indigenous noongar people were the first inhabitants of the area. the first permanent european settlers were the family of frederick and elizabeth stirk, who arrived in 1881 and established a property called headingly hill at what is now stirk park; their house, stirk cottage, is now a museum. more settlers moved in during the 1890s, aided by the advent of the kalamunda zig zag railway. at this time the kalamunda area was known as "gooseberry hill". the name "kalamunda" was declared on 13 december 1901 after a request from thirty-two residents to form a townsite. they requested the name "calamunnda", derived from two words in the indigenous noongar language, as recorded in a book by bishop rosendo salvado: "cala" meaning "fire", "home", "district", or "settlement" and "mun-da" meaning "forest" or "bush". surveyor-general harry johnston respelt the name as "kalamunnda" and it was changed to "kalamunda" by 1901. the city's unofficial motto is "a home in the forest".