KALAMUNDA

HEMA Map reference 74/C3

31° 58' 12" S 116° 02' 59" E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

Unknown

Services

See Perth

Attractions

Mason-Bird Heritage trail, History Village, Mundaring Weir, Lesmurdie Falls, Kalamunda National Park.

Buildings of note

Unknown

Calendar of events

Unknown

Description

Located on top of the Darling Scarp east of Perth, Kalamunda saw high growth rates in the early 1980s and now is a well developed outer suburb of the main city.

Early settlement in the area included a timber mill at Bickley started by Benjamin Mason in 1864.

In 1881, Frederick and Elizabeth Stirk cleared 10 acres of land for farming at the site where Stirk Park now stands.

In the 1890s the Zig Zag railway was constructed with the steep ascent being overcome by switching the track in a zig zag fashion.

The site was first developed in 1901 and since no Aboriginal name for the area was known the words cala (bush) munnda (hearth) were chosen and the spelling later revised to its current form.

Slee & Shaw's book 'Cala Munda: A home in the forest' describes the early work of the loggers in the area.

'A pair of sawyers would select a suitable tree and then cut a scarf in one side with their axes and fell it by cutting through from the opposite side with a cross-cut saw. They would then dock the trunk of the tree into suitable lengths with the saw. The next step was to dig a saw pit in the ground. This could be 6 metres to 9 metres long, 1.2 metres wide and 1.2 metres or more deep. A team of horses would drag a section of the docked log up on to skids which were placed across the saw pit, so that the log lay lengthwise along the pit. One man then stood in the pit and the other on top of the log, and with a pit saw they would proceed to cut the log into planks of various thickness, cutting to a chalk line, or a line made from the sooty bark of a jarrah tree rubbed into the string. This unbelievably laborious task was carried out every day in dozens of saw pits around Perth'.

With over 200 orchards in the shire, Kalamunda is regarded as the second largest fruit growing area in the state. About half an hours drive from Perth, Kalamunda is an attractive town with all the facilities of inner suburban living without the traffic and the stress. It's close proximity to the surrounding bush land and several National Parks make it ideal for a days outing. Although the central part of the town is now quite heavily developed, there are still many quiet isolated areas where you can still enjoy the peace and quiet of the bush.