National Trust of Queensland Heritage Excellence Conservation Award 1997

This timber court house was built for the Queensland Government in 1879. Official police use ceased in 1957 and it was sold and removed from the police reserve precinct. The building was returned during 1993 and after being restored on its original site, it was opened to the public in 1997.

Today the murder trial of the only woman to be officially hanged in Queensland
is featured in the same room where the case first came before a court in 1887 

Police and supreme court hearings which led to execution by hanging for Ellen Thomson are now revisited through audio-visual and graphic displays produced by the Douglas Shire Historical Society. This case which was highly controversial last century, remains so to this day. Prisoner ID Photograph 1887 - Ellen Thomson

CHINESE COMMUNITY	The census of 1886 shows that ethnic Chinese represented almost two-thirds of the district's total population.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION	The route over the ranges to the Hodgkinson goldfield became known as Christy Palmerston's "Bump Track".
POLICE SERVICE	Henry Hasenkamp began as gold escort trooper and retired as sergeant at Port Douglas after 40 difficult years.
SHIPPING NAVIGATION	The impressive Chance Brothers light, a revolving dioptric Fresnel lens of the 3rd order, was the original light mounted on Low Island lighthouse in 1879.
SUGAR CULTIVATION	Settlement on the Mossman River by Dan Hart and Richard Owen Jones led to the construction of the Mossman Central Mill.
CORAL SEA BATTLE	Graphic display of the events centred on the Battle of the Coral Sea 7-8 May 1942 off the North Queensland coast.

Look for the Port Douglas Court House Museum on Wharf Street near the police station.