In the centre of the Fitzroy Gardens is a cottage almost invisible behind its overgrown garden but it is an interesting little house and worth a more careful look. It was designed in 1866 by Francis Maloney White as the gardener’s cottage. Its first occupant was James Sinclair and hence it is now known as Sinclair’s Cottage.
White is best remembered as the architect for the old law school at Melbourne University and its much-photographed cloisters. While not a popular subject for photographers Sinclair’s Cottage is visually striking because of its unusual arrangement of polychromatic brickwork. This type of decorative patterning usually appears as dark brick with a cream brick trim. But here the scheme is reversed. The base colour is cream with highlights in dark brick and striped chimneys above.
James Sinclair was born in Scotland. From a young age he showed great artistic talent, especially in the illustrating of botanical subjects. This brought him work at Kew Gardens in London where he learnt his landscaping skills. Somehow, he came to the attention of Prince Vorontsov of Russia who invited him to plan his estate at Sebastopol in the Crimea. Such was the success of this that Tsar Nicholas I borrowed him to assist in laying out the Imperial Gardens at St Petersburg.
While at Sebastopol James married Mary Ann Cooper, governess to Prince Vorontsov's children. There they had their first child. As the Crimean War loomed they returned to England and soon after moved to Melbourne, arriving in December 1852. Sinclair set himself up as a seedsman and published a monthly gardening journal. Two more children were born.
In 1856 the Melbourne City Council made the first move towards turning the old quarry and rubbish dump, into the future Fitzroy Gardens. Sinclair was employed to do preparatory trenching. In 1858 the Council, realising its funds were inadequate for the job, surrendered the land to the government. Clement Hodgkinson, an engineer and surveyor, working in the Department of Lands and Survey, and from 1860, assistant commissioner of Crown Lands, took control. Sinclair remained in charge of plantings.
As soon as the cottage was completed Sinclair and his family moved in. Mary Ann had died in 1859 and Sinclair married Ellen Roberts the same year. The new surroundings proved stimulating for Ellen. She became an accomplished nature printer and exhibited her work in many of Melbourne’s big exhibitions with favourable reviews. She produced many hundreds of specimens, almost all ferns. Her technique seemed a simple one: inking fronds and then pressing them into paper with a hand press. Unfortunately, it seems none of her work has survived.
James died at the cottage in 1881, and Ellen died ten years later.
This article originally appeared in the Inner City News, July 2025
