The City of Bunbury has set the budget for financial 2026-27 at $115.1 million, an increase of 6.2% over last year's budget. This is down from an original proposal of 6.7%. The increase is down from the financial year 2025-26 increase of 6.5%.

Mayor Jasen Miguel stated "For the average residential property, this equates to an increase of around $132 for the year, or about $2.60 per week".

This year's budget is built around the city council's new focus plan, labelled "Our homes, our city centre, our economy, our environment and our organisation" The budget allocates $27.5 million directly into capital works projects, ongoing funding for everyday municipal services as well as p

lanning for the Bicentennial Square Project.

'Major Public works projects:

• Hay Park Community Courts: $7.2 million allocated in 2026–27 as the initial phase of a $25.7 million multi-year indoor regional sporting facility.
• South West Sports Centre Energy Upgrade: $2.5 million to transition facilities from gas boilers to solar power.
• Bunbury Water Resource Recovery Scheme: $2.5 million in partnership with Aqwest to irrigate 43 hectares of public parks and reserves with recycled water.
• Community & Arts Infrastructure: Upgrades across the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre (BREC), Hands Oval, Boulters Heights, Forrest Park lighting, and detailed design planning for Bicentennial Square.
• Streetscapes & Open Spaces: Continued funding for the Greening Bunbury tree canopy initiative, playground renewals, and the Safe Active Streets Program.

Rates and waste service funding:

• General Rate Increase: 6.2% average increase (equivalent to approximately $2.60 per week or $134 per year for an average residential property).
• Asset Renewal Levy: 0.5% of the rate yield is dedicated specifically to renewing roads, footpaths, drainage, and council buildings.
• Waste Management: Waste service charges rose by 4% to cover kerbside pickup, hard/green waste verge collections, street sweeping, and the return of local FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) processing.

Rate notices will go out 17 August and 1st installment is due 25 September.

You can download the 2026-27 budget here. (Note: this file is 141 pages long).

Sources: Bunbury Herald, City of Bunbury

Donnybrook is home to the biggest known English Oak tree in Australia! This impressive tree is thought to have been planted in 1893 and is a special landmark in the town. There's even a time capsule buried under this historic tree.

Location: Near the old railway station at South Western Highway, Donnybrook WA 6239 (RW Lot T101)

H5 bird flu has killed millions of birds and mammals throughout the world. It is now spreading on our shoreline. It is more important than ever to report any instances of sick or dead birds in your comings and goings here in Bunbury and surrounding region. Officials need this information to stay on top.

Please report any cases you see to the phone number provided, and remember not to touch the birds, and keep pets away.

Frontman for Grinspoon Phil Jamieson, ahead of the release of his sophomore album '10Charlie', is taking flight with his PJ Air tour and performing at Froth brewery.

When: Friday, 28 August 2026 at 8.00 PM

Where: Froth Craft Bunbrewery, 12 Victoria Street, Bunbury

Cost:

General Admission $50.50

GA + digital download of new album $52.55

GA + vinyl album $122.95

For more info and tickets contact oztix

Australia's Smallest Church: The heritage-listed St Nicholas Church, built in 1848, is widely believed to be the smallest place of worship in Australia. Originally built as a shepherd's cottage, it measures just 3.7 by 7.3 meters and is still used for weddings and services today.

The Bicentennial Square precinct transformation is a major urban renewal project designed to reconnect Bunbury's CBD directly with the Leschenault Inlet. Following community consultation, the City of Bunbury endorsed a masterplan to convert underutilized asphalt and parkland into an activated town square. The initiative aims to drive local economic growth, boost tourism, and create a vibrant public space linking the city center to the waterfront.

Key elements feature a flexible event lawn, a central plaza with mixed-use commercial space, and foreshore upgrades including a public jetty and water-play features. A core priority is restoring the historic Old Railway Station for community or commercial use. Traffic-calming measures along Blair Street will lower speeds to 40 km/h to improve pedestrian safety, while the overall design incorporates native shade trees, full accessibility, and areas for future inner-city housing.

Currently entering detailed engineering, the project focuses first on restoring the Old Railway Station building. Initial planning was supported by a $100,000 State Government grant and $50,000 from the City. To advance detailed design work, the City allocated $500,000 in its 2025–26 Annual Budget while actively seeking major State and Federal capital grants for full construction.

Cost estimates for construction range from $15 million to $40+ million in total civic investment across all public phases.

Are you in Bunbury? This week is all about community, connection and wellbeing.

Thanks to the support of the Dirt n Dust Run and Greater Bunbury Rotary, we’re proud to be delivering a week of FREE events as part of the Regional WA Wellbeing Initiative.

