The National Capital Authority has reopened Blundells Cottage after major heritage restoration works. The Cottage has been closed for the last six months while it underwent a conservation programme in-line with the Blundells Cottage Heritage Management Plan. National Capital Authority Chief Executive, Mr. Malcolm Snow explained that the stone dwelling, now known as Blundells Cottage, was built in 1860 to house Duntroon’s head ploughman, William Ginn, and his family (1860-1874). It was then occupied by George Blundell, a Duntroon bullock driver and his family (1874-1933) and finally by shepherd Harry Oldfield and his wife Alice (1933-1958). When Harry died in 1942, Alice took in boarders. This included the Sainsbury family, who lived at the cottage between 1958 and 1961. Snow added that Blundells Cottage is the last remaining pre-Federal residence in the National Triangle. The reinterpreted exhibits will now tell the stories of the first family to occupy the Cottage – the Ginn family (1860) – and the last family – the Sainsbury family (1961).
Project Manager and Cultural Heritage Manager for the NCA Dr Anna Wong said “The story of the Cottage is an important one for Canberra…it was occupied for over a century and provides an important social history of Canberra from the workers’ perspective – the people who emigrated here, worked the land and later built the National Capital.”