Cadman's Cottage is one of the oldest surviving residential buildings in Sydney, built in 1815-1816 when the shoreline of Sydney Cove lay much closer to its door. The small sandstone cottage survived because it stayed in government and institutional use while much of the early waterfront was rebuilt around it.
It now serves as a useful historic marker in The Rocks, a short walk from Circular Quay, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the harbour foreshore.