King Cottage on heritage register

6/11/96

The historic cottage on Governor Stirling's former estate in Bunbury is to have its heritage values recognised by the State Government.

King Cottage, the site of a well-known local museum, will be placed on the Heritage Council of Western Australia's interim register of heritage places.

Making the announcement in Bunbury today, Heritage Minister Richard Lewis said King Cottage was an important part of the city's history and deserved the protection of the State's heritage laws.

"King Cottage is a simple brick and timber dwelling, but it has significant historical heritage values," Mr Lewis said.

"It is a rare, surviving example of a picturesque rural cottage of the colonial era.

"It was also part of the huge estate taken up by the first Governor, Sir James Stirling, in Bunbury."

Mr Lewis said the cottage was built by brickmaker and bricklayer Henry King as accommodation for his family. There was speculation about the date of construction, but it was placed at between 1867 and 1880.

The cottage is a marker of the former road (formerly the Blackwood and Dardanup Road, now Forrest Avenue) from the Bunbury townsite to the Preston River ford at Picton.

A simple vernacular brick and timber shingle dwelling, King Cottage is a fine example of the Georgian-survival style.

It is built in a rectangular plan with three linked rooms. There is a surrounding verandah and skillion roofs, enclosing a pair of brick rooms and flanking timber framed enclosures.

Mr Lewis said King Cottage was representative of the pattern of colonial rural housing in WA. It was also a fine example of a well-preserved rural cottage which was relatively rare and endangered.

"King Cottage is in very good condition, with the core form and style being largely unchanged from the original construction," he said.

The Minister said Henry King died in 1899 and the cottage was passed down through his family until 1925, when it was sold to Balingup farmer Henry Carlson.

It remained with the Carlson family until it was bought by the City of Bunbury in 1967.

The cottage opened as a museum a year later and the Bunbury Historical Association was given custodianship of the cottage.

Mr Lewis said King Cottage had high social value as an information source about a former way of life.

"The fact that it has been conserved so well and acts as a museum indicates the high esteem with which it is held by the local community," he said.

Media contact : Bronwyn Hillman 222 9595, 221 1377