Open 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 on Thursdays from 9am to 1pm; no appointments are required. The Reading Room allows community members to ask our Local Studies expert any local history questions, receive 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 Bunbury Council functions, records created by our staff in the course of their duties, and items 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 microfilm copies of most Bunbury newspapers (1853 to 2005), and paper copies of the Bunbury Mail (1990 to 2013). Appointments can be made for people who wish to search these records personally.
Whilst we have a database listing items in the Museum and archive, we do not 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 because the item is in a delicate condition.
We may ask you to prove your identity and the reason for requesting access to or information about recent records.
Many records were lost in floods during the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s; unfortunately, some documentation that should be in the collection are missing. Other items are deemed ‘State Records’ and were transferred to the State Archive prior to 2010. It is always worth checking with the WA State Archive for Bunbury items.
We may not have many records created and kept by other government departments or private organisations, such as businesses, community groups, health, school, and faith bodies, unless they were donated for inclusion in the collection.
We suggest contacting 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.