Bussell family

The Bussell family were a family of early settlers in colonial Western Australia. The four brothers John, Joseph, Alfred and Charles emigrated from England on the Warrior, arriving at Fremantle on 12 March 1830. Lennox, Frances and Elizabeth arrived at Fremantle on the Cygnet on 27 January 1833, and Mrs Frances Louisa and Mary arrived at Albany on 19 June 1834.

On arriving in Western Australia, the Bussells found that all of the good farm land around Perth and Fremantle had already been granted, and were advised by the Governor, Sir James Stirling, to form a sub-colony in the vicinity of Cape Leeuwin. The Bussells first settled in the Augusta area in May 1830, but met with little success. After a number of exploring expeditions, John Bussell discovered good farm land in the Vasse in December 1831, and by 1834 the family had established a property named "Cattle Chosen". The town of Busselton, surveyed in 1837, is named in their honour.

Many of the Bussells were prolific letter-writers, and much of their correspondence has been preserved. These letters provide an outstanding record of the lives of a class of settler that were largely neglected by contemporary historians and record-keepers. Consequently, they have been much studied by modern historians.

On 14 August 2007, The West Australian Newspaper reported that the J S Battye Library had paid a possible WA record $91,000 at auction for the personal diaries of Vernon Bussell.

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