Mundaring and Hills Historical Society inc.

17/06/2026

15/06/2026

FACEBOOK 15TH JUNE STONEMASONS AND QUARRIES

The article on the front page of this week’s Echo prompted us to look in our collection for photographs about quarrying in the Shire of Mundaring.
There have been numerous quarries in the Shire operated by government, private companies and family businesses. One such family were the Mucciarone brothers.
Emilio, Nicola and Nunzio emigrated from Italy in 1926 and worked at the quarry on Coppin Road in Mahogany Creek (now Parkerville). Nunzio was an expert stonemason, he had learned his trade whilst living in America. Emilio and Nicola were experienced quarrymen. Eventually they purchased land close by and opened their own quarry. The Mucciarones and their descendants worked hard through the Depression and continued to cut and face granite at this site up until 1966. Coppin Road Granite was used for countless tombstones in Karrakatta, the Kings Park War Memorial and the Commonwealth Bank Building at the corner of Forrest Place and Murray Street in Perth.

12/06/2026

You may remember the iconic 2011 'Red Dog' movie based in the WA North West from some years ago. Well, we've had a bit of luck today - Rick Fenny (a former vet) came into the office today and we now have copies of his 'Red Dog Vet' trilogy books for sale!! There's 3 books in the series with a 4th smaller book - 'Red Dog'. The first book details his years living in Mahogany Creek and attending Mundaring Primary School. The later books are also very interesting - as a vet, he actually managed the passing of the original Red Dog and buried him. These books are available for sale from the MHHS station-masters house: Book 1 - $40, Book 2 - $45, Book 3 - $50 and the smaller 'Red Dog' book: $20. Call in and pick up a copy or more !! We have EFTPOS available.

08/06/2026

FACEBOOK 8TH JUNE KINGS BIRTHDAY AND ROYAL VISIT

Today is the Kings birthday holiday in the Eastern States when the Birthday Honours List is published. This has prompted us to look for photographs of past Royal visits to Mundaring and surrounds.

Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, toured Australia in 1934, during the depression years. Henry was the third son of King George V and younger brother of Edward who later abdicated the throne to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. Henry came to Australia to take part in the celebration of the centenary of the establishment of the State of Victoria. He also visited the other states of Australia between 4th October and 11th December.

Queen Elizabeth’s Visit in 1954 was two years after her coronation in 1953 and at that time there was a Polio epidemic in Australia which meant the local school children were not allowed to congregate in large numbers and were directed to gather in separate places along the Queen's journey through Mundaring. The Queen did not shake any hands at all.

08/06/2026

The Society wishes to congratulate Mark Bush, local member of the Parkerville Bushfire Brigade and this Society and former UWA Lecturer and Dean, who, amongst many other qualifications, has been awarded the Order of Australia today, The King's Birthday - 8 June, 2026. This award was made for significant service to engineering, to tertiary education and to the community. Good on you, Mark !!! Well deserved !

25/05/2026

FACEBOOK 25TH MAY NEW ELEVATED WALKWAY IN JOHN FORREST NATIONAL PARK

You may have seen that part of the elevated walkway in John Forrest National Park has been opened and it is indeed a beautiful structure. We are awaiting the construction of the new café and interpretation space.

Until then we have many photos and information about the Park in our collection and here are a few of the photographs for you to see.

18/05/2026

FACEBOOK 18TH MAY WINTER FIRES AND LOG CHOPPING

At this time of the year a lot of us in Mundaring will be gathering our firewood which usually entails clearing up our blocks and chopping (or chain sawing) logs to fit our fireplaces. This caused us to look through our collection for photographs of early log chopping events which were popular and can still be seen at the Royal and other Agricultural Shows.

11/05/2026

FACEBOOK 11TH MAY Early Shops

Today’s selection of photographs from our collection focus on early shops in our Shire from the 1890s onwards.
They were family-owned businesses, and the families would live behind the shop.
In the 1950s self service came into being and later came the advent of supermarkets!
Check out our website where you can find Past Exhibitions and look at “Open All Hours”

04/05/2026

FACEBOOK 4TH MAY FOOTBALL
As we are in the throes of football season we thought we would find some early photographs of local football teams here in the “Hills”.
In the early 1900s football was always very popular and often attracted trainloads of spectators from as far away as Perth, whenever a match was played. The teams in the Hills Football Association were from Mundaring, Mundaring Weir, Parkerville, Sawyers Valley, Lion Mill, Chidlow, Wooroloo and Baker’s Hill.
Ben Seabrook wrote about this in, ”Life was meant to be here“ by Ken Spillman (available in Mundaring Libraries) as per below.
"The Hills Football Association was founded in 1946 by men of vision, both for the game and the community. From what I’ve been told it was one of the first organisations to get up and running after the war, with organised competition that raised the various communities’ spirits. To use a term common today, it gave them some “self-esteem”. When we consider the great difficulties of the time, it’s amazing that the association was able to embark on a trip to Geraldton in 1947. They had to pool petrol coupons, travel in trucks and utes and roads were poor. To get a team and management up there - and the money to do so - speaks highly of the executive, football community and supporters.
Most of the men were employed locally - timber cutters, railway workers, and men working on orchards or the Water Supply. While the communities were not exactly isolated, transport was a problem. Most people didn’t have cars and anyone who did was king. In the early days, wood trucks would take a big group like buses do today. I think it was this lack of individual transport that made to communities something special."

The earliest photograph we have in our collection is of Smiths Mill Football team in 1903.
There are more to be found on our website in our Past exhibitions section. Check out “We’ve Got Balls”.

24/04/2026

𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙏 𝙒𝙀 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙂𝙀𝙏 . . . 𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙏 𝙄𝙉 𝙋𝙀𝘼𝘾𝙀