It was a sad start to the year when the western ringtail possums were declared critically endangered by the Minister for Environment on January 6.
Under section 14(4) of the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, the western ringtail possum is recognised as being specially protected fauna that is rare or likely to become extinct.
GeoCatch communications officer Sonia Lamond said Busselton and Dunsborough contains one of the most significant remaining populations of the western ringtail possum.
Ms Lamond said it was one of four mammals, including the woylie, Gilbert's potoroo, and central rock rat, that are now listed as critically endangered.
A Department of Parks and Wildlife spokesperson said by listing the species as ‘likely to become extinct,’ would trigger management actions and protection strategies to reduce the risk of a species becoming extinct.
Share riding also came to Busselton with the launch of Hi-Oscar after a lack of services in regional WA prompted the Perth co-founders Daniel Broughton and Jeremy Webb, to start the company.
Two months later Darren McAullay became Busselton’s first Hi-Oscar driver telling the Mail he was “absolutely stoked” to take on the role.
When the peppermint trees dropped their flowers, Busselton united to celebrate Noongar culture in the region at this year’s Birak Festival.
The Dunsborough community continued their fight to stop a Puma petrol station from being developed in their town centre.
To get around local planning laws the petrol station was labelled a convenience store with petrol bowsers by developers DCSC Pty Ltd and Puma Energy.
The Southern Joint Development Assessment Panel rejected the application twice before the developers took their case back to the State Administrative Tribunal.
After months of deliberation the tribunal made the decision to approve the application for a 24-hour Puma Energy “convenience store” in the centre of Dunsborough. In September, the SJDAP lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court opposing the SAT decision to approve the application.
Busselton Stamp Club member Neil Chaplin was delighted to see his idea for a stamp to commemorate the Busselton Jetty’s 150th anniversary come to fruition.
One lucky lady ducked into Callow’s Newsagency in Busselton on her way home from a bad day at work only to buy a winning lotto ticket.
Long-time family run business Home Timber and Hardware succumbed to the pressure of retail in the 21st century closing its doors after 30 years.
We watched in horror as the accused Capel driver Shaun Southern drove into oncoming traffic on the Bussell Highway killing much-loved community member Jenni Pratt.
Traditional custodian of the South West Wayne Webb returned ancestral remains of 13 Aboriginal people to their burial chambers in caves around the Capes.
2017 saw a change of state government bringing with it a year of uncertainty for the strong Liberal-held seat of Vasse.
The future of the Busselton Margaret River Airport was up in the air before the project even took off.
The newly elected government announced it would conduct a value optimisation review before releasing funding promised by the previous government to complete the airport project.
After months of review the state government agreed to fund the airport asking the City of Busselton to find cost-savings and scale-back parts of the project.
Premier Mark McGowan took the unusual step of stopping a civil lawsuit from proceeding against WA’s spud king Tony Galati.
Potato growers were trying to recoup millions of dollars they lost during regulation of the industry when rogue potato growers flouted the rules.
After a year of speculation Tourism Minister Paul Papalia was happy to report that the Margaret River Pro would be staying in the region for another two years.
Thanks to the efforts of Tourism WA and Surfing WA, Mark Lane and his crew were able to secure the event which the World Surf League had set on dropping from the tour.
After this year’s Margaret River Gourmet Escape, the state government announced it would change they way the event is run from 2019. The state government want to see the internationally recognised event stretched over the region and the Swan Valley in Perth.
And in federal politics, we finally saw same sex marriage become law after the government spent $100 million on a plebiscite.
We also got a visit from the PM, Malcolm Turnbull came to Busselton to announce $1.5 million in funding towards the Busselton foreshore redevelopment project. It was the first time a PM had been in Busselton for 71 years following in the footsteps of Ben Chifley and Stanley Bruce.
The Busselton and Margaret River regions grew by 21 per cent since 2011 making it the third fastest growing region in WA, according to the 2016 Census data.
Within the City of Busselton the Census results showed there were 36,686 people living in the area with 51 per cent of the population being female and the median age being 42 years.
There were 9786 families recorded in the region with the average family have 1.9 children.
More than 18,600 dwelling were recorded in the city with an average of 2.5 people living in each household.
The median weekly household income was $1300 with the median monthly mortgage repayment being $1863 or the median weekly rent being $350.
On average there were two motor vehicles at each dwelling.
