Stirk Cottage Kalamunda 

Stirk Cottage was built by Frederick and Elizabeth Stirk in 1881 and grew as the Stirk family grew. Frederick Stirk had a 14 acre block which included Stirk Park, from which a market gardening living was made. The Cottage has been restored as far possible to the form it was at the beginning of the century.

By the mid 1890's there were nine children and the family moved to a bigger house (known to this day as the overflow house) on the other side of the property. From 1893, when the last child was born, until the move in 1896, there was a family of eleven living in the cottage. In 1896 the family moved to a larger house in Lindsay street.

• CH Brooks in 1896 used the cottage and barn in which he started Kalamunda's first shop. Later the property was taken over by a dairyman who built a more conventional house where the Kalamunda club now stands. The property became known as the dairy block - it remained as such until as late as 1962.

Awards

In 1962 the Shire of Kalamunda bought the property as a public park. The old cottage had a series of tenants, and by the 1960's had become very dilapidated, and there was a move to have it knocked down. However, the objections of local people who realised its historical value prevailed. Notable among these were Mr & Mrs W Martin, who did much to restore the cottage and to make its subsequent preservation possible. Eventually in 1970, the Shire Council appointed the Historical Society as custodians of the cottage since then it has been opened to the public as a museum.