Open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays by appointment only, the City of Bunbury Local Studies Collection is located within the Bunbury Public Library, 2 Parkfield Street, Bunbury. To book an appointment, contact our Local Studies Officer via email, by calling 9792 7284, or by submitting the below Enquiry Form.
The Local Studies Reading Room is open Tuesdays 3pm to 5pm and Wednesdays 9am to 1pm, no appointments are required. The Reading Room allows community members to ask our Local Studies expert any local history questions, assistance with research or access to archive materials.
FAQ - Accessing Records
Reference books can be accessed at the Museum during opening hours. If you wish to view records please contact the Local Studies Officer to book a seat in our reading room. We suggest you give two weeks’ notice where possible as seats are limited.
To make an appointment, contact 08 9792 7075 or localstudies@bunbury.wa.gov.au.
You may also complete an online Local Studies Research Request for our Local Studies Officer to investigate. We allow 30 minutes per enquiry, so the more information you can provide the more accurate our search will be on your behalf.
For further self-guided research, you are encouraged to check out our Useful Websites list, and talk to the heritage organisations of Greater Bunbury.
Our Local Studies collection comprises documents relating to Council functions, and records created by our staff in the course of their duties or presented to Council or donated to our collection. These include minutes of Council Meetings, rate books, reports, maps, official photographs and records, oral histories, local history books and newspaper archives.
We hold copies of most Bunbury newspapers on microfilm (from 1853 to 2005) and paper copies of the Bunbury Mail (1990 to 2012). You are welcome to come and search these yourself by appointment.
Whilst we have a database listing items in the Museum and archive, we do not yet have a detailed index of names and locations mentioned in records. This means some searches are time consuming.
Not all records are available for public viewing, due to privacy and legal requirements or the delicate condition of the item. We may ask you to prove your identity and reason for requesting access or information to recent records.
Unfortunately, many records were lost in floods during the 1930’s, 50’s and 60’s, so even when we ‘should’ have some documentation, we don’t. Other items are deemed ‘State Records’ and were transferred to the State Archive prior to 2010, so it is always worth checking with them for Bunbury items.
Many records created and kept by other government or private organisations, such as businesses, community groups, health, school and faith bodies, have not been deposited with us. We suggest you contact those organisations, or their State/National office to see if access is possible.
If you have an image or document which could be digitised for our Local Studies Collection, or an artefact you would like to donate, please visit our Object Donations page to learn more.
Local Studies Enquiry Form
Bunbury Museum and Heritage Centre wishes to acknowledge that some material in the collections relating to First Nations people may be considered culturally sensitive. Items in our Local Studies and Museum collections may contain harmful or offensive language, images of deceased persons or depict distressing incidents. We acknowledge the rights of First Nations peoples to challenge and respond to their information and knowledges contained in our collections and records.