Caroline Chisholm Cottage, Heritage site and former hospital in East Maitland, Australia.
Caroline Chisholm Cottage is a sandstone house in East Maitland with four front rooms facing Mill Street. The building features a timber shingle roof covered with corrugated iron and a western verandah with two separate entrances at each end.
The house was built between 1831 and 1835 as a shelter for newly arrived immigrants. In 1842, Caroline Chisholm used it to provide refuge for homeless people arriving in the colony.
The building reflects how early settlers lived and worked in colonial Australia. It stands as the only surviving structure tied to Caroline Chisholm's work helping newly arrived immigrants find housing and stability.
The rooms connect directly through doorways without internal corridors, making the layout straightforward to navigate. This simple arrangement allows visitors to understand how people moved through the space daily.
The building retains its original room arrangement from the 1830s, with windows and doors positioned exactly as they were first built. This unchanged layout offers a rare glimpse into how colonial workers actually organized their living space.
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