Marthas Cottage
Martha’s cottage was moved to the museum in 1998 from its original location in Bowen Street, Goondiwindi. Here is an excerpt from the Goondiwindi Historical Society record of Martha’s cottage. The article was written while Martha was still alive and living in the cottage. Martha’s Cottage- Where Time Stands Still Martha’s cottage in Bowen Street was built around 1875 by a Mr T.B. Price. He also built the towns first Presbyterian Church, now tucked away behind the modern St Andrews. Mr Price cultivated a few acres around his cottage, conducted an insurance agency – and did the Town Councils yearly audit, all for one guinea
Only a few mudbricks remain from that little school, on Mrs Adelaide Hohn’s property, The Grove, near Yelarbon.
Marthas Cottage
For some 50yrs the cottage has been the home of nursing sister Miss Martha David, who cherishes every corner of it, and likes to keep it as it was. She added an interior bathroom in the early 1960’s after a cyclone blew her outside bathroom down. There are electrical appliances in the kitchen and she drives a ride-on-mower over her lawns, but the essential pioneer flavour remains.The cottage is built of bush timber, pit-sawn and hand-dressed, with white gloss paint inside giving the rugged adzing the smooth finish of plaster.Natural cooling comes from the high ceilings and well planned cross- ventilation.
A favourite spot is sister David’s “Where is it room”: a typewriter sits on a Childs school desk. Branding Irons from family cattle hang on one wall. A cloth hat awaits its owner’s gardening mood. There is a school picture of a booted and pinafored Martha aged four. “I rode bareback behind my brother, about three miles I suppose, to our little mud school, She recalls.
The cottage is full of memories. There are china topped nails specially made to hang pictures; and a beaded lampshade made a long ago by a member of the family. An old safe hangs in the cool breezeway that leads to the kitchen annex; and shingles under the iron roof can be seen between the sapling rafters on the verandah. The cottage was originally quite isolated, but sub-divisions have brought neighbours closer over the years. Today, like its cheerful and energetic owner, Martha’s cottage is very much part of the community.
That artical was written whilst martha still lived in the Cottage, today we house the Kitchen part of her cottage and it gives you a unique insight into her life, and her home for some 50 years of her life.
Born, Florence Martha David in 1908.
Martha Died age 90yrs In 1998
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