Back to search results »

Back to search page »

Captain Lonsdale's Cottage

Location Inkerman Road, ST KILDA EAST VIC 3183 - Property No B1077 File Number B1077 Level State

[1/1] B1077 Londsdale's Cottage East

Statement of Significance

William Lonsdale's Cottage, a prefabricated timber cottage of 5 rooms, was despatched from the Royal Engineers Office at Sydney on 15 March 1837 and intended as the residence of the Police magistrate, William Lonsdale. Material was washed overboard en route and subsequently replaced at Port Phillip. The weatherboard cottage was erected by 30 October 1837 on a site in Wellington Parade, Jolimont, and close to where LaTrobe's Cottage was later built.

Lonsdale's Cottage was removed from Jolimont to Carrum in c. 1891 and later further dismantled and erected at Notting Hill c.1960. This simple rectangular cottage, symmetrically planned about a recessed porch and constructed of weatherboard and shingle, functioned as the first Government House in Melbourne. It is without doubt the oldest extant structure in Victoria although many of the components of the original cottage now dismantled no longer exist or can be identified. Lonsdale's Cottage survives as a relic in storage, unable to be faithfully rebuilt.

Lonsdale's Cottage is in the custody of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). Only a small percentage of the original components, listed in a bill of lading of March 1837, survive in storage at St Kilda East. Insufficient documentation presently exists to aid accurate reconstruction.