East Bunbury is an inner southeastern

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 ...

of Bunbury,

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

from the centre of Bunbury. It is located within the

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 ...

of the

City of Bunbury The City of Bunbury is a local government area in the South West region of Western Australia, covering an area of along the coast about south of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The City of Bunbury is one of four local governments ...

. It is the location of the Bunbury Passenger Terminal, the current terminus for the

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

and the

Australind Australind is a town in Western Australia, located 12 km north-east of Bunbury, Western Australia, Bunbury's central business district. Its Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area is the Shire of Harvey. At the 20 ...

railway service.

Precincts

East Bunbury comprises two distinct precincts.

Rathmines

Rathmines refers to the northern portion of East Bunbury. Rathmines is named after Rev Joseph Withers' home town in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Rev Joseph Withers arrived in

with his wife, two sons and niece on 18 January 1864. He had been the

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

on board the convict ship ''Dalhousie''. A month later they moved to Bunbury where Withers was the Anglican Chaplain from 1864 to 1880 and again from 1889 to 1893. In 1872, Withers purchased Portion 11 of Leschenault Location 26 and in 1895, he subdivided the area which was to become known as Rathmines. The precinct is largely residential in character with most houses built after the 1960s.

Wollaston

Wollaston comprises the southern third of East Bunbury, bounded by Sandridge Road to the north, Robertson Drive and the Preston River to the east, and the railway to the south. It is mostly residential, although a light industrial area extending from central Bunbury exists west of Picton Road and the Horseshoe Lake, a remnant

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...

is located within Wollaston opposite the Bunbury Forum shopping centre. Wollaston is named after Rev. John Ramsden Wollaston (1790–1856), who initially migrated privately to be the chaplain for the Western Australian Land Company's failed settlement scheme at

. Finding himself without a parish, together with his sons, he built a small timber chapel on his own land at "Charterhouse" alongside the Preston River, as a condition of his receiving a stipend to act as Colonial Chaplain, and was opened without consecration in September 1842 (it had to wait until 1969 for this). A churchyard was built alongside it which contains the graves of some of the Bunbury area's pioneers. Suburban development in the area took place in the 1950s and 1960s.

Geography

The suburb contains a diverse mix of residents, with a strong emphasis on trades, retail and services, and 7.2% of its population are of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent.

Facilities

Bunbury Forum, one of Bunbury's two main shopping centres, was opened in 1980 and is located in East Bunbury; it also contains a small neighbourhood shopping centre. The suburb contains Cooinda Primary School, on the corner of Allen and Trott Street. There are two other primary schools located within . Bunbury Catholic College (BCC), established in 1973 after the amalgamation of Marist Brother's St Fraancis Xaviers College (situated on the current BCC site and opened in 1954) and the Mercy Sister's St Josephs College (situated at the now Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, originally opened in 1897) and with a student population of about 1000, and the historic St Mark's Anglican Church (1842) are located within the suburb.

Transport

The terminus of the Transwa Australind rail service is located at East Bunbury. The Bunbury Passenger Terminal was constructed in 1983–1985 to replace the central railway station (now the Bunbury Visitor Centre and bus station). The last train to use the old station departed Bunbury on 28 May 1985, and the new terminal commenced operations the following day. The Australind passenger service was subsequently upgraded in 1987. At present there are two departures and two arrivals of The Australind at East Bunbury every day of the week. The 827

TransBunbury TransBunbury is the public bus transportation system in Bunbury, Western Australia, consisting of 13 public routes as well as 30 school routes. History Bunbury City Transit was established in January 1986. On 2 May 2011 it was rebranded as T ...

routes depart to/from the city centre regularly, with a journey time of 15–20 minutes.
TransBunbury, effective 1 February 2015. Accessed 20 February 2016 These services are free of charge to those connecting to/from the Australind train with a valid ticket. All services are operated by the Public Transport Authority (Western Australia), Public Transport Authority.

References

{{Towns South West WA Suburbs of Bunbury, Western Australia