Bunbury is a coastal city in the Australian state of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

, approximately south of the state capital,

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. It is the state's third most populous city after Perth and Mandurah, with a population of approximately 75,000. Located at the south of the

Leschenault Estuary Leschenault Estuary is an estuarine lagoon that lies to the north of Bunbury, Western Australia. It had in the past met the Indian Ocean at the Leschenault Inlet, but that has been altered by harbour works for Bunbury, and the creation of The Cu ...

, Bunbury was established in 1836 on the orders of Governor James Stirling, and named in honour of its founder, Lieutenant (at the time) Henry Bunbury. A port was constructed on the existing natural harbour soon after, and eventually became the main port for the wider South West region. Further economic growth was fuelled by completion of the South Western Railway in 1893, which linked Bunbury with Perth. Greater Bunbury includes four

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phra ...

(the City of Bunbury and the shires of Capel, Dardanup, and Harvey), and extends between Yarloop in the north, Boyanup to the south and Capel to the southwest.

History

Pre-European history

The original inhabitants of Greater Bunbury are the

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Au ...

people. The people hunted and fished throughout the sub-region prior to the first European settlement in the 1830s. The area was originally known as "Goomburrup" before the arrival of Lt. Bunbury.

Early colonial period

The first registered sighting of Greater Bunbury was by French explorer Captain

Louis de Freycinet Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia. Biography He was born at ...

from his ship the ''Casuarina'' in 1803. He named the area Port Leschenault after the expedition's botanist, Leschenault de La Tour. The bay on Greater Bunbury's western shores was named ''Geographe'' after another ship in the fleet. In 1829, Dr Alexander Collie and Lieutenant Preston explored the area of Bunbury on land. In 1830 Lieutenant Governor Sir James Stirling visited the area and a military post was subsequently established; it only lasted six months. The area was renamed Bunbury by the Governor in recognition of Lieutenant

Henry William St Pierre Bunbury Colonel Henry William St Pierre Bunbury CB (2 September 1812 – 18 September 1875) was a British Army officer who served for periods in Australia, South Africa, and India. Early life Bunbury was the son of Lt.-Gen. Sir Henry Bunbury, 7th Baro ...

, who developed the very difficult inland route from Pinjarra to Bunbury. Bunbury's first settlers were John and Helen Scott, theirs sons Robert, William and John Jr, and step-son Daniel McGregor, who arrived in January 1838. Bunbury township was mentioned in the Government Gazette in 1839, but lots in the township were not surveyed until 1841. In March 1841 lots were declared open for selection. Intermittent bay whaling activity was conducted on the coast from the 1830s through to the 1850s. By 1842 Bunbury was home to 16 buildings including an inn. Thereafter, a growing

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

serviced the settlers and the subsequent local industries that developed. One of the major industries to open up to cement the importance of Bunbury as a port was the

timber industry Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

. Timber logs would be floated down the

Collie River The Collie River is a river in the South West region of Western Australia. The Collie River was named by Lieutenant Governor Stirling after Alexander Collie who, along with Lieutenant William Preston, in November 1829 was the first European t ...

to be loaded aboard ships headed to the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

or to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

where the hardwood timbers were used for railway sleepers. In 1884 the Government decided to construct a railway from Bunbury to Boyanup, long. When the line was completed in 1887, the contractor who had built it obtained a contract to control and work it, which he did with horses. The line was eventually taken over by the Government in 1891 and operated with locomotives. The inconvenience of a railway isolated from the capital gave rise to agitation and in 1893 the South Western Railway was constructed between East Perth and Picton, connecting Greater Bunbury and Perth. The Boyanup line was extended to Donnybrook in the same year. The railways connected the port of Bunbury to the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

and

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

deposits and agricultural areas to the north and east of Greater Bunbury. The population of the town was 2,970 (1,700 males and 1,270 females) in 1898. In 1903 a breakwater to further protect the bay and port area was completed.

