In 2016 the townsite had a population of 231.[3] Over the 2018 Christmas and New Year holiday period the town's population reached almost 6,500.[4]
European Settlement
Recreational beach fishing at Dillon Bay, just east of Bremer Bay.
The bay was named by John Septimus Roe, who visited the area in 1831, after Sir James Bremer, captain of HMS Tamar, under whom he served as a lieutenant from 1824 to 1827.[5][6]
The area was settled by Europeans in the 1850s with the first homestead, the Wellstead homestead being built in 1861.[7]
The town was originally included in the township of Wellstead until a local petition in 1951 favoured a change to the current name, which was approved and gazetted in 1962.[8]
In 2012, the town was menaced by a bushfire that burnt for five days after being started by lightning. The fire burnt out 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of farmland and bushland, requiring 120 fire-fighters to bring it under control just outside the town.[9]
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.[10] The first telegraph station was built in 1875 -- it was a small timber building with a shingle roof.[11]
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),[12] 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.[13]
George Philip Stevens (c. 1861, d.1941 ),[14][15] 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.[16]
The original station, along with several others along the line, was replaced in 1896 with a larger stone building designed by George Temple Poole.[17]
The repeater station is still standing. Since 1986, it has been on the Register of the National Estate.[2] It is currently a cafe and bakery. [3]
Amenities
Bremer Bay is known for its beautiful beaches; the main beach is only 10 minutes walk from town. A marina at Fishery Beach offers full boating facilities.[18] The Bremer Marine Park lies offshore. Electricity is generated by a wind-diesel hybrid system.
^Jackson, Janice Lynne Burton (1982). Not an Idle Man: A Biography of John Septimus Roe. Western Australia's First Surveyor-general, 1797–1878. West Swan, W.A.: M.B. Roe.
^Uren, Malcolm (1967). "Roe, John Septimus (1797–1878)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
^"GENERAL NEWS". Daily News. 25 February 1896. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
