West Australia Notes and Pictures - A Trip to Bunbury in 1895

Article in the Australian Town and Country Journal

Saturday 16 November 1895 Pages 21 & 32 

By A. J. P. 

“We leave Geraldton by the Midland Railway running to Perth, a distance of some 300 miles. The line passes through a country in which but two or three townships are seen. The train stops mostly at stations, the presence of which alone indicates that some white settlers reside nearby - farmers living in the midst of virgin forest, where they see nobody except their neighbors. Thus we travel past one station, then another; past Magumber, where I formerly landed to visit New Norcia; past Gingin, with the old man still selling fruit on the platform. Though we are in Perth, with its more city-like aspect. Bunbury is situated some 120 miles south, so next morning we took the train, and passed through scenery altogether different to what we had lately viewed. The country en route is splendidly timbered. As usual, there is a dearth of townships. We have a fine view of the Darling Ranges the entire distance.

My companions are two gentlemen, business men - doubtless representatives of some large firm, for they continually talk about coal. This mystical meaning is interpreted by the train stopping much longer than usual at a station termed Collie. My companions jumped out. I follow. They come to a standstill next to a stack of coal. They picked pieces of coal up; they smelt the lumps; they broke it; they weighed it in their hands; they smashed it into fine powder; but they did not light a fire with it. Presently they explained that it was a sample from a newly-discovered coal field situated some thirty miles from the station. They said that they were testing the samples, and that it is really a splendid sample, that there is to be a great future for this Collie Coal Fields, and that the place will prove a second Newcastle. Personally, I am no judge of coal, and naturally acquiesce to all they say; but I don't think it will outrival Newcastle any more than Coolgardie will Bendigo.

Then once more we rolled on through a finely timbered country. We passed a creek - what is more, it contained water, gurgling over pebbles, fallen logs, and brushwood. The grass was a bright green, and several times we caught sight of some sleek cattle. This portion of the colony is perhaps the most prolific, supporting a fine dairying population. Bunbury and Vasse butter will hold its own with any. It is rich and creamy.

Then Bunbury comes into view - a fair sized town, situated in picturesque surroundings. There is a fine harbor, in which the colonial steamers enter; a river, the banks of which are tree-lined, where you may fish, and invariably depend on a fair basket. Two high hills flank the town north and south, up which you. may climb through tangled brushwood, obtaining a fine view of the township, lying scattered-like at your feet, with its inreaching harbor, its long, narrow pier, dotted on a Sunday afternoon by numerous promenaders. On another hill is a white wooden lighthouse. Cape Naturaliste shows blue away south, while nearer smoke-wreaths denote the position of the town of Vasse. Bunbury is a popular seaside resort - a favorite place for holiday excursions. The town is ancient, yet lately some very good buildings have appeared, notably a large post office; while the long, roomy Prince of Wales Hotel is invariably full of visitors in season. The air is bracing and healthy. Bunbury has a population of 800; one long street, ornamented with trees, other small cross streets, churches, Freemasons' Hall, and Mechanics' Institute. Bunbury is a fashionable watering place. So is Vasse. The latter is situated thirty miles south, connected by a railway. Jealousy to a great extent exists between the two townships. Both are watering places. Both offer attractions to city people.

Vasse is a small township, also prettily situated, but of a different type to Bunbury. It is situated on a flat, enshrouded with pepper trees. A stranger landing from the railway station would naturally wonder where the township was. He is on the edge of the township. He sees little else but pepper trees, with here the sheen of a roof, there a red chimney. He walks along sandy footpaths, sees a pretty, old-fashioned stone church, a couple of low, long wooden hotels, here cottages, there a villa in some large garden. Shops he must industriously search for. He may have one, two, or three. When found, each appears to be stocked with goods as old as Adam. I think Vasse people buy most of their goods from Bunbury - except pepper. This they can pound out of their trees. The pepper tree here grows to a fair height, and is of a brilliant green. Vasse, with this natural bower, its dense shade, its little river called La Vasse a winding stream spanned by pretty wooden bridges, and running out into the rural districts - is a favorite, perhaps tho favorite, haunt of folks in summer. But its chief charm is its beautiful beach, running for miles north and south in bard sand, with no sign of a rock. It is perfect for sea bathing. Then there is a pier half a mile long, at which no vessels of any tonnage can berth, the water being too shallow. I was at Vasse last summer. The beach was dotted with holiday keepers-children enjoying themselves as children always do at the seaside, while further down, in true French style, young ladies, clad in dainty colored bathing gowns, were bathing in the open. Yet further down could be seen some fat father and mother together with a tribe of children floundering together in the waves, forming quite a family sea social. The water was blue, the beach white, and the brilliant coloring of the holiday-keepers, their laughter and merriment, reminded one more of Parisian than West Australian scenes. After this we must not say the colonies are slow. But then this was at Vasse, not at Fremantle Beach.”

The original article can be viewed at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71216081/5243936