The port of Bunbury is the third-largest city in Western Australia and is situated 175 kilometres south of Perth, the state capital.
The first registered sighting of Bunbury was by French explorer Captain Louis de Freycinet from his ship the Casuarina in 1803. He named the area 'Port Leschenault' after the expedition botanist Leschenault de la Tour. The bay was named the Geographe after another ship in the fleet.
In 1829, Dr Alexander Collie and Lieutenant Preston explored the area of Bunbury on land. Later Lieutenant Governor Sir James Stirling visited the area and a Military post was established. The area was renamed Bunbury by the Governor in recognition of Lieutenant Henry William St. Pierre Bunbury, who developed the very difficult inland route from Pinjarra to Bunbury.
Today, the city is the major centre of the state's southwest region, benefiting from the rapid growth in mining in the Region.
The City of Bunbury itself has a population of 29,000 but the Greater Bunbury Region, which includes the suburbs of Dalyellup and Gelorup (Shire of Capel), Eaton (Shire of Dardanup) and Australind (Shire of Harvey), which is regularly utilised for statistical purposes, shows a population of 54,000.
Bunbury is situated at the southern end of the Leschenault Inlet, which was extensively altered in the 1960's and 1970's by major earthworks to create the Bunbury Inner Harbour that is centre for the large export industries in the region which include 20% of the world's Alumina, Timber, Dairy and Mineral Sands.
Bunbury was also in the past an important railway terminus. The Railway Station was close to the centre of the city. The Railway Roundhouse was an important servicing centre for the steam engines of the past. The daily passenger service between Perth and Bunbury - the Australind, is the longest running named service in Western Australian railway history. The railway line connecting Bunbury to the southern towns of Bridgetown and Manjimup was closed in 2005.
Bunbury's climate is slightly more temperate than that of Perth. This is as much a consequence of its coastal location as of the slight difference in latitude; Fremantle, on the coast immediately southwest of Perth, is more comparable in climate.
The Bunbury Tower, often called the "Milk Carton" for its distinctive shape and blue-and-white colours, is the major feature of the city centre's skyline. It was built in 1983 by businessman Alan Bond. Also prominent are the old lighthouse and lookout tower in the Marlston Hill district, which has been a focus of the city's cultural and commercial growth since the late 1990s.
Bunbury was declared a city in 1979.
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