Court House Museum in Port Douglas

Fast Facts about Court House Museum in Port Douglas

Address of Court House Museum in Port Douglas: Wharf Street

Port Douglas QLD 4877

Open Hours at Court House Museum in Port Douglas: 10am to 1pm Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays

History of Court House Museum in Port Douglas

Court House Museum in Port Douglas , the timber building, was constructed on the police reserve adjacent to the waterfront at Port Douglas in 1879. It is 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.

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. In 1997, Court House Museum in Port Douglas was opened by the newly formed Douglas Shire Historical Society as a museum.

Features of Court House Museum in Port Douglas

The features of Court House Museum in Port Douglas include:

• Today the murder trial of Ellen Thomson, the only woman hanged in Queensland, is featured in the same room where the case first came before a 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.

• Some of the Museum exhibits include Chinese community, Road construction, Police service, Shipping navigation, Sugar cultivation and Coral Sea battle.

Graphic display of the events centered on the Battle of the Coral Sea 7-8 May 1942 off the North Queensland coast are also featured here.

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