In 1839 Governor Hutt appointed "the place in Geographe Bay opposite the Settlement at The Vasse to be the legal place for the loading and unloading of goods". Construction of the jetty, which was originally known as the Vasse Jetty, commenced in 1864 after persistent pressure by settlers. Timber merchant Henry Yelverton was awarded the tender for construction and in 1865 the first 176 metre section of the jetty was opened. In 1875 an additional 143 metres was added to the original structure, as over 10 years' accumulation of drift sands had made the water too shallow for mooring. The jetty was continually extended until the 1960s when it reached its current length of 1,841 metres. Fires on the jetty were commonplace, with some attributed to fishermen carelessly disposing of burning cigarettes or to sparks falling from the train's fire box but it wasn't fire that brought the downfall of the jetty, it was Cyclone Alby in 1978!
Nowadays the Busselton Jetty is celebrated as the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at 1,841 metres and is managed by the Busselton Jetty Inc which is a not-for-profit community organisation. Almost a million visitors visit this much loved tourist destination each year and this is a testament to the community that banded together to get the jetty repaired after Cyclone Alby.