Federation to present day

The Old Bunbury railway station served as the terminal for the Australind passenger train between

, transporting its first passengers on 24 November 1947. The last train to use the station departed on 28 May 1985 with a new station opening at East Bunbury, to the south-east the following day. The railway land was then sold and Blair Street realigned.

Geography

Bunbury is situated south of Perth, at the original mouth of the

Preston River The Preston River is a river in the South West region of Western Australia. The river has a total length of and rises near Goonac siding then flows in a north-westerly direction until discharging into the Leschenault Estuary. The headwaters a ...

and near the mouth of the

at the southern end of the Leschenault Inlet, which opens to Koombana Bay and the larger Geographe Bay which extends southwards to Cape Naturaliste.

Climate

Bunbury has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen classification Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author an ...

''Csa'') with warm to hot, dry summers and cool wet winters. Precipitation peaks from the months of May to September.

Demographics

In 2007 Bunbury was recognised as Australia's fastest growing city for the 2005/06 period by the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...

. At June 2018 the estimated urban population of Bunbury was 74,363. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. At the 2016 Census the median age was 38. It is estimated that by 2031 the population of the Greater Bunbury region will exceed 100,000 people. In urban Bunbury, 72.1% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

6.0%,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

3.4%,

1.9%, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

1.1% and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

0.7%. 85.0% of people only spoke

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

at home. Other languages spoken at home included

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

1.0%, Italian 0.8%,

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...

0.5%, Mandarin 0.2%, and Filipino 0.4%. In the 2016 Census the most common responses for religion in Bunbury were No religion 34.6%,

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

20.5%,

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

17.8%, Christian, nfd (not further described) 3.4%. The most common occupations in Bunbury included Technicians and Trades Workers 19.0%, Professionals 15.8%, Labourers 12.7%, and Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.8%. In 2016 Bunbury had an unemployment rate of 8.2%.

Governance

ISS015-E-31842 - View of Western Australia

The Greater Bunbury sub-region comprises the four local government areas of the City of Bunbury,

Shire of Capel The Shire of Capel is a local government area in the South West region of Western Australia, taking in the land between the cities of Bunbury and Busselton about south of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of ...

, Shire of Dardanup and

Shire of Harvey The Shire of Harvey is a local government area of Western Australia. Harvey is located in the state's South West region, approximately 140 km south of Perth, and includes some of Bunbury's northern suburbs. The shire covers an area of 1 ...

. The ''Greater Bunbury Region Scheme'', in operation since November 2007, provides the legal basis for

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is c ...

in the Greater Bunbury sub-region. The Greater Bunbury sub-region is administered by State and local governments. There is no sub-region government structure in place for Greater Bunbury. In December 2013 the Western Australian Planning Commission published the ''Greater Bunbury Strategy'' to guide urban, industrial and regional land use planning; and associated infrastructure delivery in the Greater Bunbury sub-region in the short, medium and long terms. The Strategy provides for the growth of Greater Bunbury through infill development of existing urban areas and the development of

greenfield land Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area either used for agriculture or landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by la ...

in Waterloo east of

Eaton Eaton may refer to: Buildings Canada * Eaton Centre, the name of various shopping malls in Canada due to having been anchored by an Eaton's store * Eaton's / John Maryon Tower, a cancelled skyscraper in Toronto * Eaton Hall (King City), a conferen ...

, to provide for a population of 150,000 people beyond 2050.

Economy

The economy of Bunbury is diverse, reflecting the range of heavy and general industries in the locality,

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

landscapes, services for the growing population, key

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

links and the influence of Perth. The mining and mineral processing sector remains the main economic driver for Bunbury ($2 billion annual turnover). The agriculture sector however, remains vitally important as the value of production is approximately $146 million per annum (2005/06) which equates to approximately 30 per cent of the South West region's agricultural production. Other industries that are vital to the economic well-being of Greater Bunbury include retail and service industries,

building industry Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and co ...

