Inside the plan to close historic Aussie site because it didn't align with Indigenous reconciliation

• Melbourne City Council considered closing Cooks' Cottage
• The 2023 plan cited Indigenous reconciliation as the reason 
• READ MORE: Captain Cook's lost ship is FOUND after 250 years 

A council secretly planned to shut down a historic site in Australia because it did not align with Indigenous reconciliation plans.

Newly emerged documents revealed Melbourne City Council had intended in 2023 to close Cooks' Cottage, in Fitzroy Gardens, due to its complicated history.

State Liberal MP David Davis obtained hundreds of pages of council papers following a Freedom of Information appeal in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Those documents detailed the council's plans to close the colonial home as it didn't align with Indigenous reconciliation plans and truth-telling commitments.

Council staff were also given a script to read to locals inquiring about the closure, and told to blame a decline in visitor numbers for the decision. 

The 270-year-old home was built by the parents of Captain James Cook in 1775 in Great Ayton, Yorkshire.

Cook never lived in the two-storey brick cottage, as it was built ten years after he'd left home.

Australian philanthropist Sir Russell Grimwade paid to have the house carefully deconstructed in England and brought to Melbourne in 1934 for the centenary of English settlement in the city.

Its page on the council's website detailed how individually-labelled bricks and snippets of the home's original crawling ivy were brought across the world.

The cottage now offers education about Australia's colonial history but has become an increasingly controversial attraction in Melbourne. 

The building and nearby statue of Cook have repeatedly been vandalised, especially on Australia Day, as attitudes remain divided on how Australia should reckon with its colonial past and subsequent violence against Indigenous populations. 

The 2023 council review papers stated: 'Overwhelmingly, accounts of Cook's voyages in the public domain are driven by perceptions of Cook as a "discoverer".

'The realities of the voyages, and voices of First Nations communities, are excluded in favour of one-sided European tellings of this history and Cook's legacy.'

The documents also included a script for council customer service staff to follow when dealing with inquiries about the proposed closure.

It called for staff to cite a 'significant decline' in Cooks' Cottage visitors as the reason for its closing.

Information about the council's concerns for Indigenous reconciliation were omitted.

A media release from chief executive Alison Leighton had also been prepared alongside numbers showing visitor numbers significantly declined during Covid, at a cost of $400,000 to the council.

Davis slammed the council's proposal to close the cottage, which he labelled 'the nation's oldest building'. 

'This is nothing but a shameful attempt to cancel a vital part of Victorian and national history,' he told the Herald Sun.

'It's disappointing the City of Melbourne is questioning the value of the cottage simply because it lacks Aboriginal perspectives.

'While it's important to tell the full story of our shared history, this site remains a rare, tangible link to Australia's early British heritage and a much-loved destination for visitors.' 

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece told Daily Mail there were no current plans to close Cooks' Cottage.

'All of Melbourne's history has shaped the city we know today and Cooks' Cottage remains a valued part of that story - and it will stay open,' he said. 

'We regularly review our visitor experiences to ensure they continue to meet community needs, attract visitors and remain financially sustainable.

'Cooks' Cottage is one of many ways people can connect with Melbourne's rich history - alongside our arts and heritage collection, monuments, and our upcoming Stolen Generations Marker.'

Fred Grimwade, Sir Russell's great-great-nephew, previously told the Herald his family was no longer involved with the cottage.

However, the Grimwades supported efforts to ensure it is 'presented in a context and manner that reflects contemporary social and community attitudes but is respectful of history'.

Cooks' Cottage is open every day from 10am to 4pm.

It is located on the southern end of the Fitzroy Gardens, in Melbourne's CBD. 

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