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The port of Bunbury is the second-largest city in Western Australia and is situated 175 kilometres south of Perth.
The first registered sighting of Bunbury was by French explorer Captain De Freycinet from his ship the 'Casuarina' in 1803. He named the area 'Port Leschenault' after the expedition botanist Leschenault de la Tour. The bay was named the 'Geographe' after another ship in the fleet.
In 1829, Dr Alexander Collie and Lieutenant Preston explored the area of Bunbury on land. Later Lieutenant Governor Sir James Stirling visited the area and a Military post was established. The area was renamed Bunbury by the Governor in recognition of Lieutenant Henry William St. Pierre Bunbury, who developed the very difficult inland route from Pinjarra to Bunbury.
Today, the city is the major centre of the state's southwest region, benefiting from the rapid growth in mining in the Region.
The City of Bunbury itself has a population of 29,000 but the Greater Bunbury Region, which includes the suburbs of Dalyellup (Shire of Capel), Eaton (Shire of Dardanup) and Australind (Shire of Harvey), which is regularly utilised for statistical purposes, shows a population of 54,000.
Bunbury is situated at the southern end of the Leschenault Inlet, which was extensively altered in the 1960's and 1970's by major earthworks to create the Bunbury Inner Harbour that is centre for the large export industries in the region which include 20% of the world's Alumina, Timber, Dairy and Mineral Sands.
Bunbury's climate is slightly more temperate than that of Perth. This is as much a consequence of its coastal location as of the slight difference in latitude; Fremantle, on the coast immediately southwest of Perth, is more comparable in climate.
The Bunbury Tower, often called the "Milk Carton" for its distinctive shape and blue-and-white colours, is the major feature of the city centre's skyline. Also prominent are the old lighthouse and lookout tower in the Marlston Hill district, which has been a focus of the city's cultural and commercial growth since the late 1990s.
Bunbury was declared a city in 1979.
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