, timber production and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

. Bunbury is home to SIMCOA, which is Australia's only silicon manufacturing company. The Bunbury Port will continue to be the centre of economic activity for the Greater Bunbury sub-region with the flow of goods through it to and from all parts of the world. The proposed expansion of the port, as identified in the ''Bunbury Port Inner Harbour Structure Plan'', will promote further economic growth for the sub-region, and may in time be an economic stimulus for the corporate support and ancillary services associated with port-based industries locating to Bunbury city centre, further strengthening its role as a regional city.

Education

Education is compulsory in Western Australia between the ages of six and seventeen, corresponding to primary and secondary school. Schools that serve high school students in the area include Bunbury Senior High School, Newton Moore Senior High School, Manea Senior College, College Row School (K–12 education support), Australind Senior High School, Eaton Community College, Dalyellup College, Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School (K–12),

Bunbury Catholic College Bunbury Catholic College is a Catholic secondary school, located in Bunbury, in the South West region of Western Australia. The college was formed in 1973 after the amalgamation of St Francis Xavier's College (operated by the Marist Brothers) ...

, Grace Christian School, and

Our Lady of Mercy College Our Lady of Mercy College (OLMC), is a Roman Catholic, secondary day school for girls, situated in Heidelberg, a north-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college is conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, a congregation of re ...

Tertiary education

Tertiary education is available through a number of universities and

technical and further education Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational co ...

(TAFE) colleges.

South Regional TAFE South Regional TAFE is a State Training Provider providing a range of vocational education located in southern regional Western Australia. On 11 April 2016,http://www.dtwd.wa.gov.au/trainingproviders/training-sector-reform-project/Documents/Chang ...

is a State Training Provider providing a range of vocational education with campuses in Bunbury, Albany, and other locations in the southern Western Australia region.

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. Gaining unive ...

also has a campus based in Bunbury.

Media

Radio

AM band * 6EL 621 kHz AM – Easy listening format. Different from its Easy Listening Network partners in the Eastern states. Has local advertising. Part of Spirit Radio Network. *

ABC South West WA ABC South West WA is an ABC Local Radio station based in Bunbury. The station broadcasts to the South West region of Western Australia. This includes the towns of Busselton, Bridgetown, Manjimup and Margaret River. The station broadcasts t ...

(6BS): 684 kHz AM – News, talk and sport. Broadcasts breakfast and morning programs from Bunbury. *

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to ...

963 kHz AM – Adult Contemporary for the 40+, with local news and sport. Mostly 60s, 70s, 80s, & 90s (part of the Southern Cross Austereo LocalWorks network) * Vision Radio Network 1017 AM – Christian praise and worship music and talk * 6MM 1116 kHz AM – Easy listening format from Mandurah *

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...

1224 kHz AM – Speciality talk and music *

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...

1152 kHz AM – News and sport FM band * 6MM (The Wave) 91.7 kHz FM – Easy listening format from Mandurah *

ABC Classic FM ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...

93.3 MHz FM – Classical music *

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

94.1 MHz FM – Alternative music * Hit FM 95.7 MHz FM – Hit music (was Hot FM) * Bunbury Community Radio 103.7 MHz FM * Harvey Community Radio 96.5 MHz FM * Coast FM 97.3 MHz FM – Hit music from Mandurah

Television

Television services available include: *The

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

(ABC) – ABC TV, ABC TV Plus/Kids, ABC Me, ABC News (digital channels) *The

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...

(SBS) – SBS TV, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS Food, NITV (digital channels) * GWN7 (Golden West Network), an owned formerly affiliated station of the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

* WIN Television, an affiliate station of the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

* West Digital Television, an affiliate station of the Network 10 (provided jointly by Prime Television and WIN Television) The programming schedule is mainly the same as the Seven, Nine and Ten stations in Perth with variations for news bulletins, sport telecasts such as the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

and

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, children's and lifestyle programs and infomercials or paid programming. GWN7 had its origins in Bunbury as BTW-3 in the late 1960s and then purchased other stations in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

and

Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, as well as launching a satellite service in 1986 to form the current network. GWN7's studios and offices are based at Roberts Crescent in Bunbury, with its transmitter located at Mount Lennard approximately 25 km to the east. The station produces a nightly 30-minute news program for regional WA at 5:30pm on weeknights. WIN Television maintains a newsroom in the city; however, the station itself is based in Perth. The WIN newsroom provides regional coverage for sister station

NEW-10 NEW is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia, and is a member of Network 10. Out of the three commercial stations, NEW generally rates the lowest overall, but usually rates highest in its target demographic (people aged 1 ...

