La Trobe's Cottage
An historic cottage, built in 1839 by the first Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, Charles La Trobe, and his family. The cottage was constructed out of prefabricated materials imported from England on 50,000 square metres of land at Jolimont, near where the Melbourne Cricket Ground now stands.
When the colony achieved independence from New South Wales in 1851 La Trobe was made the first Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria and, although land had been reserved in Kings Domain as the site for a future Government House, he remained living with his family in this cottage at Jolimont until his departure for England in 1854.
This is the oldest surviving building erected in Victoria and many of the interiors are still original. Only part of the building is original but the rest has been rebuilt using accurate illustrations and measurements from when it still stood. A lot of the original furniture has been painstakingly reinstated in the house which makes it particularly interesting.
location: Dallas Brooks Drive cnr Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra, Vic. Guided tours of the cottage and Government House can be booked with the National Trust on (03) 9656 9800.
