Albany 2026: WA’s oldest surviving dwelling Patrick Taylor Cottage shares rare secrets of early settler life

Albany is home to the oldest dwelling in the State, and 194 years after its construction, Patrick Taylor Cottage still offers a rare glimpse into how some of Albany’s early European settlers lived.

The cottage on Duke Street is home to more than 2000 historical artefacts that show different aspects of settler life, with the provenance of some domestic wares like crockery or silverware able to be traced back to the seventeenth century.

The Albany Historical Society maintains the heritage building and now runs it as a museum, inviting visitors to step back in time and experience the lives of European settlers.

Despite the house still bearing his name, the cottage was not in fact built by Patrick Taylor, but rather by settler John Morley in 1832.

Morley was a former seaman with the East India Company, and was one of the first settlers in the Albany area who would go on to lease and manage Strawberry Hill farm and build the original Wollaston House.

The little white cottage originally stood on a 240-acre (97ha) property, difficult to imagine with the density of houses and businesses on Duke Street today. The block was only the second land title to be granted in the area.

The cottage itself comprises 11 rooms and is one of the last standing examples of a wattle and daub building technique which was commonly used by early settlers to construct houses.

The house bears the mark of time in the different additions that have expanded it over the years: its original design was only two rooms, all made of the traditional wattle and daub, with a veranda around the whole house.

The roof was originally shingles, but has long since been replaced with corrugated iron, and additional rooms have been built using woodfired or mud bricks.

Patrick Taylor arrived in Albany in 1833 on the ship James Pattison, alongside Sir James Stirling and Lady Stirling, and a “Mrs Bussell senior” and her eldest daughter Mary, who Taylor would later marry.

He went on to become a familiar figure in Albany public life, serving on the town trust (local council) from 1845 to 1847 and chairing public meetings including an emergency one called in 1846 after York Street was flooded and rendered unusable.

Taylor purchased the Duke Street property, including Morley’s cottage, in 1834 for £400, and he would own it until his death in 1877 when his son inherited the property.

The cottage was classified by the National Trust as historically significant in 1977, and little has changed in it since, with the Albany Historical Society doing their best to preserve a small piece of WA history tucked away in the Albany CBD.