Blundells' Cottage – Building Materials

When the workers' cottages on the Duntroon Estate were built, it wasn't easy to get the materials needed.  So the builders had to be clever and use the resources available.
Why? How would the materials have been transported?

Building materials included stone from Mt Ainslie and Black Mountain, local timber, locally made bricks and even hand made nails.  How would you use these if you were building a house?

At Blundells' Cottage...

• The stone was used in the walls (on the outside they were covered in mud mortar, and on the inside they were lime-washed)
• The timber was made into floors in the front rooms.
• The bricks were used as floors in the back rooms.
• The wood was also used as shingles for the roof (you can still see these when you visit the cottage), but these are covered with corrugated iron.

Originally the cottage only had four rooms.  Two more rooms were added in 1888, and the slab shed was built in approximately 1879.  How many rooms are there in your house?

Think about how building materials have changed since Blundells' Cottage was built.  What is your home built from? What is your school built from?