Blundells Cottage — Attraction in District of Canberra Central

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 1960.

After the last tenant vacated the cottage, the Canberra and District Historical Society (CDHS) approached the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC), for custodianship. In 1961, Sir William Holford, a British consultant town planner, wrote:

'Oldfield's cottage is a valuable relic of Canberra's early days. Encircled by trees it could well remain as an object of interest to visitors, without appearing incongruous in its new surroundings. Restored to something like its original state it would make a symbolic foil for the majesty of the Parliament House opposite'.

Cited in Freeman Collett and Partners, 1995, Blundells Cottage Precinct Conservation Management Plan, ACT. Vol. 1: 29

In 1964, following its restoration, the Cottage was handed over to the CDHS, which managed it and established a museum collection. Since 1999 it has been managed by the National Capital Authority (NCA) as a house museum. It is the only pre-Federal Capital building in the...

Hmm, the young woman tour guide was lovely and 'meant well' and had learned a lot about her subject matter and was very avaliable and attentive. However, I was visiting with an 8 year old boy who has attention issues and whose main incentive for visiting was because of his interest in 'haunted houses' - we'd read something online about a 'ghost' at Blundell's Cottage. Unfortunately the young guide knew nothing of this story. Very well-meaningly she directed me to two older women guides (volunteers?). Despite my quiet prompts about my young charge's interests, the older woman completely 'poo-pooed' any suggestion of ghostly associations with the Cottage and added her own view on ghosts (not necessary in earshot of the little fella). The other older lady sought me out a few minutes later and kindly suggested Lanyon Homestead for ghostly tales. We visited there later in the day and had a fabulous tour with a very child-friendly and kind tour...

Visited a couple times at night. It’s situated in a nice location in the city along Lake Burley Griffin. Cottage is lit up at night but looks very creepy. I was too scared to walk up close to have a peep in the windows as it was pitch black. If you’re into haunted phenomenon then this place is one of them in Canberra. Google it and it’ll tell you. Probably go explore with someone, or go alone if you prefer. Daytime is less scarier and I think there’s visiting hours where you get to go inside the...