Shipwreck Databases Western Australian Museum

The 2012 Bunbury Jetty Survey

Author/s J.N. Green

Year of publication 2012

Report Number: 291

Introduction
In March 2012 the Department of Maritime Archaeology was contacted by the City of Bunbury advising that the Bunbury Timber Jetty was planned to be deconstructed. In the scope of works, it was suggested that a side scan sonar and magnetometer survey should be included. It was agreed that the Department would conduct a survey to examine what features were significant before the work took place and to support the maritime archaeological watching brief.

On 1 May 2012, a survey was undertaken of the jetty area. The results showed that there was significant geomagnetism in the area that would make a magnetometer survey difficult. The geomagnetic effect is a result of the underlying geology that has some from of residual ferromagnetism which could be due to old geological watercourses or ferromagnetic igneous rock or basalt. In addition, the presence of a large bulk carrier on the adjacent Number One wharf added to the magnetic problems. Thus the magnetometer survey was abandoned. However, the side scan survey was extremely productive and the conditions on the day were perfect, resulting in high resolution images of the jetty structure and surrounding area.