This charming colonial cottage was built on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour in 1881 for Russian scientist and explorer Nikolai Nikolaevich de Miklouho-Maclay to study Australia's marine environment. Built of timber with sandstone foundations, the cottage is typical of the practical colonial architecture of the time. It is located at historic Camp Cove, where the First Fleet rested for a night before landing at Sydney Cove. Miklouho-Maclay worked at the Marine Biological Station for just four years, before returning to Russia where he died in 1888. From the late 1880s until 2001 the cottage was a residence for army officers. Today it is a private residence, but you can still visit the cottage on one of our regular open days.