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The work of bringing the court house back to its original site for public inspection was undertaken by:Douglas Shire Council Port Douglas Restoration Society Douglas Shire Historical Society Government, corporate & private sponsors |
Restoration has resulted from the community's perseverance over a thirty year period and this effort was recognized in 1997 when the project was awarded a John Herbert Award for Excellence in Heritage Conservation by the National Trust of Queensland. |
| This timber building was constructed on the police reserve adjacent to the waterfront at Port Douglas in 1879.
It is identified as the second oldest surviving timber court house to be commissioned by the Queensland Government. The design typifies the simple architecture which was applied, not only to regional court houses, but to other public use buildings as well. Unoccupied by 1961, the Department of Works considered the expense of repair uneconomical in 1963 and the 1968 disposal of this building forced its removal from the police reserve. |
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The Douglas Shire Council and the Port Douglas Restoration Society took on the mantle of trusteeship and responsibility for the project after a Queensland Government decision to excise the original site from the police reserve in May of 1993.
In October of 1993 the project scope was extended to include sensitive end use of the court house by allowing the Douglas Shire Historical Society to create a local history museum. It is due to a large measure of community self-help combined with a large stroke of luck that this building remains in existence and has been returned to site.
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