Around 8km northwest of Margaret River, Ellensbrook (1857) was the first home of settlers Alfred and Ellen Bussell. The Wardandi people welcomed them, gave them Noongar names, and led them to this sheltered site. The basic ramshackle house is constructed of paperbark, driftwood, timber, lime, dung and hair. Between 1899 and 1917, Edith Bussell, who farmed the property alone for many years, established an Aboriginal mission. Children were taught to read and write, and two became beneficiaries of Edith's will.
A short walk leads to Meekadarabee ('bathing place of the moon'), a beautiful grotto set below trickling rapids and surrounded by lush bush, associated with a pair of star-crossed Indigenous lovers. The grounds are open even when the house isn't.
