Captain James Cook (Hardcover)
Captain Cook (Softcover)
The Cottage originally stood on an extremity of the village of Great Ayton, Yorkshire, England. Cook's father had gone to Great Ayton from Marton to be a 'hind' or bailiff on Thomas Skottowe's farm, Airey Holme. Cook's father bought the land and built the house around 1755. The stone lintel over the doorway is engraved 'C/J. G./1755', (James and Grace, Cook's father and mother).
In 1933, the last owner of the cottage, Mrs. Dixon, put it up for sale and it was suggested that it would make an ideal focus piece for Victoria's centenary in 1934. The prominent Melbournian Russell Grimwade agreed to buy the cottage and present it as a gift to the Victorian people. However, a difficulty arose in that the patriotic Mrs. Dixon had stipulated that the cottage should remain in Britain. She had rejected offers from wealthy Americans for this reason, but she was persuaded to agree to Victoria's claim on the cottage as Australia was, after all, still 'in the Empire'.
The cottage was purchased by Russell Grimwade in 1933, dismantled and shipped to Melbourne in 253 packing cases, arriving April 1934. As the cottage structure had been altered considerably by a succession of owners following the Cook family's occupation, its Australian assemblers had the task of restoring the cottage as accurately as research and guess work would permit to its mid-18th century appearance.
A site in the Fitzroy Gardens was selected to complement the cottage with its large shady European trees and the construction work was completed in six months. The cottage was handed over to the Lord Mayor, H. Gengoult Smith, by Russell Grimwade on the 15th October, 1934 during a centenary ceremony.
The cottage has undergone two restorations. The first was undertaken in the late 1950's and the other in 1978. Thorough efforts were made to furnish it with material appropriate to the period. To complement the cottage, an authentic mid-18th century Yorkshire cottage garden has been recreated, resulting largely from the research work done by Professor Carrick Chambers. The garden and the renovated interior of the cottage were re-opened on the anniversary of Captain Cook's birth by the Governor-General, Sir Zelman Cowan, on October the 27th, 1978. The garden is comprised mostly of plants native to Great Britain and Northern Europe as exotic varieties were rarely found in country villages.
Captain James Cook (Hardcover)
Captain Cook (Softcover)