Crossing Cottage

Parent Place or Precinct

02864 Blandstown Heritage Precinct

Statement of Significance

Crossing Cottage is historically significant for its associations with the 1895 railway and its close proximity to the crossing over Great Southern Highway. It demonstrates a way of life for a railway worker, managing the crossing, and is an example of a Victorian Georgian architectural style that typifies a worker’s cottage, and contributes to the historic townscapes of the Blandstown precinct, and of the town of York.

Physical Description

The single storey residence has a simple hipped roof. It is presents a symmetrical frontage with a central door flanked by single double-hung sash windows with rendered surrounds. The front veranda has been removed.

History

After York was opened for selection in 1830, the first settlers, arrived in 1831 from the Swan River settlement with the task of establishing a Government Farm. Balladong Farm was settled in 1831 by William Heal, later H. Bland after whom Blandstown is named. Stephen Stanley Parker had arrived in the Colony with his parents in 1830. After marrying Elizabeth Sewell in 1844 he purchased Balladong Farm in 1848. During the 1850s, Parker developed the property into a very successful farm. The “village” now known as Blandstown, the oldest privately settled part of the York town, developed around Balladong Farm due to the influential presence, water supply, and the river crossing. William Street area developed with the advent of the railway line in 1895, and this cottage was a worker’s cottage associated with that era of development. The cottage was constructed for a railway worker and his family. Located in close proximity to the railway line crossing over Great Southern Highway, it was his task to open close the gates to the crossing when trains came through to prevent road traffic at that time. Although located in Blandstown its history is associated with the development of the railway rather than that of Blandstown. The place was condemned in 2010 when it lost the roof in a storm. The roof has since been replaced.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate/High Authenticity: Moderate/High

Condition

Fair

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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