plentiful in natural resources, the area now known as armadale was long occupied by aboriginal people prior to the founding of the swan river colony. records of encounters with the original aboriginal inhabitants of this district are sparse in detail, but early on there was conflict between these inhabitants and the settlers, which led to the establishment of a small garrison at kelmscott. the township of kelmscott was gazetted in 1830, and for the next sixty years was the administrative and social hub for those colonists who took up land between present-day kelmscott and byford.