PIESSE BROOK

The suburb of Piesse Brook, within the Shire of Kalamunda was gazetted in 1972. It is largely bushland extending to the Helena River in the north and adjoining Paull’s Valley to the east and includes the Kalamunda National Park.

The suburb is named for the creek, Piesse Brook, which meanders north through hilly country to meet the Helena River.  The main roads running through Piesse Brook include Mundaring Weir Road, Hummerston Road, Croxton Road and Aldersyde Road. There is considerable orchard activity in the area.

Attractions

Kalamunda National Park

The 375-hectare Kalamunda National Park forms part of Piesse Brook.  Walking trails take you along Piesse Brook and though forests timbered with marri, wandoo, jarrah and butter gum. Kalamunda National Park is also well known for its diversity of native plants and as an excellent place for bird watching.  In particular, the Park is a significant as a non-breeding season roost site and foraging base for Long-billed Black Cockatoos.  Other wildlife includes kangaroos, echidnas and bandicoots. The start of the Bibbulmun Track goes through the Kalamunda National Park.  Some facilities are available, though limited. The best time to visit the Park is late winter and spring when the wildflowers are at their best.

Piesse Brook Walk

Piesse Brook flows northward through the area and meets the Helena River upstream from the Pipehead Dam in the north. There are lots of good views from the enclosing rugged valley slopeswhich are covered with open woodlands of jarrah, marri, wandoo and butter gum, interrupted by numerous granite outcrops and some large areas of open heathlands.  The heathlands offer superb wildflower displays in late winter and spring. The route passes small waterfalls on Piesse Brook at Rocky Pool and on a side stream and also visits the Lower Helena Pipehead Dam reservoir in the Helena River Valley.   The route also includes a 2 km section of the Bibbulmun Track which begins in nearby Kalamunda and crosses from SW to east through the area.  The route also uses some of the various other, mainly unmarked tracks. Most of these are rough 4WD vehicle tracks”. (Information courtesy of www.walkgps.com)

For more information on the Piesse Brook Walk, go to WalkGPS Piesse Brook Walk

Aldersyde Estate

Formerly known as Piesse Brook Wines (established 1974), Aldersyde Estate is essentially a mother-daughter operation in the Perth Hills, specialising in reds from handpicked, estate-grown fruit.  Aldersyde Estate was the first vineyard established in the Perth hills and Larissa (Lara) Bray is the family’s third generation vigneron.  Lara takes care of the vines and winemaking while mother, Di Bray, runs cellar door. Lara’s brothers, Peter and Michael, together with extended family – families Boyanich, Tomanovic and Kovacevic - get roped in to lend a hand at critical times, such as vintage and bottling.

The epitome of a boutique and hand crafted label, Aldersyde Estate does not sell retail, only to select restaurants such as Rockpool, Amuse and Dear Friends, and through cellar door and their website www.aldersyde.com.au.  The grapes come from their vineyard which is about 100m from the winery, where practically all the winemaking procedures are done by hand, from hand picking and hand sorting the grapes to winding up the hydraulic wooden basket press to gently extract the wine press fraction.

Aldersyde are open Saturday afternoons and Sundays for wine tasting and sales.

Bibbulmun Track

If you are a keen bush walker, the Bibbulmun Track could be just your cup of tea. It is a long distance track of nearly 1000 kilometres from Kalamunda to Albany and passes through many different parts of Western Australia including the beautiful South West and Great Southern regions. If you have limited time, accessing the Bibbulmun Track from Kalamunda is a recommended option.  The start of the Bibbulmun Track commences at the Northern Terminus on Mundaring Weir Road in Kalamunda. There are various other access points in Kalamunda including Fern Road and Asher Road.   If you are planning an overnight trip, you can either sleep at the Bibbulmun track huts or bring camping gear. The huts are spaced approximately every 10 to 24 kilometres and can sleep around 8 to 15 people. Note that there is no booking system for securing a bed at the hut. It is on a first come, first served basis, so it would pay to bring your own camping gear as an alternative just in case the hut is full.  Camping is allowed at the designated camp site adjacent to the huts. The camping sites also provide toilet facilities and rainwater from tanks.

History

The creek was first named in 1890 and is thought to honour William Roper Piesse who was a prominent citizen living in the Guildford area at that time.

One of the focal points of the district was the Piesse Brook School (1928 – 1954) which hung on the side of a very steep slope on Mundaring Weir Road near the intersection with Aldersyde Road. The Kalamunda Library Local History Room contains substantial information and photographs about the school and the families associated.