Bremer Bay, Western Australia

Bremer Bay is a coastal town situated on the south coast of Western Australia, in the Great Southern region between Albany and Esperance, at the mouth of the Bremer River. Bremer Bay is 515 km southeast of the state capital, Perth, and 180 km east of Albany. It is on the lands of the Southern Noongar (sometimes known as the Koreng) people of the Noongar nation. The Wagyl Kaip and Southern Noongar claim for Native Title was made in September 2006, and is in-progress today.

Demographics
In 2016, the townsite had a population of 231. Over the 2018 Christmas and New Year holiday period, the town's population reached almost 6,500.

European settlement
After visiting the area in 1831, the bay was named after Sir James Bremer by John Septimus Roe, captain of HMS Tamar (1814), onboard which he served as a lieutenant from 1824 to 1827.

The area was first settled by Europeans in the 1850s; the Wellstead homestead, the area's first, was established in 1861.

Originally, Bremer Bay was included in the township of Wellstead; a local petition, in 1951, favoured a change to the current name, which was approved and gazetted in 1962.

In 2012, Bremer Bay was menaced for five days by a looming bushfire, just outside of town, which began when vegetation was ignited by lightning. The fire burnt through nearly 10,000 ha of agricultural property and bushland and required 120 firefighters to contain it.

Bremer Bay Telegraph Station, 1875-
In 1874, Bremer Bay was identified as a site for a Repeater Station on the East-West Telegraph Line from Perth to Adelaide via Eucla. The first telegraph station was built in 1875 -- it was a small timber building with a shingle roof.

The Repeater Stations along the East-West LIne was staffed by a Station master, an assistant, linesmen and frequently Aboriginal workers. Personnel at Bremer Bay included:


 * Mary Wellstead (b. 1850, d. 1894), trained by James Coates Fleming, Superintendent of Telegraphy. Mary was the telegraph operator at Bremer Bay from 1875-1877, and served as an assistant until 1881 when she married John James Harris.
 * George Philip Stevens (c. 1861, d.1941 ),  known as GPS, arrived at Bremer Bay in late 1877. He would later be the Station Master at the Eucla Telegraph Station, and then Manager of Telegraphy in the Colony of Western Australia. He was still employed in government service in the 1930s.

The original station, along with several others along the line, was replaced in 1896 with a larger stone building designed by George Temple Poole.

The repeater station is still standing. Since 1986, it has been on the Register of the National Estate. It is currently a cafe and bakery. 

Amenities
Bremer Bay is known for its beautiful beaches, and the main beach is only a ten-minute walk from town. A marina at Fishery Beach offers full boating facilities. The Bremer Marine Park lies offshore. Electricity is generated by a wind-diesel hybrid system.