's ''10 News First'' bulletins at 5pm each night, which are simulcast on WIN. On 28 July 2011, new digital television services from GWN and WIN commenced transmission. A new stand alone Network 10 affiliated channel branded as West Digital Television was the first of the new digital only channels to go on-air. The other new digital only channels that are also now available in Bunbury include 7two,

7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a ...

, ishop tv,

RACING.COM Racing.com (stylised as RACING.COM) is an Australian free-to-air standard-definition digital television channel, owned and operated by the Seven Network and Racing Victoria. The channel broadcasts live Victorian and South Australian horse racin ...

, 10 HD,

10 Bold 10 Bold is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Network 10. It originally launched on 26 March 2009 as One HD with a focus on broadcasting sports-based programming and events, but rebranded to One in April 2011 to ...

10 Peach 10 Peach is an Australian free-to-air television channel operated by Network 10. It was launched on 11 January 2011 as Eleven. It is owned by ElevenCo, which was established as a joint venture between Ten Network Holdings and CBS Studios Inte ...

, A placeholder on channel 54 currently showing WIN Television’s Australian landmark videos, TVSN,

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History Nine N ...

, 9Life and

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, ani ...

. Subscription Television service

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

is available via satellite.

Newspapers

''Bunbury Herald'', ''South Western Times'' and ''Bunbury Mail'' are local newspapers available in Bunbury and surrounding region. Newspapers from Perth including ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...

'' and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' are also available, as well as national newspapers such as ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' and ''

The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

''.

Culture

Arts and entertainment

A number of cultural organisations are located in Bunbury, including: *Bunbury Regional Art Galleries *Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, with theatre, film and live performance *Stirling Street Arts Centre The Bunbury Historical Society is located in the historic King Cottage, which was built around 1880. In 1966 the cottage was purchased by the City of Bunbury and subsequently leased to the Society. The rooms of the cottage are furnished and artifacts displayed to reflect the way of life for a family in Bunbury in the period from the 1880s to the 1920s. The WA Performing Arts

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, ac ...

is held annually at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre.

Tourism and recreation

There are many tourism and recreational opportunities in Bunbury. Some of the most popular attractions include * Dolphin Discovery Centre * Bunbury Back Beach * Koombana Bay * Bunbury Wildlife Park * Bunbury Farmers Market * Leschenault Inlet Bunbury is also very close to the Ferguson Valley.

Sport

A number of football clubs are based in Bunbury and play in the South West Football League. A notable stadium is Hands Oval in South Bunbury. Hay Park Sports Precinct is home to many junior and senior sports codes. Located in the precinct is South West Sports Centre, home to Bunbury Basketball Association.

Infrastructure

Health

Transport

Bunbury Airport Bunbury Airport is an airport servicing the Western Australian city of Bunbury. Bunbury Airport is located south-east of the city centre and is the only airport serving the city. The airport is used largely as a facility for General Aviation ...

services Greater Bunbury and is located southeast of the city centre.

TransWA Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...

provides rail and coach services from

Bunbury Terminal Bunbury Terminal (also known as Bunbury Passenger Terminal) is a train and bus station for Transwa services. The terminal is located in East Bunbury, Western Australia. It is the terminus station for the ''Australind'' train service to/from P ...

: Australind train, GS3, SW1 and SW2 to Bunbury and services south from Bunbury and South West Coach Lines provides coach services to and from Bunbury. Bus services in Greater Bunbury are run by TransBunbury with 10 routes. National Route 1 provides road access to the wider region, and includes: *

Forrest Highway Forrest Highway is a highway in Western Australia's Peel and South West regions, extending Perth's Kwinana Freeway from east of Mandurah down to Bunbury. Old Coast Road was the original Mandurah–Bunbury route, dating back to the 18 ...

