Cooma Cottage

The 1835 single storied colonial cottage Cooma Cottage at Yass was built by Pioneering pastoralist Cornelius O'Brien and between 1839 and 1873 it was home to Australia's great overland explorer Hamilton Hume.

A creative owner-builder, Hume added his version of Palladian style wings and a Greek Revival portico. Set in a pastoral landscape the house represents an extraordinary taxonomy of vernacular building techniques and includes a fine, mid-nineteenth century stables outbuilding.

Situated on the Yass River, Cooma Cottage is in the heart of some of New South Wales' richest sheep grazing country. Cooma Cottage forms part of an important group of rural houses along the Yass River which include Douro and Hardwicke.

The plains were an attraction to settlers in the 1820s and settlement of the Yass area was sufficient to warrant the establishment of a post office in Yass by 1835.