Captain Stirling Gazebo

Cententary Pavilion was relocated to the site in 1995, the pavilion marks the site of the meeting between Governor Stirling and Lieutenant Henry St Pierre Bunbury on 21 December 1836, after Bunbury’s party crossed the Preston River at the Picton ford, they explored the area, which local Nyoongars called ‘Goomburrup’ and met up with Stirling on what was to become, many years later, the site of the Bunbury Primary School. The pavilion was built in 1936 in Centennial Gardens to commemorate the centenary of the naming of Bunbury. A plaque in the Centenary Gardens commemorates the proclamation of the townsite as Bunbury. The proclamation of the townsite occurred on 26 March 1841. The Governor announced that he would rename the settlement Port Leschenault in honour of Lieutenant Bunbury. Lieutenant Bunbury only visited the town once more – in 1837 – before leaving the colony to mark out a distinguished military career in India, Gibraltar and the Crimea.