MY MEMORIES OF KALAMUNDA IN THE LATE 1960s/1970s

By Freda Burgess (nee Brooks)

Mum and Dad sat in the front and we three kids were squeezed into the back (me in the middle of course, being the youngest) of the Hillman as it wheezed its way up the hill.

I’m sure that Kalamunda Road was longer, steeper and more narrow in 1968 than it is today.

I remember the first time I went ‘up the hill’, late 1968, aged 6. It felt like we were going through a tunnel, the walls being made of steep cliff-like red rocks. Looking back, these were obviously only on the left hand side but as a child it felt like a narrow pathway to a new land.

And in some ways, in was.

Having emigrated from England and settled in the new housing estate of High Wycombe, everything from taking lunch to school in a plastic box to spending seemingly endless Summer days at the local swimming pool, was an adventure into a new land and a new way of life.

Being in my first year of primary school, I was keen to adapt to my new home and leave any traces of being ‘a Pom’ way behind me so going barefoot, no matter how hot the ground, and emulating Australia’s Olympic sweetheart, Shane Gould, was a must.

Kalamunda Swimming Pool soon became my second home. I wore my metal season ticket token on a piece of elastic around my wrist with pride as I glided past the coin slot entry as though I were almost an Olympian already.

“The pool” (I’m not sure we realised there were any others outside of Kalamunda) offered such comforts as the sloping green grass, our preferred spot for devouring a hot pie and sauce from the shop, and warm concrete on which to lie when we emerged almost blue from being in the cold water for hours on end.

Eventually it was time to leave through the slightly scary turnstile and catch the 302 bus back home down the hill.

In Winter, we would catch the bus up the hill to wander around Woolworths (currently Bunnings) on Haynes Street, trying out cheap make up and looking at clothes that seemed so sophisticated compared to our home sewn wardrobes. Just down from Woolworths was a shop that sold drinks and snacks (café and coffee shop weren’t in our vocabulary just yet) which we would visit, feeling very sophisticated before catching the bus home – or walking - down the hill.

One of my favourite trips up the hill was always to the library. The children’s section had a special curving snakelike shelf at a child friendly height. Plus there was the excitement of going to the second floor just to look down. Once I had chosen my books, I loved spending time in the playground (where the Cultural Centre now stands), while my mother spent longer in the library.

Fast forward to the late 1970s…by now I was a teenager and had friends in such far flung, exotic locations as Shenton Park and West Leederville. Despite the nagging realisation that Kalamunda was still little more than a country town, I was proud that it had some merits of which I could boast.

There was a large hardware store that also sold records (known these days as ‘vinyl”) where Thai-On-The-Hill now stands. (The hardware shop later moved to Barberry Square before Mensland and Hawleys moved in.) The library was impressive with its own Young Adult section on the second floor. Upstairs in the Village was a shop which sold exquisite greeting cards which we collected. (I think it’s now a jeweler.)

In 1977, we thought we were living the high life when we attended a youth group on Saturday nights run by a local church upstairs in the Village centre. Feeling especially rebellious, we would sometimes wander off to Stirk Park to play chess with the new set of pieces which were available for the public to play. (I still don’t have a clue how to play chess so I assume this was just a front to hang around in the park thinking of ourselves as living dangerously.)

I finally ventured further afield to attend Claremont Teacher’s College (and even went to London to work) but somehow the hills have remained home. My own children (and now my grandchildren) attended Kalamunda primary and high schools. I re-visited the library to help them do research for school assignments.

I teach in a local school – which is fun when History lessons require comparing life as a six-year-old today to the past. I have plenty of personal experiences to share. The children are amazed that we had wooden floors, not carpet. I’m shocked to think that we had wood burning stoves instead of air-conditioning.

Their faces look bewildered as I explain that there were paddocks and orchards where there are now shopping centres and even a train station.

One of my favourite excursions is to take the children to the Kalamunda History Village, especially the old school where the exhibits include books from which I learnt to read and photos of my sisters’ high school classes.

These days, I fly up the hill in my Hyundai, barely noticing the red rock to the sides of the road. Shops have moved locations within the town (Mia Lingerie and Pharmacy 777) or closed down altogether. The library and hotel still stand proudly at the top of the hill, testament to the timeless appeal of education and social life.

And I still enjoy taking my grandchildren to the pool, wandering around the shops and library… feeling at home in the hills.