This cottage was the home of George Fowler Day and his family from 1851 until about 1862, when they moved to a larger home which Day had built nearby (Alton Grange). Day had arrived in South Australia from Victoria in 1845. He married Eliza Way in 1851, and they went on to have a total of eleven children, six of whom were probably born in this cottage. Day called the cottage Ansley Farm, named in honour of his family village in Warwickshire. Alton Grange was named after a manor house near the village of Ansley.

About 1867 Day gave up farming and moved his family to Adelaide. Day's property was bought by Elijah Lovelock, and he and his wife Mary Ann lived at Alton Grange for many years. Day's cottage was rented out to various people over the years, including the Biddle family in the 1920s.