Greenbushes Discovery Centre

15/06/2026

Mining Monday is back again.

Water has always been such a huge part of the tin mining process.

Can anyone tell us where this was?

14/06/2026

Francis Edward Wykes Willmott followed Charles Layman into the role of member of Parliament for the Nelson District in 1914.

Francis was born in Suffolk England in 1870. He was the leader of the Country Party in Western Australia from 31st March 1915 until 30th July 1919, the very important World War 1 era. He served in the Legislative Assembly from 1914 to 1921 and then the Legislative Council from 1921 to 1926.

Arriving from England in 1886, he worked on Edward Brockman's property in Bridgetown and married Edward's daughter Frances.

In 1896 he worked for the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme on tanks at Niagara and Mulline. Niagara Dam is a significant site in that scheme. He then supervised building the road between Widgiemooltha and Esperance before returning to Bridgetown. From 1902 he worked for the Forests Department.

He and Frances had 6 children. 1 daughter died age 1 and is buried at Bridgetown, the other married William Hester. They had 4 boys.

Francis died in Subiaco on 29th January 1941.

ABC South West

13/06/2026

The WA Football League ladder is an interesting start to the day.

West Perth has a good grip on the wooden spoon at the moment. We wondered what one of their most famous players Graham Vivian "Polly" Farmer would recommend to them.

Graham's mum was from Katanning and was a Noongar woman. He was born in North Fremantle at the Hillcrest Hospital in 1935. He was bought to Greenbushes as a child under government policy at that time.

His left leg was shorter than his right after polio. He had a lot of energy as a child and talked non stop earning the nickname Polly the Parrot.

A legend in all walks of life, he had a major road named after him, and given an MBE for his service to sport and community.

We are very proud he has a connection to Greenbushes.

ABC South West AFL

12/06/2026

Whooooooooooooo's keen for tomorrow?

It had to be done!

Yes back to normal tomorrow. Open 10am - 2pm with lots to see as always.

11/06/2026

Wonder if the movie set of Breakers looks like our "set"?

We will have to wait and see when it goes to air on Netflix later in the year.

Meanwhile we will be open again on Saturday 13th and can't wait to see everyone.

Bridgetown Greenbushes Business and Tourism Association

10/06/2026

Hope everyone had a good day with the film crews back in town for Breakers.

Two more days, and we will have the Centre open again on Saturday 10am - 2pm.

ABC South West Donnybrook-Balingup Community Radio 102.1FM & 98.5FM

09/06/2026

Red Bluff Productions will be back in town every day this week working on for a UK company for Netflix.

Today 10.45am to 9.00pm
Wednesday 10am to 8.15pm
Thursday 9.00am to 7.15pm
Friday 8.00am to 5.30pm.

That means we are closed Wednesday and Friday and ready to open again on Saturday 13th.

Any issues you can call Stephen Jones the Location Manager on 0450344770.

08/06/2026

We're foregoing Mining Monday this week to bring you the joyous news that we have a fully private water closet at the Cemetery!

Huge thanks to Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes for allowing the visitors and locals alike to take a private moment of contemplation rather than a public viewing.

This is appreciated and we know it's frustrating when people vandalise and remove materials that seem quite insignificant, but are truly important.

07/06/2026

Next in our series of local members of Parliament is Charles Henry Layman. It also contains details of deaths of Aboriginal people.

Charles was born in Vasse in 1868 as his family had land at Wonnerup. His father Charles was also born at Wonnerup in 1838 and had also been a member of the West Australian Legislative Council from 1884 to 1888. His grandfather George died at Wonnerup in 1841 after being speared by a Noongar man. Fellow settlers sought revenge, and many Noongar men, women and children were killed. The link to the news article is here for anyone who wishes to read it.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article6558164

Charles Henry Layman who lived in Greenbushes was married to Florence Reynolds in Busselton in 1893. They had 5 sons and 3 daughters. They were listed in 1903 at Bunbury end as storekeepers and we have a photo of the store going into our Railway Station displays later in the year.

Charles served as an Independent in 1904-1905, as a Ministerial in 1905-1911 and as a Liberal in 1911-1914. It was noted he would vie with Nanson for being the tallest member of parliament.

Charles died in 1926 and is buried in Bridgetown Cemetery.
Bridgetown Historical Society ABC South West

07/06/2026

Wonderful to see Florio Da Re and his lovely wife yesterday. They delivered these incredible pieces made by him for the centre.

We appreciate this so very much and they will be a key feature in the centre.

Delivered to the Greenbushes Discovery Centre to honour Ted Kilmurray, Keith Wheeler and Pam Beggs (Austin) who lived in Greenbushes in the 40’ 50’s and 60’s. Ted was one of the kids in Sister Kates Home from 1943, played footy for East Perth. Just check his record. Keith Wheeler spent most of his childhood in Greenbushes and represented Australia in two Commonwealth Games , Perth and Jamaica. Second person in WA to break the 4 minute mile behind Herb Elliott. Pam Beggs joined the WRAAF in 1965 and was elected to WA parliament in 1983 to 1993. Now I’ll have to do one for Polly Farmer who was at Sister Kate’s the same time as Ted. Pam Beggs