Vasse is a town in the South West region of 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...

, 10 kilometres (6 mi) west of 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...

 and 240 kilometres (149 mi) southwest of 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....

. Its Local Government Area

Local Government Areas of Western Australia

The Australian state of Western Australia is divided into 141 local government areas...

 is the Shire of Busselton. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Vasse had a population of 1,316.

The town is named after the Vasse River

Vasse River

The Vasse River is a river in the South West of Western Australia.The headwaters of the river rise in the Whicher Range below Chapman Hill and flows in the northerly direction until discharging into the Vasse Estuary near Busselton and then the Indian Ocean via Wonnerup Inlet and Geographe Bay.The...

 and Vasse Estuary, both of which in turn are named after French seaman, Thomas Vasse

Thomas Vasse

Thomas Timothée Vasse was a French sailor who was lost in the surf on the south west coast of Australia in 1801, and presumed drowned...

, that disappeared in the area in June 1801 during Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas-Thomas Baudin was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company...

's expedition. The population of Vasse is around 75 (2001 estimate) but is expected to increase to around 5,000 on the completion of the Vasse Newtown Development by around 2012. http://www.vassenewtown.com.au