, a dual carriageway road linking north to Perth * South Western Highway linking to the southeast of Bunbury

Bussell Highway Bussell Highway is a generally north–south highway in the South West region of Western Australia. The highway links the city of Bunbury with the town of Augusta and is approximately in length. The highway is signed ''State Route 10'', exc ...

links to

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

to the west. The Eelup Rotary, where Forrest Highway terminates in East Bunbury, was named by the

Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia The Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia (RAC WA) is a motoring club and mutual organisation, offering motoring services and advice, insurance, travel services, finance, driver training and exclusive benefits for their members. As an indep ...

as the worst regional intersection in Western Australia and has since undergone a $16m upgrade, which included eight sets of

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic light ...

s (which were switched on in the early hours of Monday 21 May 2012) and extra lanes for each entrance. The government was criticised for breaking a 2008 election promise to build an overpass and underpass. Bunbury is planned to be bypassed when the

Bunbury Outer Ring Road The Bunbury Outer Ring Road (BORR) is a partially-constructed ring road around the city of Bunbury, Western Australia. The road will be long when complete, and link Forrest Highway in the north-east to Bussell Highway in the south-west, passi ...

is opened in 2024, linked Forrest Highway in Australind to Bussell Highway in Dalyellup.

Notable people

Notable people who come from or have lived in Bunbury include: John Forrest 1898

Leon Baker Leon Baker (born 17 August 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) during the 1980s. Baker started playing senior football quite l ...

, AFL footballer for

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

, played in 1984 and 1985 Premierships *

Paul Barnard Paul Barnard (born 13 February 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played from 1994 until 2003. Originally from East Perth, where he played 29 games from 1992–93, Barnard's first two seasons of AFL were spent with Hawthorn. A ...

, AFL footballer for

, played in 2000 Premiership *

Natalie Barr Natalie Anne Barr (born 19 March 1968) is an Australian journalist, news presenter and television presenter. Barr is currently co-host of the Seven Network's breakfast television program ''Sunrise'' alongside David Koch. She was previously new ...

, current ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

'' news presenter * Jamie Bennell,

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...

AFL player * Noel Brunning, GWN news anchor *

Dianne Buswell Dianne Claire Buswell (born 6 May 1989) is an Australian professional dancer. She is best known for her appearances on the British television show ''Strictly Come Dancing''. After competing on ''Dancing with the Stars'' in Australia, she joined ...

, professional dancer, ''Strictly Come Dancing'' * Dorothy Carroll, geologist * Brett Peter Cowan, convicted murderer and rapist * Tracey Cross, Paralympic swimmer * Kevin Cullen, doctor and winemaker * Mary Ellen Cuper, Aboriginal postmistress and telegraphist *

Courtney Eaton Courtney Eaton (born 6 January 1996) is an Australian actress. She is known for her supporting roles as Ava in the 2019 film ''Line of Duty'', Cheedo the Fragile in the 2015 film '' Mad Max: Fury Road'', and as Zaya in the 2016 film '' Gods of ...

, actress, '' Mad Max: Fury Road'' * Troy Elder, field hockey player *

Alexander Forrest Alexander Forrest CMG (22 September 1849 – 20 June 1901) was an explorer and surveyor of Western Australia, and later also a member of parliament. As a government surveyor, Forrest explored many areas of remote Western Australia, particu ...

, explorer, politician and investor *

John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister ...

, First Premier of Western Australia and cabinet minister in Australia's first parliament *

Cameron Gliddon Cameron Richard Gliddon (born 16 August 1989) is an Australian professional basketball player for the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played four years of college basketball for Concordia University before retur ...

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Convention Centre, known colloquially as "The S ...

