MEMBERS of the Bussell family have made their own contribution to mark the 175th anniversary of their ancestors settling in the town that has been named after them.
Vern Bussell, the great grandson of Alfred and Ellen Bussell, said the descendants of Alfred and Ellen had contributed the funds to replace their pioneer headstone in the St Mary’s Church historic cemetery.
The new grave was installed last Friday. The project, that needed WA Heritage Council approval, took just over a year and cost around $10,000.
Vern, who is the president of the Alfred and Ellen Bussell Memorial Committee, said it was planned to have a small family ceremony to mark the event.
“We’ve been working on the project to restore and replicate our great grandfather’s original headstone for just over 12 months. It’s quite an historic day as we are still in the 175th anniversary year for Busselton, which we think is excellent,” Vern said.
“This will be part of the contribution from our branch of the Bussells towards that occasion.
“Alfred Pickmore Bussell and his wife Ellen (Heppingstone), after their marriage in 1850, went on to become pioneers of Margaret River.
“They built and lived in the wonderful Wallcliffe House at Margaret River, after settling initially at Ellensbrook. They had nine surviving children and one of them, Grace, with their Aboriginal stockman Sam Isaacs, rode into the surf to save passengers from the wreck of the Georgette in 1876.
“Alfred, like his eldest brother John Garrett Bussell, became a member of WA’s first state parliament.”
He was the youngest of the five pioneer Bussell brothers, who are all buried at the St Mary’s cemetery.
Vern said they had to overcome one small hiccup with the headstone. When they sought to verify Alfred’s age the Battye Library had him as having died at 66.
“We were a little bit doubtful about that from some of the records of his youth, so we got in touch with the church where he was actually baptised, at Portsea in Hampshire England.
“They provided a photocopy of the original baptismal records. The baptism was carried out by Alfred’s father, the Rev William Marchant Bussell, who was the clergyman at the church of St Mary’s Portsea at that time.
“It showed his birth date as June 21, 1814. He died on October 18, 1882, so we now know he was actually 68 when he died. We sent the information to the Battye Library and they have since amended their records as well.
“By way of interest, my own father, Julius, who was Alfred’s grandson, was born in 1914, almost exactly 100 years later.
“And my son Julian’s birth date is the actual day that the Busselton settlement began. My other son Daniel’s birth date was the same day of the month that Alfred Pickmore died, October 18. So there are quite a few coincidental dates.
“We believe the replacement heritage memorial is a great achievement and we think everyone is going to be very happy when they have seen what we have been able to achieve.
“We raised all the money from the immediate descendents of Alfred and Ellen. We are pretty happy and we are planning a small dedication ceremony and celebration in St Mary’s Family Centre a little later on.
“We worked with the Heritage Council of WA on the project. While we have used more modern materials, the headstone itself is an authentic marble copy of the 1882 original.”
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