Mayes Cottage at Kingston

Step back in time and get hands-on when you visit the heritage listed Mayes Cottage in Kingston. Explore, learn and interact with your Brisbane Kids at this well-appointed house museum.

Mayes Cottage

Enjoy an enriching history lesson from the 1800s when you enter Mayes Cottage. Not only will you be transported back in time, you will marvel at the cottage and the fact it is almost exactly how it was 100 years ago.

In the home you will be able to wander through and enjoy looking at how the Mayes family lived. The beautiful formal dining room includes a table set with fine bone china, the ornate beds and bed linen with mosquito nets, antique furniture, original toys, clothing, the piano in the lounge room and the original kitchen all create a very authentic experience of life in the 1800-1900s.

Mayes Cottage is filled with lots of beauty and nostalgia; it has a very peaceful and calming vibe as you wind back time.

In 1992 Mayes Cottage was added to the Queensland Heritage register. The property is now managed by Logan City Council as a house museum; it is open to the public three days a week.

Mayes Cottage is a typical Queensland cottage, it was built in 1887 by the Mayes Family and remained the family home for almost 100 years. They arrived in Brisbane from England in 1871. Initially the Mayes built a two-room slab hut in 1872; the slab hut is still in its original position today.

Things to See and Do at Mayes Cottage

Mayes Cottage – with much of the original furniture dating from the 1880s to the 1930s.
Outside laundry
Slab hut
Cow shed and dairy
Large block with tables and lots of green space for a picnic

Interactive Experiences for Brisbane Kids at Mayes Cottage:

Grab a free kids activity pack at the front door – while exploring Mayes Cottage work your way through the activities
Find the wardrobe and look at some of the old dresses. Which is your favourite?
How often was the dining room used?
In the males’ room, can you name the various games?
Play a song on the piano
Use the antique stereophonic to view old photos. What can you see?
Look in the slab hut and think about how it would have felt throughout the various seasons (winter, spring, summer, autumn) with a family of 8 living in there?
Check out the shed and dairy – cows need to be milked twice each day. What time do you think milking the cows would have happened?
Use your favourite part of the kitchen as a backdrop to pose for fun photos. Add a quirky caption to the photo.
Find the old laundry and see how washing used to be done in the 1800s. How long do you think a load of laundry took to do?
The Mayes family were beekeepers. Explore outside to see if you can find any native bees.
What words best describe the doll sitting on the bed? What other toys can you find in the house?
How do you think the kids spent their day back in the 1800s? Write a diary entry to explain.
Find the baby shoes – when and where do you think they were worn?

Accessibility at Mayes Cottage

Mayes Cottage is set on flat grounds allowing people of varying abilities to navigate their way around. There are accessible toilet facilities.

Parking is available within the grounds offering easy access to the outside of the cottage, the slab hut, dairy and its surrounds. Please note, the inside of Mayes Cottage is not accessible by wheelchair.