LYONS COTTAGE - DARWIN - NORTHERN TERRITORY

Lyons Cottage, as so known as British Australian Telegraph Company Residence, is one of the oldest remaining heritage buildings in the central business district in Darwin City in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Early history

Also known as BAT House, Lyons Cottage was built by

Harold Edward George Snell Ormond Harold Edward George Snell (31 January 1892 – 16 April 1949), best known as Harold Snell, was a soldier, miner, primary producer, carpenter, builder and businessman in the Northern Territory of Australia. He built many historic buildin ...

in 1925 as accommodation for staff of the “Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company,” better known as British Australia Telegraph, who operated the underwater cable connecting

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. Its construction followed the completion of the

Overland Telegraph Line The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was an electrical telegraph system for sending messages the between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Completed in 1872 (with a li ...

in 1872 which linked Adelaide to Darwin and then onto London via an underwater cable to

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. This ended Australia’s isolation from the outside world, and a letter that once physically took three months to travel from London to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

via ship, could be telegraphed in less than seven hours using the Overland Telegraph Line. A number of cable company managers, engineers and their families occupied the cottage.

Architecture

Located on The Esplanade overlooking

Darwin Harbour Darwin Harbour is a body of water close to the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the traditional waterways of the Larrakia people. It opens to the north at a line from Charles Point in the west to Lee Point in the ...

, the stone cottage is constructed of locally quarried porcelanite stone. It is the only remaining example of colonial bungalow architecture left in Darwin. It features shuttered windows and high ceilings, similar to the distinctive architectural style of British colonial dwellings in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

World War II and after

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the house was occupied by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

and later the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

and survived the Japanese raids of 1942 and 1943 which destroyed much of Darwin. The cottage was then leased and later purchased by a lawyer named John Lyons and his family from which the cottage takes its name. Lyons became the Mayor of Darwin in 1959 and was subsequently elected to the

Northern Territory Legislative Council The Northern Territory Legislative Council was the partly elected governing body of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1947 until its replacement by the fully elected Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 1974. Prior to 1947, there h ...

where he remained until 1968. The cottage lost its roof during

Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...

in 1974. The building was listed on the now-defunct

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

on 26 March 1985 and on the

Northern Territory Heritage Register The Northern Territory Heritage Register is a heritage register, being a statutory list of places in the Northern Territory of Australia that are protected by the Northern Territory statute, the '' Heritage Act 2011''. The register is maintained ...

on 4 August 1993. Lyons Cottage is now under management of the House of Darwin and operates as a cafe, On Country Club and head office.

References

External links

* {{coord, -12.46455, 130.83975, format=dms, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Northern Territory Heritage Register Buildings and structures in Darwin, Northern Territory Houses completed in 1925 Northern Territory places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate