Stirk Family Connection with Kalamunda
Discover this 1881 hand built family home, representing the Perth Hills heritage. Early settlers, Frederick and Elizabeth Stirk, built it with timber and clay taken from their land. With its distinct architecture and household artefacts of the time. Guided tour of the cottage, Sundays 11am-1pm.
Stirk Cottage was the first, and only, building in Kalamunda for a long time. Frederick, Elizabeth with the baby daughter Mary, emigrated from Yorkshire, England in 1875. In 1881 they began to build this cottage for their family of four children. The living room and kitchen with a large fireplace are an impressive example of ‘wattle and daub’ construction. All the materials, of saplings and clay, they found on their property. Now Stirk Park. Built with their own labour and simple tools. The underside of the roof is a fine example of axe cut sheoak shingles. The walls of the two bedrooms are made of homemade clay bricks. All the rooms are furnished with household artefacts of the era. They developed a market garden, and when neighbours began to live nearby, they sold the produce, particularly strawberries, known as the best in the area. By 1898 Frederick and Elizabeth were living in this cottage with their nine children, before deciding to build a larger home across the stream.