Families Of The Cottage: Alice Oldfield and The Ginns

The Blundell family were not the only people who lived in the worker’s cottage we now call Blundells’ Cottage.  Two of the other families were the Ginns and the Oldfields…

Ginns

The first family to live in this worker’s cottage was William and Mary Ginn.  They were immigrants from England who arranged their employment with the Campbells before arriving in Australia.  They lived in the cottage for 14 years while William was the head ploughman of the estate.  Through their savings and the help of a government grant, they moved with their four children to their own property at the end of Northbourne Avenue in 1874.  The photo on the right is of Gertrude and Agnes Ginn.  Gertrude – the one who is standing – was the first child born in the cottage, in 1865.

Oldfields

The last long-term occupants were Henry and Alice Oldfield who started living in the cottage in the 1930s.  They had a market garden out the back of the cottage and sold their produce to the locals. 

After Henry passed away in 1942, Alice stayed on and lived in the second bedroom with the room next to it being her kitchen.  She transformed the cottage into a boarding house. Needless to say it was always full because houses could not be built fast enough for all the people who had to come to Canberra to work in the government.  Alice lived in the cottage until she died in 1958.  Alice is in the photograph on the left.