Kalamunda ( nys, Karlamarda) is a town and eastern suburb of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia, located in the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...

at the eastern limits of the

metropolitan area.

History

Indigenous

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

people were the first inhabitants of the area. The first permanent European settlers were the family of Frederick and Elizabeth Stirk, who arrived in 1881 and established a property called Headingly Hill at what is now Stirk Park; their house, Stirk Cottage, is now a museum. More settlers moved in during the 1890s, aided by the advent of the

Kalamunda Zig Zag The Kalamunda Zig Zag was a Zig zag (railway), zig zag rail line that was part of the Upper Darling Range Railway line in Western Australia, opening in July 1891 and closing in July 1949. Most of it was converted to a public road in 1952, part o ...

railway. At this time the Kalamunda area was known as "Gooseberry Hill". The name ''Kalamunda'' was declared on 13 December 1901 after a request from thirty-two residents to form a townsite. They requested the name "Calamunnda", derived from two words in the indigenous

Noongar language Noongar (; also Nyungar ) is an Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broadcasti ...

, as recorded in a book by Bishop

Rosendo Salvado Rosendo Salvado Rotea OSB (1 March 1814 – 29 December 1900) was a Spanish Benedictine monk, missionary, bishop, author, founder and first abbot of the Territorial Abbey of New Norcia in Western Australia. Early life and background Salvado was ...

: ''cala'' meaning "fire", "home", "district", or "settlement" and ''mun-da'' meaning "forest" or "bush". Surveyor-General

Harry Johnston Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (12 June 1858 – 31 July 1927), known as Harry Johnston, was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely in Africa and spoke many African languages. He publishe ...

respelt the name as "Kalamunnda" and it was changed to "Kalamunda" by 1901. The local government area's unofficial motto is "A home in the forest".

Environment

Geography

At above sea level, Kalamunda and the surrounding areas experience colder night temperatures than the bulk of the Perth Metropolitan area to the west. Deep clay soils in the valleys in this area provide ideal growing conditions for stone fruits, apples and pears, wine production and for a small commercial rose growing industry. The suburb of Gooseberry Hill is located to the north of Kalamunda where the terrain drops away sharply to the Helena Valley effectively isolating Kalamunda from other Darling Scarp population centres to the north. To the south and east the urban area transitions into the semi-rural and orchard growing areas of

Bickley Bickley is a district and a local government electoral ward in South East London, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is located 10.4 miles (16.7 km) south east of Charing Cross, bordering Elmstead, London, Elmstead to the north, Chis ...

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

and Pickering Brook, which in turn give way to extensive jarrah and marri forests. Located nearby is the

Kalamunda National Park Kalamunda National Park is a national park in Western Australia, east of Perth, near the town of Kalamunda. Description The park is composed of typical Darling Scarp woodland including species of marri, jarrah and wandoo with a diverse under ...

and the northern terminus of the

Bibbulmun Track The Bibbulmun Track is a long-distance walk trail in Western Australia. It runs from Kalamunda in the east of Perth to Albany, and is long. It is managed by government agencies, and has a foundation. It traverses the Darling Range and has i ...

, a 963 km recreational walking trail.

Important Bird Area

The town lies within the

Mundaring-Kalamunda Important Bird Area The Mundaring-Kalamunda Important Bird Area comprises a fragmented 137 km2 of land centred on the towns of Mundaring and Kalamunda in the Darling Scarp region of Western Australia. It lies inside, as well as adjacent to the Beelu Natio ...

, so identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance as a non-breeding season roost site and foraging base for

Long-billed Black Cockatoo Baudin's black cockatoo (''Zanda baudinii''), also known as Baudin's cockatoo or the long-billed black cockatoo, is a species of genus '' Zanda'' found in southwest Australia. The epithet commemorates the French explorer Nicolas Baudin. It has ...

Climate

Kalamunda has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

with hot dry summers and cool wet winters. Due to the suburb's high elevation of around above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

and location on the

, it is a few degrees cooler in winter than Perth; however, this difference is less pronounced in summer as Kalamunda is less affected than Perth by the regular afternoon sea breeze, the

Fremantle Doctor The Fremantle Doctor, the Freo Doctor, or simply The Doctor, is the Western Australian vernacular term for the cooling afternoon sea breeze that occurs during summer months in Southwest Australia, south west Coastal regions of Western Australia, ...

