MARYBOROUGH COURT HOUSE

Maryborough Court House is the fourth (and current) court house in the former gold town of Maryborough in central Victoria, where the first court opened as a Court of Mines in 1858. The present solid brick and painted render building is one of the largest court houses outside Melbourne. It was designed in the Federation Free Classical style by the Victorian Public Works Department architect Samuel Bindley in 1892. When the building opened in April 1893, it comprised a large central courtroom with surrounding offices for the judge, an associate, jury, sheriff, witnesses, barristers and solicitors, as well as rooms for robing, interviewing, paper storage, and a prisoner's cell that led directly to the dock. The public entered through the central arch of the portico at the front of the building, where entrances on both sides led into lobbies. This building retained a link with its predecessors in the township by incorporating the cedar bench and canopy of the third court house at Maryborough (1877-93). In the building's only major alteration, the front portico was partly enclosed in 1949 and the facade was reconstructed to convert the two side entrances to office space. The south wall of the courtroom was then breached to provide a new entrance. In general, the original appearance and integrity of the building has been maintained, although further additions in 1960 involved an intrusive brick toilet extension with a flat iron roof at the rear of the building. Major render repair and restoration work was undertaken in 1996.

How is it significant?

Maryborough Court House is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?

Maryborough Court House is historically significant for its continuous association with the legal process in Victoria for more than a century. It has been used by the County Court, the Court of General Sessions, the Court of Mines, Insolvency Court, and for hearings of the Supreme Court. It also has historical significance as a relatively intact example of the work of prominent Public Works Department architect Samuel E. Bindley, who was responsible for numerous major public buildings in Melbourne and country Victoria.

Maryborough Court House is historically and architecturally significant as the only court house in Victoria to be built in the Federation Free Classical style, which is characterised by symmetry and the use of classical elements without regard to academic correctness, as well as a balustraded skyline, pediments and entablatures.

Group

Law Enforcement

Category

Court House