Phone +61 488 329 933 | ||
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Address 74 Esplanade, Darwin City NT 0800, Australia Similar Tourism Top End, Aboriginal Bush Traders, Crocosau Cove, Integrated Group, Darwin Convention Centre | ||
Lyons cottage darwin
Lyons Cottage is a building in the Darwin central business district.
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Heritage building 1925 lyons cottage british australian telegraph house
Early history
Also known as BAT House, Lyons Cottage was built by Harold Edward George Snell 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 Australia to Britain. A number of cable company managers, engineers and their families occupied the cottage, and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle as part of the upper echelon of Darwin society. Completed in 1872, the Overland Telegraph Line (O.T.L.) was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Adelaide to Darwin, and then to London and the rest of the world via an underwater cable to Java. This ended Australia’s isolation from the outside world, and a letter that once physically took three months to travel from London to Sydney via ship, could be telegraphed in less than seven hours using the Overland Telegraph Line.
Architecture
Located on The Esplanade overlooking Darwin Harbour, the simple stone cottage constructed of locally quarried porcelanite stone, is the only remaining example of colonial bungalow style architecture to be found in Darwin. Featuring shuttered windows and high ceilings, the design of the cottage echoes the distinctive architectural style of British colonial dwellings in India, Malaysia and Singapore.
World War II and after
During World War II the house was occupied by the US Army and later the Royal Australian Navy, and fortunately it survived the Japanese raids of 1942 and 1943 which destroyed much of Darwin city. The old Cable Company residence was leased and later purchased by a lawyer named John Lyons and his family. Lyons became the Mayor of Darwin in 1959 and was subsequently elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Council where he remained until 1968. The cottage lost its roof and ornate ceilings during Cyclone Tracy in 1974. The building was gazetted under the Northern Territory Heritage Register on 4 August 1993. Lyons Cottage is now under management of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and operates as a cafe and shop run by Aboriginal Bush Traders.