Lyons Cottage

Lyons Cottage, as so known as British Australian Telegraph Company Residence, is one of the oldest remaining heritage buildings in the central business district in Darwin City in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Its construction followed the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line in 1872 which linked Adelaide to Darwin and then onto London via an underwater cable to Java.

It features shuttered windows and high ceilings, similar to the distinctive architectural style of British colonial dwellings in India, Malaysia and Singapore.

During World War II the house was occupied by the US Army and later the Royal Australian Navy and survived the Japanese raids of 1942 and 1943 which destroyed much of Darwin.

[2][4] Lyons Cottage is now under management of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and operates as a cafe and shop run by Aboriginal Bush Traders.

Lyons Cottage, on the corner of The Esplanade and Knuckey Street, Darwin City, Northern Territory , Australia .
Lyons Cottage Circa 1978. Lyons Cottage was damaged in Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Reconstruction work commenced in 1978.