Bouvard is the second southernmost

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Mandurah, Western Australia Mandurah ( ) is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 90,306. Mandurah's central business dis ...

, and is south of the state capital,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Its

local government area 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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

is the

City of Mandurah The City of Mandurah is a local government area of Western Australia, covering both Mandurah proper and an additional area reaching down as far south as Lake Clifton. The city has a total area of approximately . The city is located in the Pe ...

History

Bouvard is named after Cape Bouvard some to the west, which was named by

Nicolas Baudin Nicolas Thomas Baudin (; 17 February 175416 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific. He carried a few corms of Gros Michel banana ...

, who sighted the cape en route to

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island (), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a Islands of Perth, Western Australia, island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, ...

from what is now Bunbury in 1802-1803, either after Charles Bouvard (1572-1658), a French chemist, or Alexis Bouvard (1767-1843), an astronomer and director of

Paris Observatory The Paris Observatory (, ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world. Its historic building is on the Left Ban ...

. The Park Ridge estate was developed in the 1990s, and other estates have been built or proposed. Bouvard Coastcare, a volunteer group dedicated to maintaining the fragile coastal and dune environment, has won awards and grants for its work.

Geography

Bouvard consists of a narrow strip of land along both sides of the Old Coast Road, the main route between Mandurah and Bunbury and part of National Highway 1, between Yalgorup National Park and the Harvey Estuary. The western part consists of sparsely populated rural residential land with large lots separated by bushland buffers, while the eastern part follows more traditional coastal suburban development patterns along the estuary. At the 2011 census, Bouvard had a population of 821 people living in 483 dwellings, just under 20 percent of whom were elderly, and nearly all of whom were from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Netherlands or South Africa.
* The 2011 figure represented an increase of 29 people from the 2006 census. There are walking trails and a couple of small roadside shops and a fuel station along the Old Coast Road. There are schools within easy reach of Bouvard, and the nearest shopping centre is at IGA Dawesville

Transport

Selected 594 services from Mandurah Station started servicing Bouvard in May 2011, and a

Transperth Transperth is the public transport system for Perth and surrounding areas in Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation, and consists of train, bus and ferry services. Bus operat ...

school bus stops at the Bouvard Tavern. Private operator South West Coach Lines stops upon request at the Bouvard Tavern on its Perth to Bunbury service operating several times a day.

Politics

Bouvard is difficult to measure as it did not have a polling place at the election, but at the 2004 federal election, the nearest polling place at Dawesville recorded a 60.59% primary vote for the centre-right

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, while at the 2005 state election, the Liberals received 43.8% of the vote compared to 36.8% for the centre-left

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

and 9.2% for the Nationals.

References

{{Suburbs of Mandurah Suburbs of Mandurah