Modern Busselton is booming from soaring interstate and local flights as well as cruise liner stopovers. How do we best direct our welcome visitors?
Tourists generally spend only a day, or a few days, in this country community.
Obviously, the Southern Hemisphere’s longest jetty, stretching 1,841 metres out to sea, is staring them in the face but many travellers want more in their adventures. International visitors, especially, will be immediately wowed by Busselton Beach’s turquoise-coloured, tranquil waters and whitest of white sands.
Busselton now has cafés and a brewery at the beachfront and a number of modern play areas for kids including a monster dummy sailing ship to climb on, as well as an extensive skateboard park.
In summer, blow-up, watery toys are anchored at the main beach. A net-protected swim zone will lure the hearty and daring. (Busselton beach isn’t known for warm sea water).
Tourists don’t need to be pointed to the central shops and cafés within walking distance and won’t lack outlets for fresh local produce and souvenirs.
Visitors won’t be as lucky as us, seeing a whale surface under the jetty and bellowing-out its air spume. They (whales and visitors) might be interested to know this is good fishing ground with varieties from squid to great white sharks.
For the rest of the fish, they can drop-in to the underwater fish observatory. There’s also the challenge, well-worth taking, of walking along the seafloor while being pumped with oxygen to get an up-and-close eyeballing with fish and large manta rays.
Busselton’s generous allocation of picnic and barbecue areas along the seafront are a treat. Last decade’s improvements have become a strong tourist magnet.
And to think that many local traders were worried decades ago at the new out-of-town roundabout diverting motorists away from the city centre.
Until then, ‘Busso’, 220kms south of Perth, was on the main drag from Perth to Dunsborough and Margaret River. Motorists drove right through the town centre.
But visiting car numbers barely changed and the explosion in tourists, plus a growing population approaching 30,000 residents, underscored the value of the city’s vast developments.
Today, longer-term tourists could take time to motor on to Margaret River’s wine and surf regions or venture to Dunsborough and Yallingup – especially for surf.
Busselton, though, has plenty on its plate for visitors, including historical and cultural appeal. For at least 40,000 years before white settlement in 1832, the area was home to the Noongar Aboriginal people.
Then there’s the 1801 French expedition led by Nicholas Baudin and his ships, Géographe and Naturaliste which they loaded with hundreds of plant and animal specimens for French exhibitions. One sailor, Thomas Vasse, fell overboard and Baudin named the local river Vasse after him.
Busselton pioneers, the Bussells, objected to the settlement’s naming after them in 1835 and preferred the name Capel (which fell to a nearby region).
Who knows that Australia’s first railway line, the Ballarat Tramline, was built nearby, in 1871?
History-minded tourists can get a blast from the past from several unique attractions.
There’s Wonnerup House, built in 1859 by Layman settlers, and just nearby are Teacher’s House (1885) and school (1873). The National Trust operates a museum here.
The Old Butter Factory was built here in 1918, following WA’s first butter factory and creamery in 1898. It is now Busselton Museum
In the centre is probably WA’s oldest stone church, St Mary’s Anglican. While built in 1844–1845, it took another decade before a clergyman was attracted to the region. The church was not consecrated until 1848. Alongside the church is a graveyard with headstones dating back to 1841.
Brick-built Weld Hall, 1881, with its galvanised roof and Victorian Italianate style is also among the oldest remaining structures.
For super-motivated visitors, there’s the 1800s’ pioneering Augusta-Busselton Heritage Trail, an easy 1.5km trek passing five sites, including the Georgiana Molloy Memorial Park, the site of Albion Cottage, The Pioneer Cemetery, the RSL War Memorial and Jays Beach Shelter.
Going in an anti-clockwise direction, trail-blazers will take-in views over Flinders Bay and the Great Southern Ocean.
There’s enough around Busselton to take the breath away from every tourist.
www.margaretriver.com/towns/busselton/.
