Castlemaine Median PriceThe House price is 1% higher than last year. Surrounding suburbsCastlemaine Median RentThe House rent is 4% higher than last year.
| Map | Street view | Nearby property price | Planning History: | | Registered as Victorian heritage | Last updated on - March 24, 2000 What is significant? The enormous influx of people to the Victorian central goldfields in the 1850s resulted in the rapid establishment of law enforcement instrumentalities and the erection of many public buildings. In 1851 a Commissioner's Camp was established at the junction of Barkers and Forest Creeks in Castlemaine and a police office was erected there the following year. Public Works Department Colonial Architect Henry Ginn authorised and supervised the works. Built of brick and laid on a sandstone base, the building was converted into a court house in 1852 and in the same year housed the first sitting of the Supreme Court of Victoria on the goldfields. Sittings of the County Court and the Court of Petty Sessions were held between 1852 and 1856 and in 1865 the Castlemaine Mining Board took over the building. The building remained the property of the Crown until 1940 when it was sold to artist Alice .M.E. Bale. In 1983 the building was compulsorily acquired and transferred back to the Crown. The single storey building, with its modified timber verandah and iron clad roof, is now used by the Castlemaine Historical Society. How is it significant? The former Castlemaine Court House is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. Why is it significant? The former Castlemaine Court House is of great historical importance as one of the earliest extant public buildings of the Colony of Victoria and is possibly the earliest surviving public building of the Victorian goldfields. While originally constructed as a police office, the building operated as a Circuit Court from 1852 until the late 1850s and was presided over by Mr Justice Barry,(later Sir Redmond Barry), in 1852 at what is thought to have been his first Supreme Court sitting outside of Melbourne. The building is believed to be the oldest building remaining in Castlemaine and has strong historical associations with the gold rush era, in particular the establishment of law and order on the goldfields, and settlement in central Victoria. The building also has long associations with the Castlemaine Road Engineers and the Castlemaine Mining Board, the latter which occupied the building for approximately 30 years. The former Castlemaine Court House is of historical interest for its association with artist Alice Marian Ellen Bale (1875-1955). Alice Bale was a talented artist who exhibited widely and was also an editor of the journal of the Victorian Artists' Society from March 1918 until its last issue in February 1919. The former Castlemaine Court House is of architectural significance as an example of a public building which pre-dates the Public Works Department standard designs. |
| | |