Gallery of log for Guilty Your Honour!
Discovered while hiding a cache nearby for the scavenger hunt. Since 1998 the Eaglehawk Historical Society has been housed in the old courthouse.
The courthouse, situated on Crown Land Reserve No.422, was designed by Public Works Department architects H. A. Williams and Peter Kerr and completed on September 5, 1869 at a cost of 1,480 pounds. It had been erected to replace a timber structure which was no longer suitable. Cases had been heard at the Eaglehawk Town Hall for a time while the new building was undergoing construction. The Eaglehawk Court House was not typical of Victorian court houses and as such attracted the interest of Heritage Victoria. It's position within an intact group of nineteenth century civic buildings also added it it's appeal. The court house comprised of a small lobby at the front and the Magistrate's Room and Witnesses's Room at the rear. The Clerk of Courts office was added later to the rear of these rooms. The court house was the setting for the hearing of many gold stealing cases and legal technicalities which arose from quartz reefing. It was a Magistrates Court and cases were heard by the Police Magistrate and a Justice of the Peace, often a serving councillor. There was no jury for these trials. The court house and adjacent log Lock-up were listed on the Victorian Register on February 12, 1998.
Architect, Peter Kerr, who also designed the Post Office in the same precinct, is given credit for the detailing. The Victorian Free Classical design incorporates along with Romanesque circular gable vent and raking arches motif, the triple arch motif which was very popular in public buildings of this period. The Eaglehawk court house is unusual amongst court houses in its adoption of a side entered porch under the main gable roof, rather than verandah or open colonade. The red brick building features extensive cream brick detailing , including banding, corbelled cream mouldings, striated arches and reveals, panels in the gable end and diaper patterns on the chimneys.
The court house ceased to be a place of judgement following the placement of notice in the Government Gazette, August 16, 1989 advising that the court would close
The courthouse, situated on Crown Land Reserve No.422, was designed by Public Works Department architects H. A. Williams and Peter Kerr and completed on September 5, 1869 at a cost of 1,480 pounds. It had been erected to replace a timber structure which was no longer suitable. Cases had been heard at the Eaglehawk Town Hall for a time while the new building was undergoing construction. The Eaglehawk Court House was not typical of Victorian court houses and as such attracted the interest of Heritage Victoria. It's position within an intact group of nineteenth century civic buildings also added it it's appeal. The court house comprised of a small lobby at the front and the Magistrate's Room and Witnesses's Room at the rear. The Clerk of Courts office was added later to the rear of these rooms. The court house was the setting for the hearing of many gold stealing cases and legal technicalities which arose from quartz reefing. It was a Magistrates Court and cases were heard by the Police Magistrate and a Justice of the Peace, often a serving councillor. There was no jury for these trials. The court house and adjacent log Lock-up were listed on the Victorian Register on February 12, 1998.
Architect, Peter Kerr, who also designed the Post Office in the same precinct, is given credit for the detailing. The Victorian Free Classical design incorporates along with Romanesque circular gable vent and raking arches motif, the triple arch motif which was very popular in public buildings of this period. The Eaglehawk court house is unusual amongst court houses in its adoption of a side entered porch under the main gable roof, rather than verandah or open colonade. The red brick building features extensive cream brick detailing , including banding, corbelled cream mouldings, striated arches and reveals, panels in the gable end and diaper patterns on the chimneys.
The court house ceased to be a place of judgement following the placement of notice in the Government Gazette, August 16, 1989 advising that the court would close
