Ellensbrook Homestead The Ellensbrook Homestead was owned and built by the pioneer Alfred Bussell , who first settled at Ellensbrook in 1857 to set up a family beef and dairy
farm. He named the area after his wife, Ellen and the stream that ran through the property.The Wardandi (local Nyungar Aborigines) knew it as Mokidup. Mokidup was a traditional summer camping area for the Nyungar
Aborigines for thousands of years. From the Homestead you can also find a walk trail that leads to a cave at
Meekadarbee Falls. In Aboriginal legend, the cave is where the spirits of Aboriginal lovers, Mitanne &
Nobel live. If you listen carefully you can hear their laughter echoing in the waterfall. This sacred place
is known by the Aboriginals as the "bathing place of the Moon" and is surrounded by tall peppermint trees
which arch over the limestone cave behind the falls. Ellen Bussell used the cave to store and preserve the
butter she churned.
The Bussell family lived at Ellensbrook until 1865, but left the homestead following the death of three of their infant children. They moved to Wallcliffe House near the mouth of Margaret River. Alfred Bussell's sixteen year old daughter, Grace Bussell became a hero in 1876 when she and an Aboriginal stockman , Sam Isaacs , rescued passengers from the stricken steamship Georgette. After Alfred and his family moved from Ellensbrook the property was taken over by his sisters Fanny and Edith. Between 1899-1917, Edith established an Aboriginal Mission on the property, the "Ellensbrook Farm Home for Aboriginal Children". Nyungar people were able to work on the property in return for food and shelter. In 1979 the Ellensbrook property was donated to the National Trust. The waterwheel on the Ellensbrook property was used in the 1950's and was constructed from tuart and jarrah timbers and steel tyres. The salt laden winds have corroded much of the structure but the waterwheel is currently being restored.
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Alfred Bussell arrived in Western Australia on the 12th of March 1830 on the
ship "Warrior". He, like many settlers arrived at the Swan River Colony to take up land, but discovered on
arrival that all the fertile land near the colony was already taken up. Lieutenant-Governor James Stirling
persuaded the settlers to move south, to an area near Cape Leeuwin. Captain Molloy, a small military
detachment and about thirty settlers headed south and arrived in an area near the Blackwood River. Among the
new settlers from the "Warrior" were Captain John Molloy and his wife Georgiana and John, Charles, Vernon
& Alfred Bussell.
The Bussells eventually moved out of the Augusta area and settled in the
Margaret River area. Alfred Bussell built the Ellensbrook Homestead from crushed shells and limestone. A boat
mast was used as a ridge beam and rough bush poles & paperbark were used to create a framework for the
house which was later sealed with a special type of plaster. With the help of the local Aboriginals they
created a plaster by burning limestone from nearby dunes. 
The Bussells went from Augusta to the Vasse (Busselton). Only the youngest brother, Alfred Pickmore Bussell, settled at Margaret River.
Edith and Fanny were Alfred's daughters, not his sisters.