A three quarter view of a WAGR G class steam locomotive with an AD class carriage, on the Kalamunda Zig Zag section of the Upper Darling Range Railway, Gooseberry Hill National Park, Western Australia. The Kalamunda Zig Zag was completed in July 1891, as part of the Upper Darling Range railway line in Western Australia, which was built by the Canning Jarrah Timber Company from a junction with the Midland line at Midland Junction to Canning Mills to transport railway sleepers to Perth's growing railway system. To overcome a steep gradient up the Darling Scarp, a zig zag was built between Ridge Hill and Gooseberry Hill stations, being cheaper to build than a continuous gradient line. The Kalamunda Zig Zag closed on 22 July 1949 along with the rest of the line. In 1952 the track was removed and most of the Kalamunda Zig Zag converted into a narrow bitumen road.
The land now known as Stirk Park was initially cleared by the Stirk family in 1881, who lived there until 1896 when they moved to a larger home – at this time Charles Henry Brooks moved in and ran a shop on the property. Sometime in the early 1900s Brooks left and the property became a dairy farm run Williams and his silent partner Roberts, officially called Kalamunda Dairy but known as the ‘Dairy block’, which was the chief supplier of milk to Kalamunda until the late 1940s.
One of the remarkable women in Kalamunda’s history is Lola Grace Giles (nee Whitham), who was a pharmacist in Kalamunda during the 1930s – 1950s. Not only was she just the second woman in WA to have her own business, she was the first to do so in a country area, and only the 6th woman in WA to be registered as a pharmacist. She operated out of a couple of buildings in Kalamunda and then had the chemist built in 1933 with house attached and lived out the back with their 4 children. This building remains and is on the heritage list and faces the mural.
This is a photo of the well that was out the back of the pharmacy. For much of Kalamunda’s early life, there was no scheme water for its residents. Early settlers relied entirely on rainwater tanks and wells for their fresh water supply, with scheme water not becoming available to the town until 1954, despite the Victoria Dam being just 9km away. The children who lived in the home used to play around this well.
The Perth Observatory at Bickley is also included and although this was built much later it is seen as an important attraction up here in the City of Kalamunda.
Artist Katie Rabjohns says of the mural “This mural is my interpretation of the stories I listened to from the client. It contains images of local history that happened all within close proximity to the laneway.
The horse and cart walked along the laneway to deliver milk to the local residents.
A giant milk bottle is floating in the sky pouring milk into the roofs of the local homes depicting nourishment and a thriving community.
The milk bottle also connects to the “Milky Way” starry sky connecting us all to our cosmic connection to the universe. The dots are a representation of all the homes/residents in Kalamunda that have grown and multiplied over the years.
The original and first chemist in Kalamunda was in the building next to the mural and has been depicted with the shop front, medicine bottles and mortar and pestle.
The wishing well was situated only a few yards from the mural in the car park and supplied fresh water to local residents before mains water was available.
The train and zig zag rail route are both painted to symbolise how important the timber trade was in Kalamunda, many residents still remember the train coming up and down the hill fondly. I have painted upright tree trunks and tree trunks in the ground ready to be transported down the hill.
The dots between the trees symbolise the easterly winds that feature in the summer months.
The observatory ties the whole mural together as an observation of time through the years.
Katie Rabjohns - Artist