Bussell family
Encyclopedia
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. Four members of the Bussell family emigrated from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to Western Australia in 1831, with more members following in the next few years. On arriving in Western Australia, the Bussells found that all of the good farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
land around Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
and Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
had already been granted
Land grants in the Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, established in June 1829, was the only British colony in Australia established on the basis of land grants to settlers. Under the conditions stipulated by the Colonial Office, settlers would be granted land in proportion to the value of assets and labour that they brought to...
, and were advised by the Governor
Governor of Western Australia
The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
, Sir James Stirling
James Stirling (Australian governor)
Admiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia...
, to form a sub-colony in the vicinity of Cape Leeuwin
Cape Leeuwin
Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian Continent, in the state of Western Australia.A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further to the south. The nearest settlement, north of the cape, is Augusta. South-east of Cape Leeuwin, the coast...
. The Bussells first settled in the Augusta
Augusta, Western Australia
Augusta is a town on the south-west coast of Western Australia, where the Blackwood River emerges into Flinders Bay. It is the nearest town to Cape Leeuwin, on the farthest south-west corner of the Australian continent. In the 2001 census it had a population of 1,694; by 2006 the population of...
area, but met with little success. After a number of exploring expeditions, John Bussell
John Bussell
John Garrett Bussell was an early settler in Western Australia.John Garrett Bussell was born at Portsea, Hampshire in England on 16 August 1803. He was educated at Winchester College in England, but after the death of his father the family decided to emigrate to Western Australia...
discovered good farm land in the Vasse
Vasse, Western Australia
Vasse is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, west of the town of Busselton and southwest of Perth. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Busselton...
, and the family moved there in 1834. The town of Busselton
Busselton, Western Australia
-Growth and development:According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the Shire had a permanent resident population of 25,950 in 2004 with the town of Busselton accounting for 67% or 17,400 of the total. The Shire's permanent population is expected to continue to increase significantly to...
is named in their honour.
Many of the Bussells were prolific letter-writers, and much of their correspondence has been preserved. These letters provide an outstanding record of the lives of a class of settler that were largely neglected by contemporary historians and record-keepers. Consequently they have been much studied by modern historians.
On 14 August 2007, The West Australian Newspaper
The West Australian
The West Australian is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by ASX-listed Seven West Media . The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Limited publication...
reported that the J S Battye Library
J S Battye Library
The J S Battye Library is an arm of the State Library of Western Australia...
had paid a possible WA record $91,000 at auction for the personal diaries of Vernon Bussell.
Members of the Bussell family include:
- Frances Louisa Bussell
- her first son John BussellJohn BussellJohn Garrett Bussell was an early settler in Western Australia.John Garrett Bussell was born at Portsea, Hampshire in England on 16 August 1803. He was educated at Winchester College in England, but after the death of his father the family decided to emigrate to Western Australia...
, explorer and MLCWestern Australian Legislative CouncilThe Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state... - her second son William Bussell (who did not emigrate with the rest of the family)
- her third son Lenox Bussell
- her fourth son Charles Bussell
- her fifth son Joseph Vernon Bussell (known as Vernon Bussell)
- her sixth son Alfred BussellAlfred BussellAlfred Pickmore Bussell was an early settler in Western Australia.Alfred Bussell was born at Portsea, Hampshire in England on 21 June 1816. He was educated at Winchester College in England, but after the death of his father the family decided to emigrate to Western Australia...
, explorer and MLCWestern Australian Legislative CouncilThe Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...
- his wife Ellen Bussell
- his daughter Grace Drake-BrockmanGrace BussellGrace Vernon Bussell , later Grace Drake-Brockman, was the 16-year-old heroine of the SS Georgette disaster in Western Australia on 1 December 1876. Bussell, along with Aboriginal stockman Sam Isaacs, helped save the lives of around 50 people with a quick thinking rescue from shore...
(née Bussell) of SS GeorgetteSS GeorgetteSS Georgette was a steamship built in 1872. She is best known, especially in Irish-American circles for the part played in the story of the Catalpa rescue in April 1876. While the events surrounding her shipwrecking eight months later are dramatic and did capture the imagination of the local...
shipwreckShipwreckA shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
fame
- her first daughter Mary Bussell
- her second daughter Frances Bussell
- her third daughter Elizabeth "Bessie" Bussell
- her niece Capel Carter, after whom is named the Capel River and the town and Shire of CapelCapel, Western AustraliaCapel is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, located 212 kilometres south of Perth and midway between Bunbury and Busselton....
.
- her first son John Bussell