Patrick Taylor Cottage facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Patrick Taylor Cottage |
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Patrick Taylor Cottage from Duke Street
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| General information | |
| Type | Museum |
| Location | Albany, Western Australia |
| Coordinates | 35°01′18″S 117°52′55″E / 35.021641°S 117.882018°E |
| Type | State Registered Place |
| Designated | 30 June 2009 |
| Reference no. | 19 |
The Patrick Taylor Cottage, also known as the Patrick Taylor Cottage Museum, is a special museum located in Albany. This town is in the Great Southern part of Western Australia. What makes this cottage so important is that it is the oldest house still standing in Western Australia!
Contents
What Makes the Cottage Special?
This historic cottage sits a little below the street level on Duke Street. It looks out over Princess Royal Harbour. The land it sits on has one of the oldest property records in the area. This record dates back to when Albany was just a small military base.
How the Cottage Was Built
The cottage shows us how early settlers built their homes. Its walls are made using a method called "wattle and daub". This means they used woven sticks (wattle) covered with a mix of mud, clay, and straw (daub). Other parts of the cottage use mud-bricks, wood-fired bricks, and wooden boards. The roof is made of corrugated iron now, but it used to be made of wooden shingles.
Exploring Inside the Cottage
The cottage has eleven rooms. These include an entry area, a dining room, a bedroom, and even a nursery. There's also a family room, a sewing room, a kitchen, and a laundry. You can also find a box room, a parlour (a formal living room), and a side verandah. Some parts of the verandah have been closed in with wooden boards and sun-baked bricks.
The Cottage Garden
Around the cottage, you'll find a lovely English cottage garden. The whole property is at the bottom of a gentle hill. There are also several old trees and bushes growing around the building.
The Cottage's Long History
The Patrick Taylor Cottage was built in 1832 by two brothers, the Morleys. One of them, John Lawrence Morley, was a former sailor. He was also one of the very first people to settle in this area. He even helped build other important places nearby. The cottage first sat on a very large piece of land, about 240 acres.
Early Days in Albany
When Richard Spencer arrived in Albany in 1833, he became the local judge. He wrote that the cottage was one of only "three miserable houses" in the town at that time.
The Taylor Family's Home
In 1835, the Morley brothers sold the cottage to Patrick Taylor for £400. Patrick had come to Western Australia from Scotland in 1834. During his journey, he met Mary Yates Bussell. They later got married. Patrick lived in the cottage until he passed away in 1877. Mary continued to live there until her death in 1887. Their son then inherited the property. The Taylor family owned the cottage for a very long time, even into the 1950s.
Saving the Cottage
By the 1960s, the building was in poor condition. It was even considered unsafe to live in. That's when the Albany Historical Society stepped in. They started a campaign to save this important piece of history.
In 1964, their hard work paid off! The Patrick Taylor Cottage opened its doors as Albany's very first museum. Today, the Albany Historical Society still owns the cottage and uses it as a museum. It holds about 2,000 historical items. These include old clocks, silverware, costumes, and kitchen tools.
In 2009, the cottage was officially added to the State Register of Heritage Places. This means it's recognized as a very important historical site in Western Australia.
