Stirk Cottage

Physical Description

Single storey cottage of simple rectangular plan form. The property is constructed utilising traditional construction methods of wattle and daub painted externally with a white lime wash. Hipped roof form clad with corrugated galvanised iron with clay brick chimney. Timber framed windows of various shapes and styles. Ledge and braced front entrance door. There is no verandah but the cottage does incorporate a raised paved area to the front with a bush timber pergola in front of the entrance door.

History

Early settlers, land allocation, orchards/market gardens, local heroes

Integrity/Authenticity

Level of Integrity - High; Level of Authenticity - High

Condition

Good Frederick Stirk , his wife Elizabeth, and their young daughter, Mary Hannah, left their Yorkshire home in 1875 to emigrate to Western Australia. Frederick found work in Guildford in the timber industry and regularly travelled into the Darling Range. He was impressed with the land and c1880 acquired 15 acres in what was known as 'Second Gully' and he named 'Headingly Hill'. He and Elizabeth cleared the land and established a farm, first living in a tent then in 1881 building a simple two roomed wattle and daub cottage roofed with shingles. The cottage was added to with another wattle and daub room and later a room made from sun dried mud bricks made on the property. The Stirks had a large family of nine children all of whom worked on the farm. By the 1890s the district had begun to be more established with the completion of the railway line to Kalamunda. The Stirk family moved to another cottage nearby and the original cottage was leased to Charles Brooks the owner of the first store in the settlement. He occupied the cottage until 1903 and after that it was leased to a variety of tenants. In 1933, following Frederick Stirk's death, the property was purchased by Francis Roberts who operated a dairy from the site and leased the cottage to different tenants. His descendants sold the cottage and surrounding land to the Darling Range Roads Board in 1949 for recreational purposes. Despite some initial thoughts from the Road Board that the cottage should be demolished community pressure led to its subsequent renovation by local volunteers. The cottage maintenance and conservation has since been managed by the Kalamunda and Districts Historical Society and it was opened in 1969 as a museum. A subsequent program of conservation works was completed in 1984.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update