Proclamation of Bunbury Site, Bunbury Central Primary School

Statement of Significance

Cententary Pavilion has cultural heritage significance because:
relocated to the site in 1995, the pavilion marks the site of the meeting between Governor Stirling and Lieutenant Henry St Pierre Bunbury on 21 December 1836 when Port Leschenault was officially named Bunbury in honour of the Lieutenant;
the pavilion was built in 1936 in Centennial Gardens to commemorate the centenary of the naming of Bunbury.

Physical Description

A plaque in the Centenary Gardens commemorates the proclamation of the townsite as Bunbury. During Bunbury Primary School’s centenary celebrations in 1995, the City of Bunbury re-erected the 1936 Centenary of Bunbury pavilion to mark the spot where Governor Stirling had proclaimed the name of Bunbury.

History

Centenary Pavilion marks the site where Govenor Stirling named the townsite of Bunbury in 1836. The proclamation of the townsite occurred on 26 March 1841. The pavilion had been built in Centenial Gardens in 1936 to mark the centenary of Bunbury's naming and was relocated to the Bunbury Primary School in 1995.

Lieutenant Henry William St Pierre Bunbury’s diary entry for 21 December 1836 recorded: ‘A Township has been formed comprising the southern promontory and part of the north beach at the entrance of Port Leschenault Inlet, which the Governor has named in compliment to me.”

Lieutenant Bunbury of the 21st Royal North British Fusiliers, third son of the 7th Baronet, had arrived at the Swan River Colony in March 1836 and was dispatched to Pinjarra to form a military post.

With a party including an Aboriginal guide, Bunbury explored the area extensively and in doing so established a land route between Pinjarra and the Vasse River settlements. The party met up with Governor Stirling at the Vasse and he persuaded Bunbury to travel overland to Port Leschenault. The Governor sailed up to meet them in the “Champion”.

On 21 December 1836, after Bunbury’s party crossed the Preston River at the Picton ford, they explored the area, which local Nyoongars called ‘Goomburrup’ and met up with Stirling on what was to become, many years later, the site of the Bunbury Primary School. The Governor announced that he would rename the settlement in honour of Lieutenant Bunbury.

Lieutenant Bunbury only visited the town once more – in 1837 – before leaving the colony to mark out a distinguished military career in India, Gibraltar and the Crimea.

However, the township was not surveyed until 1841 so the official Colonial Secretary’s Office records show that the declaration date of the township of Bunbury to be 26 March 1841.

The Municipality of Bunbury, comprising an area of 2,106 acres, was gazetted on 21 February 1871.

Dr Lovegrove built a house on the site in the 1880s, which later became a girls' boarding house and then a private hospital (See B088). This was demolished in the 1960s to make way for Bunbury Primary School, a new school complex for the school which had been established in 1895.

A plaque in the Centenary Gardens commemorates the naming of the townsite as Bunbury. During Bunbury Primary School’s centenary celebrations in 1995, the City of Bunbury re-erected the 1936 Centenary of Bunbury pavilion to mark the spot where Governor Stirling gave the name of Bunbury.

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