Kalamunda, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Kalamunda
city = Perth
state = wa


caption = Kalamunda Road, Kalamunda
lga = Shire of Kalamunda
area = 9.9
postcode = 6076
pop = 6835 (2006 census)Census 2006 AUS|id=SSC51711|name=Kalamunda (State Suburb)|quick=on|accessdate=2008-10-05]
dist1 = 25 | location1=Perth
est =
fedgov = Hasluck
stategov = Kalamunda
near-nw = Maida Vale
near-n = Gooseberry Hill
near-ne = Piesse Brook
near-w = Forrestfield
near-e = Piesse Brook
near-sw = Forrestfield
near-s = Lesmurdie
near-se = Wallistoncoord|-31.974|116.058|type:city(6835)_region:AU-WA_scale:30000|format=dms|display=title

Kalamunda is a town and eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located in the Darling Scarp at the eastern limits of the Perth metropolitan area.

The word is derived from two Noongar (an Indigenous Australian language) words: "kala" meaning "home" and "munda" meaning "forest", hence spawning the Shire's motto "A home in the forest".

Description

At 300m 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, and for a small commercial rose growing industry.

The town was once part of a thriving logging region, being a stopping place on the Upper Darling Range Railway. 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 road on the old section where the railway climbed the Darling escarpment. The region also has extensive areas with orchards, primarily involved in apple and stone fruit production.

Kalamunda largely serves as a dormitory suburb for Perth workers. It has a modest retail, government and education sector, and a small industrial 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. To the south and east the urban area transitions into the semi-rural and orchard growing areas of Bickley, Carmel and Pickering Brook, which in turn give way to extensive jarrah and marri forests. The suburb of Gooseberry Hill is located to the north of Kalamunda where the terrain drops away sharply to the Helena Valley effectively isolating the Kalamunda from other Darling Scarp population centres to the north. It is at Gooseberry Hill that the railway used to descend from the hills to Midland Junction, 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.

Kalamunda and the surrounding areas have an arts and crafts 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. The population profile of Kalamunda is slightly in advance of the Perth Metropolitan area, and it is likely that in time it will develop a large retirement population. Short stay accommodation in a forest setting close to Perth is a growth area, and is increasingly offering eco-tourism experience for local and overseas visitors. The population of Kalamunda and the surrounding areas have a diverse ethnicity. Notably however, there are many Italian families who became involved in the orchard industry in the post-Second World War migration period.

Despite the steady encroach of the urban sprawl in recent times which has eroded the sense of a 'regional centre', Kalamunda remains a quiet town amongst the jarrah forests on the Darling Scarp.

Kalamunda is home to the television towers of all free-to-air Perth Television stations, and the approach control radar for Perth Airport.

Located nearby is the Kalamunda National Park and the northern terminus of the Bibbulmun Track, a 963km recreational walking trail.

Image gallery

ee also

*Shire of Kalamunda
*Kalamunda National Park
*Gooseberry Hill, Western Australia

References

External links

* [http://www.kalamunda.wa.gov.au/ Shire of Kalamunda Website]