PATRICK TAYLOR'S COTTAGE MUSEUM

Patrick Taylor's Cottage

Visit the oldest surviving dwelling in Western Australia, built in 1832.

Plan Your Visit | Patrick Taylor Cottage Museum

Experience the lifestyle of the early settlers and visit Western Australia's oldest surviving dwelling, having been built by the Morley Brothers in 1832.

Patrick Taylor's Cottage is the oldest surviving dwelling in Western Australia, having been built by the Morley Brothers in 1832, when the town was a military outpost. The cottage was originally set on a 240-acre block (97 ha). It was purchased by Patrick Taylor in July 1834, and the eleven room - wattle and daub cottage consists of an entry room, boxroom, parlour, nursery, bedroom, dining room, family room, sewing room, kitchen, laundry and side veranda.

The wattle and daub construction is a representation of the traditional building used by the early settlers and surrounded by a lovely and quaint English cottage garden. The cottage is found at the base of a gently sloping path and has several mature trees and shrubs growing around the cottage.

The cottage displays over 2,000 historical items with artefacts from Albany’s history including a vast display of English porcelain and silverware, some of the items dating back to the 1600s, with in-depth information on Patrick Taylor and early Albany residents.

Museum Highlights

An excellent display of porcelain can be found in the dinning room covering the 16th to the early 20th centuries.
Patrick Taylor’s original diary can be viewed.
In the Nursery you are able to view the original wattle and daub construction of the building.
The bedroom houses various items of ephemera as well as many other.
19th and early 20th century items of clothing and jewellery.
The sewing room is home to many interesting items of clothing covering several eras including some hand made.
The kitchen and wash house contain items relevant to domestic everyday life of the 19th and 20th Century.

Wattle and Daub

The wattle and daub construction is a representation of the traditional building used by the early settlers and is a clay which was liberally packed into the cavities between the mats and poles. Sometimes the daub was mixed with chaff or cow manure for greater durability.

The walls were given a final coat of cow manure to make the walls more waterproof. The wooden floors of the cottage are the original boards, which are pit sawn jarrah affixed with hand made nail.

Above demonstrates a typical round hut construction, the panels of which would have been in filled with wattle and daub. (John Coles Archaeology by Experiment Hutchinson 1973)

The windows were small due to the cost of glass, and ceilings were low. The roof is still shingled under the tin, and the house follows the usual colonial plan of central rooms surrounded by a verandah. Later, this was covered in to provide more rooms.

Patrick Taylor

Patrick Taylor was born in Scotland in 1807, Patrick's parents died when he was young and was brought up by a guardian. Patrick was educated in England and was a very wealthy young man of overwhelming religious conviction and also of delicate health.

Taylor arrived at Albany on 12th May 1834 onboard the James Pattison which also bought Sir James and Lady Stirling, W. B. Sherratt, Peter Belches, Captain Cheyne, Mrs Bussell senior and her eldest daughter Mary Yates Bussell.

Patrick purchased Lot S44 from John H Morley in July 1834 for a total sum of £300 and was transferred by Morley to Taylor by public auction.

During the voyage Patrick and Mary feel in love. Patrick wrote Mary many letters and poems over the next few years. Taylor and Mary were married in September 1837 at Fremantle. The wedding was a quiet one but the guest of honour was Sir James Stirling, who acted as the father of the bride.

Patrick was appointed as Magistrate in Albany in 1836 and held the position to 1840 and was a member of the Albany Town Trust during 1845-1847.

Patrick passed away 30 December 1877 in the Cottage and he is laid to rest with his wife Mary and two children, Campbell and Christina in Memorial Park Cemetery on Middleton Beach Road.

Residents of the Cottage

Among later pioneers who resided at the Cottage was Campbell Taylor, the eldest son and sister, Miss Kate Taylor.

Miss Lawndes, the first domestic science teacher at the local High School, the Western Australian poet "Dryblower" Murphy and Major Ingoldby and his wife.

Until the 1950s, the property had remained in the hands of a Taylor descendant, the last owner being Doctor Robert Fairbairn of Peppermint Grove.

The Haunted Cottage

While there are many haunted places and folktales around Western Australia, look no further than that of Patrick Taylor's Cottage Museum.

It is said, that every September, the spirit of Major Frederick Ingoldby, a former tenant of the Cottage who passed away in its bedroom in 1942 returns to the cottage each year around the anniversary of his death, dressed in his military uniform with his arm in a sling.