Ern Manea

Ernest Cosmo Manea He was of Irish and Greek descent. He completed secondary education by the time he was 15, having skipped several years of school. longest serving mayor. He was president of South Bunbury Football Club and the Bunbury District Football Association at times.

In 2002, Manea left the medical practice he had been working at since 1952 to create his own. He is also the adoptive father of Syd Jackson, who was a Stolen Generations child living at the Roelands Aboriginal Mission. Jackson became a talented footballer, playing for South Bunbury in the South West Football League, East Perth in the West Australian Football League, and Carlton in the Victorian Football League.

Manea died in his sleep on 16 October 2013, aged 86. He was survived by his wife, three sons and five grandchildren. Bunbury Mayor David Smith paid tribute to Manea, saying "I do not believe there has been any one in my lifetime who has contributed more to Bunbury and the South West."

Awards and honours Manea was one of the first recipients of the Local Government Medal. In the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed as an officer of the Order of Australia for "service to the community of Bunbury, to local government, to regional planning and development, and to the advancement of the harness racing industry."

In 1997, the City of Bunbury appointed Manea and his wife as Honorary Freeman of the City, the highest honour that a local government can give. They were the first people to be given the honour, and since then, it has been given two more times, to John Castrilli and Loretta Castrilli in 2017.

Manea Senior College, which opened in 2009 in the Bunbury suburb of College Grove, is named after Manea and his wife after he accepted an offer from Education and Training Minister Alan Carpenter in 2004 for the school to be named after him.

The match between South Bunbury and Donnybrook in the South West Football League has been known as the Manea Cup since 2014.