The first, two-roomed, stage of the present cottage appears to have been commenced before 1866, when the first rate notice appeared (Shire of Marong) and possibly as early as the mid-1850s, when the first owner, Thomas Samson, a shoemaker turned joiner, came to the Bendigo goldfields. Samson took up a miner's right in Spec(k) Gully in the mid-1850s. The Samson family had ten children and as the family grew they extended the cottage in stages. Samson worked as a miner until about 1871, then returned to boot making from a weatherboard shed on the property. He opened a shop on the corner of Booth and McKenzie Streets in partnership with John Shocker in 1889. He died in 1893. His wife Sarah remained in the cottage until 1906. Albert and Florence Doye purchased the site in 1908 and the family lived there until 1966. The property has remained in the hands of the family, mostly unoccupied. It was renovated by a tenant in the 1970s and passed from miner's right to freehold in 1974. It is currently owned by Arthur Doye, who lives nearby, and is unoccupied. During its early life it, probably during the Samson occupation, it was altered and extended many times into a complex arrangement of structures and outbuildings. Stone remained the dominant building material throughout, even for the poultry shedsThree page report on the significance of Sansom's Cottage, 21 Doye Street, Golden Square, Bendigo. Topics include what is significant; why is it significant; permit exemptions; assessment against criteria; extent of registration and contextual history. Final page on 'history of place' is missing from document.sansom cottage, golden square, heritage register, sandstone, miner, shoemaker, thomas sansom