, due to its inland location. Kalamunda is far wetter than the city with over of annual rainfall, due to its location in the Darling Scarp.

Transport

Kalamunda Road Kalamunda Road is a minor arterial road linking the historic suburb of South Guildford with the Darling Scarp suburb of Kalamunda, in Perth, Western Australia. It serves as a major access road for Perth Airport, and provides the foothills su ...

serves as a major access road for

Perth Airport Perth Airport is an international, domestic and general aviation airport serving Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is the fourth busiest airport in Australia measured by passenger movements and falls within the boundaries of ...

, and provides the foothills suburbs with access to the

Perth central business district Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

. The suburb is serviced by the

Kalamunda bus station Kalamunda bus station is a Transperth bus station located next to the Kalamunda Central shopping centre in Kalamunda, Western Australia. It has four stands and is served by eight Transperth routes operated by Path Transit Path Transit is an ...

, which provides bus services across the Perth metropolitan area. Kalamunda was once part of a thriving logging region, with

Kalamunda railway station Kalamunda railway station was a major station on the Upper Darling Range Railway in Western Australia serving the town of Kalamunda. It was known earlier as ''Stirk's Landing'' and was located at a distance 20 miles from Perth. History When t ...

the largest station on the

Upper Darling Range Railway The Upper Darling Range Railway (also known as the Upper Darling Range Branch) was a branch railway from Midland Junction, Western Australia, that rose up the southern side of the Helena Valley and on to the Darling Scarp via the Kalamunda Z ...

. The area has a number of features as a result of this railway including a museum at the site of the original station. Typical rail side road structures with a rail reserve between and the

Zig Zag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a ...

road on the old section where the railway climbed the

. It is at Gooseberry Hill that the railway used to descend from the hills to

Midland Junction Midland is a suburb in the Perth metropolitan region, as well as the regional centre for the City of Swan local government area that covers the Swan Valley and parts of the Darling Scarp to the east. It is situated at the intersection of G ...

, dropping 300 metres in a series of 5 zig-zag shunts. The railway line has been replaced by a single lane, one-way scenic drive that follows the old track.

Facilities

Kalamunda has extensive areas with orchards, primarily involved in apple and

stone fruit In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel' ...

production. The region largely serves as a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

suburb for Perth workers. It has a modest

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

sector, and a small

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

base. While the town's retail centre is the largest in the Darling Scarp it primarily services Kalamunda and the contiguous urbanised areas of Lesmurdie and Walliston. Kalamunda and the surrounding areas have an

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

s and

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

s tradition, and are home to three major Perth residential colleges. Conservation groups are active within the community, and efforts have been made (largely successfully) to maintain native vegetation adjacent to the urban areas, and to some extent with the urban area. Kalamunda is home to the television towers of all free-to-air Perth Television stations, and the approach control radar for

Demographics

In the , Kalamunda had a population of 6,970; 48.3% male and 51.7% female. The median age of Kalamunda residents was 47, and median weekly personal income was $676. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.7% of the population. The most popular religious affiliations in descending order in the 2016 census were No Religion 33.1%, Catholic 22.4%, Anglican 18.8%, Not Stated 9.0% and Christian, nfd 3.8%. Christianity was the largest religious group reported overall (61.4%) (this figure excludes not stated responses). The population profile of Kalamunda is slightly in advance of the Perth Metropolitan area with a media age of 47, compared with Perth Metropolitan areas median age of 36, and it is likely that in time it will develop a large retirement population. The population of Kalamunda and the surrounding areas have a diverse ethnicity. Notably however, there are many

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

families who became involved in the

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

industry in the post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

migration period. Despite the steady encroach of the

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

in recent times which has eroded the sense of a 'regional centre', Kalamunda remains a quiet town amongst the

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

forests on the

. Short stay accommodation in a forest setting close to Perth is a growth area, and Kalamunda is increasingly offering eco-tourism experiences for local and overseas visitors.

Gallery

File:Kalamunda fountain.jpg, The gum nut fountain File:Stirk Park, Kalamunda.jpg, Stirk Park

References

External links

City of Kalamunda Website
{{City of Kalamunda suburbs Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia Suburbs in the City of Kalamunda