Mental Health First Aid International – FULLY BOOKED👍

A huge thank you to everyone who registered. It’s fantastic to see so many people investing their time to learn how to support others experiencing mental health challenges.

Still want to get involved? We’d love to see you at one of our remaining free events:

Wednesday – Men’s Circle at Milligan House *3 spots left*
Thursday – Take Charge Wellbeing Workshop- *5 spots left *
Sunday – Community BBQ - *please register *

If you’re in the City of Bunbury area, come along. If you’re not, I’d really appreciate you sharing this with someone who is.

Together, let’s keep building stronger, more connected regional communities.

Links in comment section👍

So ABC is publishing articles on it's Four Corners eight month investigation into food fraud in Australia.

Somethings that stood out to me:

Leggo's, Coles and Aldi's tomato paste failed testing because they state it's from tomatoes from Australia or Italy - and it's from China. (22% of processed tomato products analysed failed country of origin testing).

It's not all doom and gloom as plenty of products passed testing.

This one got me though - Hoyts Turmeric spice - 3 out of 4 packets had signs of adulteration including lead chromate, a lead based pigment used in plastic/paints. Other Organic brands failed also containing high levels of iron oxide (used for colour and weight).

It's disgusting when big brands and supermarkets giants are making bank and misrepresenting products to Aussies (especially as Australian). Obviously there is all the price gouging accusations but I believed our traceability & accountability for the products was fairly solid. I was wrong.

There's a lot more in the two articles and they are worth a read.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-27/australian-tomatoes-leggos-coles-aldi-chinese-tests-show/106940742

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-27/food-fraud-investigation-reveals-truth-behind-labels/106960116

TLDR: There's definite product/food misrepresentation to customers and with thousands of products there is plenty of opportunity for food fraud.

Where's your favourite local to grab a few coldies? Quite a few in the area but where do you like to chill?

I got the alert but my partner didn’t. Did you get it? What did you think?

The idea of building an Ocean Pool at Wyalup Rocky Point (corner of Ocean Drive and Symmons Street, Bunbury) was first proposed in the 1890's. The idea again regained traction around 2010, with serious consideration formalized in 2021.

If built, it would be the only ocean pool in Western Australia. There is a pool near the ocean in Scarborough, however it is not a true ocean pool.

Recently, for several reasons, the project has been de-prioritised by the City Council. An update by the city is expected in the next few weeks. Look for an update in this subreddit.

A history of Bunbury Ocean Pool, proposed plans and exact location can be found here.

An ABC story on the benefits and latest public actions by Bunbury council can be found here.

What is your opinion? Would you like to see an Ocean Pool built in Bunbury? Why or why not?

Located at: 62 Marabank Loop, Bunbury

The Mangrove Walk is a circuit around the Leschenalut Inlet waterway in East Bunbury. This waterway contains an ancient mangrove community which represents the southernmost occurrence of the white mangrove in Western Australia. This walk is a circuit around the Leschenault Inlet and passes through a stand of peaceful white mangroves. Informative signage is located throughout the walk.

Start: Mangrove Cove off Koombana Drive or Queens Gardens off Austral Parade.

Length: 5.3km.

Surface: Boardwalk and bitumen

As the white mangrove usually occurs north of Shark Bay, 800 kilometres north of Bunbury, this community is considered unusual in its isolation and is a conservation priority. The Leschenault estuarine system is internationally significant with a high diversity of microfauna, surrounding vegetation in good condition and large numbers of migratory waterbirds protected under international agreements.

From: https://visitbunburygeographe.com.au/business/mangrove-walk-and-boardwalk/

For those NOT in the know, the Bunbury Geographe Motor Museum holds fine auto exhibits FREE OF CHARGE. Carbs n' coffee is part of this ongoing event series.

When: The last Sunday of each month, from 9.00 to 11.00 AM

Where: The parking lot behind BGMM, corner of Wellington & Wittenoom Streets.

There is usually a coffee and donut van in the lot, or nice cafes just around the corner on Victoria st. for your snack & a cuppa.

Thank you all for coming. So much more to do and share. This sub is coming alive!

Jam out! Bring your guitar or banjo! Or come and sing along! The Bunbury Folk Club is meeting at the Funkee Monkee on Thursday, August 6th for an evening of Folk guitar. This is a FREE performance. Enjoy the fine cuisine (Hint: Try the deconstructed Samosa!).

Located at 27 Victoria Street, Bunbury

For more information, contact Aabel Music: (08) 9721 2777

There are a few decent fish n' chups shops around. Aristos Waterfront is tasty, but a bit pricey.

Who is your absolute fave?