peek into thepast Story: Gabrielle Chariton Photos: Trevor Mein An intensive restoration of a historical cliside cottage showcases and celebrates the beauty inherent in ancient and new construction techniques. Captain James Kelly, born in Parramatta,NSW in 1791, was one of the earlycolony’s leading mariners. In 1815,the sea adventurer circumnavigatedowner of Tasmanian building firm and HIA memberCordwell Lane.‘By necessity, everything was built for purpose,fashioned out of the material that was available at Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and in 1818, hethe time’ – which, in the case of Captain Kelly’s became the first European to settle on BrunyCottage, was timber, pit-sawn on-site; convict- Island – a wild, windswept landmass located offmade bricks; and small panes of glass brought over the south-eastern coast of Tasmania – after thefrom England. Colonial Administration awarded him a 100-acreHowever, by the 2000s, the cottage was land grant. dilapidated and time-worn, its colonial charm buried Some years later, perhaps in the 1830s, beneath decades’ worth of unsympathetic, crudely- ONE OF THE Captain Kelly built a weatherboard cottage on theconstructed additions and alterations. Fortunate, OLDEST STANDING northernmost point of his land holdings: at the edgethen, that the building’s current custodian, EXAMPLES OF of an ocean-front cliff flanked by two pristine sandyMelbourne architect John Wardle, was intent on AUSTRALIAN coves, overlooking the Southern Ocean. uncovering its hidden stories, and respectfully re- COLONIAL The cottage – which we now know as ‘Captaininstating its integrity and functionality as a home ARCHITECTURE Kelly’s Cottage’ – is one of the oldest standingand as a piece of architecture. examples of Australian colonial architecture – a style‘I think the principal aim [for owner and architect characterised by its simplicity. John] was very much to capture the informality of ‘There’s no ornamentation, no decoration, nothe built technique, to explore how the cottage was extraneous detailing,’ explains Scott Cordwell, co-put together, and to really to bed down the detail 32 HOUSING NOVEMBER 2018