It was deconstructed brick by brick and relocated to Melbourne where Russell Grimwade donated it to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the colonisation of Victoria in 1934.
Originally known as Captain Cook’s Cottage, it became Cooks’ Cottage because the explorer never lived in it, having been away from home for almost 10 years by the time his father built it.
The Grimwades were shocked to discover, through a Freedom of Information request by state Liberal MP David Davis, that council staff had proposed closing the cottage in 2023 over concerns it celebrated colonial heritage over Indigenous culture.
“They didn’t give us any indication at the time that they were going to close the cottage, that they were even considering that,” Alex Grimwade said. “The whole idea of just taking away the cottage takes away a slice of Australian history from 1934 as what people were thinking, how they perceived Australian history.”
The Grimwades said the council had failed to be transparent and had kept deliberations about Cooks’ Cottage out of public meetings.
“We are very annoyed with the council, especially when they’ve had all these meetings behind closed doors,” Alex Grimwade said. “They haven’t been open and accountable with the stakeholders, which we are just one of many.”
She said the City of Melbourne’s main concern appeared to be the amount it cost to keep the cottage open but by failing to act, they had cost themselves more money in repairs.
“The council were just looking for cost-cutting,” she said. “I think they just can’t decide what to say, which is ridiculous, it’s not that hard.”
Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the City of Melbourne had been in ongoing discussions with the Grimwade family about the operation and presentation of Cooks’ Cottage.
The City of Melbourne’s Aboriginal Melbourne portfolio head, Dr Olivia Ball, said truth telling was fundamental to understanding the past and present.
Workers clean graffiti off Cooks’ Cottage in the Fitzroy Gardens in 2014.Credit: Justin McManus
“This place now called Melbourne has a confronting history since colonisation,” she said. “We govern stolen land.”
The Grimwades’ call for contextualisation comes as Indigenous advocates, including Uncle Robbie Thorpe, have asked for storytelling at sites around Melbourne, including the Kings Domain Resting Place, to be revisited and made relevant.
Thorpe said the narrative around Cooks’ Cottage needed to change.
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“I don’t believe in destroying, it’s like banning the books. Don’t do that,” he said. “It could be a place of learning about these issues.”
La Trobe University Professor and historian Clare Wright said providing context to Cooks’ Cottage would be a positive move because history was an ongoing dialogue.
“The way that we construct stories about the past is what becomes known as our history,” she said. “There’s lots of ways to slice the Captain Cook onion and I think that the more peeling back you do on that story, and the more ways in which that story can have other stories around it, the better we will come to a more nuanced understanding of our past.”
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