NBL player *

Murray Goodwin Murray William Goodwin (born 11 December 1972) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who played 19 Tests and 71 One Day Internationals. He was a right-handed top-order batsman, strong on the back foot, and a good cutter and puller of the ball. In ...

, Zimbabwe, Western Australia and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

cricketer * Alexandra Hagan, Olympic rower in Australian Women's Eight at the

2012 London The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic games *

Ben Howlett Ben Howlett (born 21 October 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Howlett was selected by Essendon with pick 30 in the 2010 rookie draft ...

AFL player * Adam Hunter,

ex-AFL player *

Neville Jetta Neville Jetta (born 12 February 1990) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Jetta was drafted by Melbourne with the 51st selection in the 2008 national draft ...

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria, and plays its home g ...

AFL player * Bob Maumill, 882 6PR radio presenter * Newton Moore, Mayor of Bunbury, Minister for Lands and Agriculture, 8th Premier of Western Australia, Major General (WWI), member of the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 ...

* John Boyle O'Reilly, Irish-born poet, sent to Bunbury in February, 1868 as a convict, escaped on an American whaling ship in 1869. *

Aristos Papandroulakis Aaron Aristos Papandroulakis (born 1965 in Bunbury, Western Australia) is an Australian chef best known for hosting the Seven Network cooking show ''Surprise Chef''. He also hosted ''BYO Chef'', also for Seven. Papandroulakis has authored two c ...

, television, '' Surprise Chef'' *

Kyle Reimers Kyle Reimers (born 10 January 1989) is a former Australian rules footballer, who played with Essendon in the AFL. Debuting in 2007, Reimers was pick number 47 in the 2006 AFL Draft, having played with Peel Thunder in the WAFL. He played for We ...

ex-AFL player * Josh Risdon, Soccer player for

Western Sydney Wanderers FC Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's prem ...

in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

and

Australia national soccer team Australia national soccer team may refer to: * Australia men's national soccer team ** Australia men's national under-23 soccer team ** Australia men's national under-20 soccer team ** Australia men's national under-17 soccer team ** Australia men' ...

* Edwin Rose, pastoralist president, Royal Agricultural Society of WA *

Barry Shepherd Barry Kenneth Shepherd (23 April 1937 – 18 September 2001) was an Australian cricketer who played in nine Test matches between 1963 and 1965. Career Barry Shepherd was an outstanding junior sportsman in Australian rules football, hockey and ...

, cricketer * Richard Adolphus Sholl, Member of the WA Legislative Council 1886–90, member of Legislative Assembly 1890–97 *

Robert Frederick Sholl Robert Frederick Sholl (27 August 1848 – 4 December 1909) was an entrepreneur and a member of the Parliament of Western Australia. His business interests included pearling vessels, real estate and mining. Sholl was also a representative at th ...

, Western Australian representative at the Australasian Federal Convention 1897 *

Nicole Trunfio Nicole Trunfio (born 16 March 1986) is an Australian model. Early life Trunfio was born on 16 March 1986 in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia to father, Giuseppe and mother, Kim. She is the youngest of three siblings. Her father was of Ital ...

, model * Bruce Wallrodt, Paralympic athlete *

Shani Waugh Shani Waugh (born 2 September 1969) is an Australian professional golfer. She played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour, as well as on the ALPG Tour in her home country. Waugh turned professional in 1991 and joined the Ladies E ...

, professional golfer *

Mark Worthington Mark Worthington (born 8 June 1983) is an Australian former professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the National Basketball League (NBL). Early life and career Born in Bunbury, Western Australia, Worthington grew up in the nearb ...

NBL player, 2008 and 2012 Olympian *

Jennifer Fowler Jennifer Joan Fowler (born 14 April 1939) is a British composer of Australian birth. She was born in Bunbury, Australia, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in music and a Bachelor of Music from the School of Music, University of Western Aust ...

, composer

References

External links

City of Bunbury website

Bunbury Historical Society's King Cottage Museum

Local History of Bunbury

{{Authority control Coastal cities in Australia Port cities in Western Australia 1836 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1836 Whaling stations in Australia