12/05/2025
"On Captain Hendersonʼs arrival in the colony on 1 June 1850 he found that no accommodation had been provided for the 75 convicts and their guards. Consequently, plans were made immediately for the construction of a gaol to house the prisoners, and the associated buildings required for the Royal Engineers, the Royal Sappers and Miners, the Pensioner Guards and the Warders.
Apart from the prison there were plans for residences for the Comptroller General (Henderson), the Royal Engineer, the prison superintendent and surgeon, barracks and facilities for the Royal Sappers and Miners and the Pensioner Guards, and two two-storey terraced quarters for the warders and their families. Despite an abundance of land in the colony, the design of the Wardersʼ Cottages (fmr) was based on contemporary English workersʼ terrace housing appropriate for England and other colonies where space was restricted. " - KELSALL BINET ARCHITECTS with Carmel Given, Graduate Historian.