Rather different from its boom times when it had a population of over 3000, Greenbushes now has a rustic charm. The town gets its name from the Green Bushes Well, located south of where the town now stands. The well was a watering place on the Bunbury – Bridgetown road and was so named because of the bright green bushes that grew in the area.

In 1886, a surveyor reported that the area near the well, contained tin in alluvial deposits. In 1888 David William Stinton found half a pound of tin in a gully resulting in an influx of miners and prospectors.

The town’s prosperity has always depended upon the timber industry and tin mining but more recently lithium and tantalum mining. Along with farming, both industries play a significant economic role in the town.

There is an enormous amount of history and natural beauty in Greenbushes and evidence still remains of the town’s past glories.

St Barnabas Church 1900

Stanifer Street, Greenbushes

St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Greenbushes was constructed in 1900 of jarrah weatherboards with a corrugated iron roof. The building is rectangular in form with a steeply pitched gabled roof and a small entry porch on the front elevation. Internally the church features fine jarrah wall and ceiling panelling, a lecturn and a pulpit donated by a mother grateful for the safe return of her son from World War I, a baptismal font donated by children of the Sunday School in 1918 and an altar built by the pastor in the 1950’s. The building is set in attractive church grounds. The original picket fence has been replaced by woven wire although some original posts remain.

The woven wire fence does not detract from the place and shows the evidence of changing fashion in fencing styles over time. The 1916 bellows organ is still in use and came from the Organ & Piano Company, England.

The Old Courthouse and Goal 1899 and 1906

Blackwood Road/Stanifer Street, Greenbushes

The Old Court House was originally the first Post Office built in 1893 and converted to courthouse in 1906. Largely demolished in 1932 by Herbert and Sons. The only remaining 1893 room is the northern most room known as the Warden’s room.

Calture 1906

32 Stanifer Street, Greenbushes

House constructed of railway sleepers by Mr R Williams, owner of the Gladstone Tin Mine. The building is in largely original condition including unusual sheet tin chimneys. It is the only remaining house of its type in the town.

Strathlea

Stanifer Street, Greenbushes

Two workers cottages probably dating back to the early 1900s.