Bunbury Shoreline as at 1841 - Site

Statement of Significance

HISTORIC SITE
The original shoreline was mapped by the first European visitors to the area and formed part of the original town maps for Bunbury.

Physical Description

The original shoreline is no longer visible. It has been much altered by reclamation, the addition of a breakwater, various groynes and manipulating the entrance to the Leschenault Inlet from Koombana Bay.

History

Although there is evidence of maritime surveys of the Bunbury coast carried out by Dutch, English and French explorers and mariners, a detailed examination of the Port Leschenault coastline was not completed until February and March 1803 by officers on board the ‘Casuarina’ as part of the Baudin expedition.

Officer Bonnefoi de Montbazin, of the French expedition led by Nicolas Baudin, was sent to explore the area in a longboat and drew the first plan of the bay and lower estuary. His plan showed Port Leschenault and Middle Island (later Pig Island) and beyond to the now subsumed Mill Point. Bonnefoi also mapped a ‘small boat/barque harbour’ sheltered by a reef of black volcanic basalt (Point Casuarina).

There was no European settlement at ‘Port Leschenualt’ until Governor Stirling sent a military detachment to camp on the North Shore in 1830. The encampment lasted six months before the lack of settlers in the area forced Stirling to deploy the soldiers to Augusta.

In 1841, Commander John Lort Stokes of the ‘Beagle’ agreed to a request by Marshall Waller Clifton of the Western Australia Company to carry out a hydrographic study of Koombana(h) Bay. Charles Codrington Forsyth, an officer with the Royal Navy, carried out the survey on Koombana Bay and the Estuary while Stokes was away with Clifton examining the Port Grey area. Forsyth’s map was duly attributed to Stokes.

In 1836, Thomas Watson received instructions to survey and lay out the first 70 townsite lots. He commenced the task but his fieldbooks are not complete. A survey of the townsite was completed by Assistant Surveyor H M Ommanney in March 1842 under urgent instruction from the Surveyor-General, J S Roe.

The original shoreline is therefore referenced in the 1841 hydrological survey and the 1841/42 tracings of Assistant Surveyor H M Ommanney. The first streets were laid out by Surveyor Watson, parallel to the coastline at 45 degrees from the North.

The original shoreline is now much altered by reclamation, the addition of a breakwater, various groynes and manipulating the entrance to the Leschenault Inlet from Koombana Bay.

The associations and significance of the original shoreline for the local Noongar peoples has not been researched as part of this document.

Integrity/Authenticity

Original coastline now lies buried.

Condition

The Marlston Hill Structure Plan of 1996 no longer shows the 45° alignment.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.