page_title: Cadmans Cottage
section_title: Phase II: 1816 - 1846: The Coxswain's Barracks
hierarchical_section_title: Cadmans Cottage / History / Phase II: 1816 - 1846: The Coxswain's Barracks
caption_attribution_description: English: STATUE OF WILLIAM BLIGH BESIDES CADMAN’S COTTAGE. BLIGH WAS ONE TIME GOVERNOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
context_page_description: Cadmans Cottage or Cadman's Cottage is a heritage-listed former water police station and sailor's home and now visitor attraction located at 110 George Street in the inner city Sydney suburb of The Rocks in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The property is owned by NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
  Cadmans Cottage is the second-oldest surviving residential building in Sydney, having been built in 1816 for the use of the governmental coxswains and their crews. The building is heavily steeped in the history of Sydney, also claiming the title as the first building to have been built on the shoreline of The Rocks area. It is claimed that during high tide, the water would come within 2.4 metres of Cadmans Cottage; however, due to the reclamation of land during the building of Circular Quay, the waterline has moved about 100 metres away since 1816.
context_section_description: There are no official records of the date of construction of the Coxswains' Barracks, now knows as Cadmans Cottage, after the longest serving government Coxswains, John Cadman. Based on the evidence of a series of sketches by James Wallis it was built between late 1815 and early 1816, on land adjoining the Government Dockyard. Wallis' drawing of the West Side of Sydney Cove, prepared between January and May 1816 shows the completed two-storey stone building located on the waters edge.
  There are no known plans or specification for the building, nor records of payment for its construction. The absence of a record of payment from the Police Fund, the construction of the dockyard wall in 1818, has led Francis Greenway directed the construction of Cadman's. Tropman and Associates also consider it possible that Greenway designed the building in his capacity as Acting Colonial Architect but there is as yet no solid evidence for Greenway's involvement and this must still be considered speculative.
  The harbour was the focus of the city and Cadmans as the headquarters of the Government Boats, played a key role in the early development of Sydney. The Cottage was built up against a protruding rock shelf, below the level of George Street to take advantage of its shoreline location for supervision of the Government Boats. These were either moored close by or pulled up on the shore in front, but it is highly unlikely that they would have been brought into the building given the scale of the lower room and the original doorway.
  The Coxswains' Barracks (Cadmans Cottage), was occupied by the government coxswains and it probably originally served both as an office and as quarters for some of the boat crews, though the later coxswains appear to have lived there with their families. The coxswain supervised shipping on the harbour and was responsible for rostering the boat crews who were employed in the procurement and transportation of timber, grass, shells (for lime) and stores. The coxswains also provided crews for the Governor's Barge and the naval Officer's boats.
  The post of government coxswain was held by four people;
  Bernard Williams, from 1807 - 1822
  David Smith, from 1822 - 1823
  John von Mangerhouse Weiss, from 1823 - 1826; and
  John Cadman, from 1827 - 1845.
  Cadman was the longest serving of the coxswains. In 1798 he was transported to NSW for horse stealing and in the records of the Muster for Sydney for 1814 is shown as having received an unconditional pardon. He probably started work at the dockyard as Assistant Government Coxswain around the time that Williams was appointed as Coxswain. In 1823 Cadman was appointed as master of the government cutter Mars which was wrecked in 1926. Cadman was removed from his post following the sinking of the Mars and applied for another position in the dockyard. In 1827 when Weiss resigned Cadman was appointed as coxswain. Cadman married Elizabeth Mortimer, who had two daughters, on 26 October 1830 at St Phillip's Church. They all lived at the Cottage until his step-daughters married in 1842 and 1845.
  Cadman held the position of coxswain and occupied the Cottage until he retired in 1845. Francis Low's Directory for 1847 advertises the John Cadman Steam Packet Hotel at Parramatta confirming that he had departed from Sydney by this time. Following his retirement the post of Government Coxswain was abolished and the functions were taken over by various other bodies, including the Water Police, Customs and private traders. Cadman died in 1848 and was buried in the Sandhills Cemetery until 1901 when work commenced on Central Station and he and his headstone were relocated to Bunnerong Cemetery at Botany.
caption: Captain William Bligh statue next to the house.
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