Greenbushes - The highest point of the Darling Scarp

Site updated April 2009

Welcome to Greenbushes - the highest point of the Darling Scarp

This historic mining/timber town is situated 250km south of Perth and is located between Balingup and Bridgetown on the south west highway in the state's south-west. Greenbushes has a tantalising history and is well worth a visit.

Explore the rich seams of the Greenbushes story beginning with the discovery of a pound of tin in a creek in 1888 through to the development of a mining industry that supplies 35 percent of the world's demand for the strategic mineral tantalum.

This small town has contributed for over a century to the wealth of the Bridgetown-Greenbushes shire through its mining, timber and agricultural industries.

Named for the unusual "green bushes" surrounding a well frequented by thirsty travellers journeying from Bunbury to parts south in the late 1880's, Greenbushes is situated on the oldest gazetted minerals field in WA and at 324 metres above sea level occupies the highest point of the Darling scarp.

Click here for the Bulletin Board

THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO IN GREENBUSHES ...

Visit the Discovery Centre (a member of the SW Working Life Trail) - a multi-media display unique to the South West.
Go to the mine lookout and see the Cornwall Pit.
Experience the sights and sounds of an underground mine in the "Discovery Decline" and enjoy the interaction in the "Discovery Forest" at the Discovery Centre.
Enjoy a walk on one of three signed walk trails in bush surrounding Greenbushes.
Pop into the Telecentre and send an email !
Join one of the many Community Groups in the town.
Enjoy a picnic at the Greenbushes Pool on Spring Gully Road.
Go for a drive around the district.
Fire up the barbeques at the Heritage Park or Information Bay Picnic Area.
Stay for a day or two at Maranup Ford Caravan & Camping, local hotels or B&B's in the Blackwood Valley.
Take part in the Discovery Centre's annual Wattle Walk in August.
Taste the “Two Tinsmiths” at Wattle Ridge Winery – just off the South-West Highway at Greenbushes. Look for the signs.

Next time you make a call on your mobile phone, take that picture on your digital camera or start up your laptop computer, chances are you'll be using Australian tantalum – mined at Greenbushes in Western Australia. For inside many electronic devices there is a tantalum capacitor and the raw material for these capacitors ( tantalite concentrate) is mined at Greenbushes - the location of one of the world’s largest defined resources of tantalum.
But the story doesn't end there ... click on a link above to find more.