Bunbury High School Crest

The choice of a crest for the new High School was not an easy matter. It had to be Western Australian, and if possible, not previously used for the purpose of heraldry. The decision to select the Kingia was made for the following reasons.

• The Kingia is a native of WA, confined to the south west area.
• It is a familiar object with a beauty of its own.
• Sometimes called the ‘grass tree’, it is a species of the lily family of plants and its full name is Kingia Australia
• Like the Blackboy, the Kingia is a plant of extraordinarily slow growth. Our guess, which may or may not be the truth places the rate at one foot in length in 100 years.

As a family, too, the Kingia and Blackboy are representative of very old types of vegetation such as formed the basis of coal deposits. The stem of the Kingia plant consists of a heart of tough closely interlocked plant fibres which are used to make hard brooms and brushes that have the ability to withstand a remarkable amount of rough usage.

The Kingia is then a thing of beauty, is purely Western Australian, has useful and varied purposes to fulfil and above all, has a good sound heart. It is a fitting symbol to form the crest of the BHS.

“Peter Pan” Kingia August 1923 pages 7-8