Lyons Cottage

Lyons Cottage, as so known as British Australian Telegraph Company Residence, is one of the oldest remaining heritage buildings in the central business district in Darwin City.

Also known as BAT House, Lyons Cottage was built by Harold Edward George Snell in 1925 as accommodation for staff of the “Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company,” better known as British Australia Telegraph, who operated the underwater cable connecting Australia to Britain. Its construction followed the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line in 1872 which linked Adelaide to Darwin and then onto London via an underwater cable to Java.

This ended Australia’s isolation from the outside world, and a letter that once physically took three months to travel from London to Sydney via ship, could be telegraphed in less than seven hours using the Overland Telegraph Line. A number of cable company managers, engineers and their families occupied the cottage.

Located on The Esplanade overlooking Darwin Harbour, the stone cottage is constructed of locally quarried porcelanite stone. It is the only remaining example of colonial bungalow architecture left in Darwin. It features shuttered windows and high ceilings, similar to the distinctive architectural style of British colonial dwellings in India, Malaysia and Singapore.