Cadmans Cottage, Sydney

Cadmans Cottage is one of those buildings that makes modern Sydney pause for a moment. Built in 1816 from locally quarried sandstone, it once sat right on the edge of Sydney Cove, before land reclamation pushed the shoreline away and left it slightly inland. Its neat Georgian symmetry wasn’t about style purely for style’s sake—it was designed to work. This was the combined home and office of the Coxswain of Government Boats, the person in charge of the colony’s small but essential harbour fleet.

As Sydney expanded, the cottage kept changing jobs. In the 1840s, it became the headquarters of the Water Police, reflecting growing concerns about order along the busy waterfront. Later in the 19th century, it was absorbed into the Sydney Sailors’ Home, offering lodging for seafarers who arrived tired, broke, or simply between voyages. Each phase left marks behind, from altered rooms to added details, creating a layered record of how the harbour community functioned day to day. Restoration work has carefully peeled back those layers, making the building’s many lives visible rather than polishing them away.

Today, Cadmans Cottage finds itself amid cobbled lanes, historic pubs, and former warehouses, its rough sandstone walls set against glass towers and traffic noise. Inside, interpretive displays unpack the stories of officials, sailors, and workers who passed through its doors. It’s a small building with a long memory—one that quietly reminds visitors that Sydney began as a working harbour, long before it became a postcard skyline...