotel and the Bunbury Tower were built.

Bunbury is regarded as WA's "second city". The population of Bunbury-Geographe was in excess of 93 000 people as of 2016.

Around Bunbury

The old Bunbury Post Office, WA, was built in 1894 but was badly damaged in the Meckering earthquake

The state heritage listed Prince of Wales Hotel, Bunbury, Western Australia. Calistemon

Now known as Bon Marche, but formerly as Spencer’s Corner in 1898, this building was built by William Spencer, Bunbury WA

Bunbury Senior High School, WA, Photographs by Gnangarra

The Rose Hotel Constructed from 1863 to 1897, Bunbury's first hotel licences were granted in the 1840s. Initially a single-story Rose Hotel built on Victoria Street, Bunbury WA

The Red Mill Store, Bunbury WA

The Lyric Theatre, Bunbury WA, was opened on 3rd April 1905

Formerly Cronshaw's Manchester House, a two-storey Inter-War Functionalist style structure (with some Art Deco style detailing), Victoria St Bunbury, built from 1937

Convent of Mercy Group (former) Wittenoom Street, Bunbury, WA, Federation Gothic style. Constructed from 1897

Freemasons Hall, Wellington Lodge, Bunbury, WA, 74 Wittenoom Street is a single storey double volume rendered brick and corrugated iron building constructed in 1893

Constructed from 1896, former WA Ban, Bunbury WA.Two storey brick building with hipped roof in the Federation Free Classical style

Burlington Hotel, a two storey brick building with a verandah to one section of the Victoria Street , Bunbury WA, built from 1899 to 1936

Bunbury Council Chambers, Bunbury WA, were built in 1897 and were remodelled and extended in 1935-36

Austral Chambers was built in the Victorian Georgian style in 1912 for J E Hands, who was mayor of Bunbury, WA

Heritage house Bunbury, WA, DON PUGH

Hand's Building, Bunbury, Western Australia. In front of the building, the intersection of Wellington Street and Victoria Street can be seen, with the sandstone "Brother and Sister" sculpture in the centre of the intersection