Paradise Cottage

Statement of Significance

Aesthetic Value: The place has aesthetic value as a picturesque ruin of a limestone cottage dating from the 1870s and the remnants are representative of a simple, limestone rural cottage of modest proportions, built using local materials. The remnant landscape features, particularly the stone well and row of mature tuart trees, contributes to the character of the building and represents all that remains of the early rural setting of the place. Historic Value: The place is associated with the Thomas family, particularly Joseph and Amelia Thomas, who established the property c. 1870 and continued to occupy it for at least 60 years. The place is historically significant as one of the earliest land grants in the area, and combines with other remaining homes such as Lealholm, Smirk’s Cottage, Key Cottage and Pines Cottage to form a precinct that represents the early settlement of the East Rockingham district. Level of significance: Exceptional

Physical Description

Paradise Cottage comprises the ruins of a single-storey masonry cottage with a steeply pitched hipped roof, incorporating skillion lean-to additions to the rear and a skillion verandah to the front elevation, both of which have subsided. The remaining walls are constructed with coursed limestone blocks, with brick quoining to the external openings. The roof is clad with corrugated galvanised iron, and has dispersed within the ruin. There is also general rubble associated with previous cement block and corrugated iron additions. Around the building are a number of notable landscape features including a well with a rubble limestone lining located 11 metres south of the building, and a row of mature tuart trees on the buildings west side. In 2015 the extant portions of the place comprised the rear wall with chimney, rear skilion additions, low wall remnants and building materials collapsed across the site. At least two walls extant in 2008 no longer stand. The place is in ruinous condition, having suffered from vandalism and the ravages of a coastal environment.

History

In 1867, Joseph W. Thomas, the second son of Captain John Thomas, married Amelia Key, the daughter of Edward Key from Mona’s Mount, and two years later gained title to 40 acres of land at Cockburn Sound – Lot 139. It is believed that he constructed Paradise Cottage the following year, in 1870. In 1878, Joseph Thomas acquired another 7 acres, namely Lot 146, and by the 1930s, the Thomas family land holding had considerably expanded. In the 1950s, as land was being resumed for the creation of the residential suburbs of Kwinana, the cottage was occupied by tenants, but it was vacant by the 1990s when ownership of the place was transferred to the Commissioner of Railways. (Source: Nora Taggart, Rockingham Looks Back, 1984; and, Palassis Architects, Study of Conservation Options for Thorpe, Thomas & Bell Cottages, 1997)

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate Authenticity: Moderate-high

Condition

Ruinous

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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