Friday 3 December 2010

The Kalamunda History Village







With the temp hovering just over thirty it was a ripper day for a drive up into the Perth hills, and for the first time your's truly decided to part with some mooha and pay for a day at The History Village in Kalamunda. And it turned out okay with only a little cost of $6 for oldies and $2 each for the nevilles, and straight away the kiddies were happy with a chance to climb over an old steam train. The Train an old G class 4-6-0 locomotive was built in Glasgow in 1897 for the government for 2620 pounds (a fair wack of money back in those days), it worked it's nuts off between Port Headland and Marble Bar until it was written off in 1968 (beaut year that!) and sold to the village for $390 in 1970.









Here are the nevilles next to an old saw pit, these pits were used extensively in the Kalamunda area during the pioneering days of the timber years.








A fair dinkum ridge-didge old aussie thunder box, I bet ya it's seen a fair few newspapers over the years!












The mob outside one of the many old homes that are in the village, this one was built by henry McCullagh in 1898 and stood on Railway Road near the present day Village. It was home for three Generations of the McCullagh Mob.




Well it just wouldn't be a fair-dinkum aussie bush village without a ripper windmill hay, and this one with it's water tank is just what the doctor ordered mate!










Inside one of the towns sheds was a bunch of wagons and here are Sarah n' Jacko showing you what kids can get up to when ones back is turned, a firm talking to and a swift kick up the cracker and I don't think they'll do it again.






Now for the auto shed as you can see it's a bit more up-to-date but still a beauty, and now to see what is in there....









Here is a BSA M21 motorcycle with a ripper sidecar was one of the last civilian motorcycles built by the company in 1939, after this one it mainly built cycles for the army I reckon me old man 'Victor' would of loved to get his hands on this thing in his day.



Then we come to a couple of tractors and a little ripper roller, Sarah is modeling the Hard working
Workhorse Ferguson Tractor which was built in 1951. It was a petrol motor driven and could run on kerosene, with a 23.9 HP it worked in the Piesse Brook orchards for many years. Jacko is driving a Fordson N model tractor which was built in 1935, with it's 21 HP it also worked the local orchards. And finally we come to Oscar who is working on a 1951 McDonald Diesel road roller, which worked the towns roads and footpaths throughout the shire. From 1970 it mainly rolled the local cricket pitch and from what the locals say it did a beaut job of it.





Farmer Osk sitting on the old Fordson Tractor.












Now heres a ripper old track hay it's a Ford Marmon Herrington Truck built in 1942, This heavy duty truck was used during the second world war as a gun carrier. It was then sold to a local garage as a recovery truck, then in 1951 it was sold to the Kalamunda Bush fire Brigade. It was the Brigades first ever fire unit and had a 3.6 litre 30 HP V8 petrol engine with a 4 wheel drive conversion. It's the sort of truck my old man 'Victor' would of been proud to have ridden.






What a bloody little beauty hay...






This is the Austin 3 ton truck with a 4 litre 6 cylinder petrol driven engine, it worked around the local area and was owned for a time by the Travicich family. Now this was built in 1953 when trucks were built to last, not like the plastic sheilah trucks that are on the road today. Now okay the plastic sheilah trucks might run about 110 kilometers faster then this one, but fair-dinkum they just don't have that killer charm like these old girls.








Next we come to the old ridge-didge working orchard shed which still works like a ripper.









Here's the old fella who showed us how the size machine worked in the sheds, the kiddies worked as pickers and had a beaut time.








Chambers house which was built in 1921 and sat on Railway Road until it was removed to the Village, just a fine ripper example of a beaut aussie built house and a great chance for the kiddies to see what the oldies would of lived like.







The nevilles on an old tree stump but not just any stump, this Jarrah tree stood for 400 years (crikey) until some space cadet crashed into it in 1980, now you can have a sit and just wonder what this majestic tree would of look like.... poor bugger!








Then we come to the old Kalamunda state school which was used from 1905 until 1970, the old school class room is one of the most loved items in the village as the oldies can sit down and wonder back to the good old days.







Heres the big fella Oscar failing his class again (chip of the old block) but at least his having a beaut time failing!







Above the black board was this photo of our old King George V, I poped that in as it should have fond memory's for my old girl 'Maureen'... strewth it's been a fair while since we have had a King.





But all beaut things have to come to and end at some point, and this was the end of our walk around the Village. The kiddies had a last climb on the old locomotive and a quick run around and it was time for the drive back down the Darling rangers. The Village was spot on and we recomand it to anyone who is interested in what the old days were really like.... you know before The Simpsons!