In Fitzroy Gardens you'll find Captain James Cook's (he of the many voyages of discovery and mapmaking) cottage.

Except... it's not REALLY Captain Cook's cottage. It was his parents' cottage. And given that the date over the doorway is 1755, and Cook left for an apprenticeship in 1745, it's really the cottage that his parents built or rebuilt after he left home.

Still, it has SOME connection with Cook, and given that he lived quite some time ago now (1728 to 1779), best to be grateful for whatever we can get on that point.

The last private owner of the cottage in England, a Mrs Dixon, put it up for sale in 1933 and suggested that it may be useful for Victoria's centenary celebrations in 1934. So of course it made sense to send the cottage to Melbourne... a place that Cook never laid eyes on in his entire life.

(Though granted on the voyage of Endeavour the first landfall was at Point Hicks, which is 80-odd kilometres across the NSW border and into Victoria, so there IS an historical nexus with Victoria of sorts. However Cook spent most of his time in Australia on the NSW and Queensland coasts.)

The cottage itself is unremarkable and I don't really have a shot worth putting in this gallery. However this statue of Cook can be found in its gardens.