Greenbushes is a timber and mining town located in the South West region of

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 ...

. The 2021 population was 365.

History

Greenbushes was founded as a

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

town in 1888 following a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

's discovery of

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

in 1886. Greenbushes was named after the bright green '' Oxylobium lanceolatum'' that contrasted against the grey

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

trees. The railway from Donnybrook to

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the Parishes of Barbados, parish of Saint Michael, Barbados, Saint Mic ...

opened in 1898, with Greenbushes station located approximately six kilometres north of the main townsite. The area surrounding the railway station was renamed North Greenbushes to reduce confusion. Harry and Adas Grave

A separate town site of South Greenbushes, also known as Bunbury End began in 1896. The town had its own post office, hall and strong community until the 1930s when most moved to the main town site. The town boasted its own cricket team as well as many other groups. The town experienced a period of

economic boom An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...

until the international price of tin slumped in 1893, which caused the Greenbushes' industry to collapse. By 1913, approximately one quarter of Greenbushes' inhabitants were working in the timber industry, which was established shortly after the first mine.

Industry

Greenbushes' two major industries are mining, producing

tantalite The mineral group tantalite manganese.html" ;"title="iron.html" ;"title="iron">Fe, manganese">Mn)Tantalum">Ta2oxygen">O6is the primary source of the chemical element tantalum, a corrosion (heat and acid) resistant metal. It is chemically simil ...

concentrates,

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

minerals,

metal and

kaolin Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina (). ...

; and timber milling. Agriculture,

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

, tourism and art galleries are also part of Greenbushes' industry. The Greenbushes mine, located to the south of the town, has produced lithium concentrate since 1985. , it's the largest lithium mine in the world.

References

External links

Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes website
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Mining towns in Western Australia Shire of Bridgetown–Greenbushes Timber towns in Western Australia