Cox's Cottage is a heritage-listed pasturing land and residence located at 2 St Thomas Road in the outer western Sydney suburb of Mulgoa, New South Wales, Australia.
[1] The traditional owners of the land now occupied by Cox's Cottage were the Mulgowie people, a group of Aboriginal Australians who became known as the "Mulgoa tribe".
During his 37 years of residence in the early colony, he made a substantial and enduring contribution to its progress in the fields of public administration, building and agricultural development.
[5][6][1] Between 1821 and 1825 George and Henry Cox lived in turn at The Cottage with their new wives before moving to their own houses in the Mulgoa area.
The cottage was the nucleus of the Mulgoa Settlement and was also the site of religious gatherings before the construction of St. Thomas' Anglican Church nearby.
[13] In 1843 Edward Cox built and moved into a much grander Greek Revival style house, Fernhill, on the hill to the west of The Cottage on the western side of Mulgoa Road.
'In 1847 a medal was won by Edward Cox[14] for wines produced on his property, Fernhill, competing against his brother and neighbour Henry at Glenmore also at Mulgoa and Sir John Jamison at Regentville.
The magnificent 9-centimetre (3.5 in) diameter, 156-gram (5.5 oz) medal by Richard Lamb is a reflection on the status of the prize, possibly engraved by the colony's leading exponent Samuel Clayton, then living close by at Windsor.
[6][1] Historical archaeologist Judy Birmingham[15] has listed the literature on wine making that would have been available to the early European settlers of the colony, including William Macarthur's comprehensive Letters on the culture of the vine (1844).
[6][1] In the early 1850s Colonel Godfrey Mundy, aide-de-camp to Governor Fitzroy singled out Fernhill for the way in which the Cox family had manipulated the landscape by removing or thinning eucalypts and retaining the local angophoras, which had more of the appearance of English trees.
Dr James Broadbent is a noted architectural and landscape historian who has preserved the house and reconstructed/ recreated the garden to retain the significance of the building and its setting.
[22][1] Beautifully sited on a small rise near Mulgoa Creek, The Cottage is one of the earliest and most important colonial houses, and still retains its fine rural setting.
[9][1] Cox's Cottage, dating from 1810 or 1811, is probably the oldest inhabited residence in Australia (other earlier surviving domiciles are now typically run as museums).
[1] The Cottage is oriented to the north-east and positioned at the end of its ridge (a pattern of development through the immediate area) with views along the creek to the north and over the river flats.
[26][1] The still intact historical and visual relationships between Cox's Cottage, St Thomas's Church to the south and Fernhill to the west are important.
Along Mulgoa Creek are remnant native trees interspersed with mature exotic species including English and Japanese elms and privet.
Located on the early land grant made to the influential Cox family in the Mulgoa Valley, Cox's Cottage is historically significant and rare at a State level for retaining the original pastoral landscape of its immediate surrounds, providing evidence of colonial settlement patterns in the western part of the Cumberland Plain and of early attempts at farming and viticulture in the Sydney region.
[1] Cox's Cottage is of social significance at a State level for the esteem in which it is held by heritage organisations and other community groups.
The property is considered likely to contain other archaeological evidence relating to the Cox family period of occupation of the area, including possible building sites and orchard locations.
Located on the early land grant made to the influential Cox family in the Mulgoa Valley, Cox's Cottage is historically significant and rare at a State level for retaining the original pastoral landscape of its immediate surrounds, providing evidence of colonial settlement patterns in the western part of the Cumberland Plain and of early attempts at farming and viticulture in the Sydney region.
William and other members of the Cox family were instrumental in developing the Mulgoa Valley and the houses they erected include some of the most significant surviving colonial residences in NSW.
Cox's Cottage is of social significance at a State level for the esteem in which it is held by heritage organisations and other community groups including the Australian Garden History Society and National Trust of Australia (NSW)) as well as the locally based Mulgoa Progress Association and Mulgoa Valley Landcare Group.
The property is considered likely to contain other archaeological evidence relating to the Cox family period of occupation of the area, including possible building sites and orchard locations.