Cadmans Cottage - The Coxswain's House

Photo: Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Sydney Harbour: Rocks to Opera House, a free self-guided tour.

This small sandstone cottage, sitting below street level, is the oldest building in The Rocks. It went up around 1815-16 as quarters for the government coxswains, the men who crewed the colony's boats, carrying supplies and officials around the harbour. When it was built, the water lapped right at its front; land reclamation has since pushed the shoreline about 100 meters away, which is why it now looks stranded on dry land.

It's named for John Cadman, a convict transported in 1798 for horse stealing. He was later pardoned and served as government coxswain from 1827 to 1845, living here with his wife and stepdaughters. Few convicts left so visible a mark.

After Cadman, the cottage served as the Water Police headquarters and later as part of the Sailors' Home, giving merchant seamen a bed away from the pubs and boarding houses of The Rocks. Today it's looked after by the Sydney Harbour National Park.

Getting here: Continue a few steps north along Circular Quay West; the cottage sits in a sunken garden on your left, just past the museum.

Did you know?: Cadmans Cottage is usually ranked as the second-oldest surviving residential building in Sydney, built less than 30 years after the First Fleet arrived.

Photo op: Look down on the cottage from George Street above to capture its low roofline with the modern city rising behind it.

More on Wikipedia: Cadmans Cottage · The Rocks, New South Wales

Cadmans Cottage - The Coxswain's House

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