Part Two of a two-part series
In 1850 the Supreme Circuit Court that had sat at Berrima Court House since 1841, was relocated to the faster growing town of Goulburn.
However a local court continued at Berrima with magistrates attending to the district’s civil matters until around 1900. By this time Bowral and Moss Vale had grown sufficiently to warrant their own court houses.
The Court House at Berrima ceased as a judicial court but the noble building’s other public uses continued.
Newspapers reports indicate it had also served as a public hall for the village since its early days, with social evenings being held in the court room. For instance, in 1854, there were references to Mr Waterland’s ‘Serenaders’ giving a concert there.
Besides this, at the time when aboriginals still roamed the district, an annual distribution of blankets was carried out at the Court House – one of the early official attempts to do something for the displaced tribes.
During World War I the building was used by German mariners interned at Berrima. The spacious courtroom served as a chapel and, when a special dinner was to take place, it became a banqueting hall. As well, a dentist brought his equipment to the building monthly to deal with internees’ dental problems.
For the greater part of the time, however, the courtroom was the internees’ library and reading room – a large, airy, well-lit place for a quiet read or game of cards or chess.
After the war, in December 1923, the building gained official approval to open as a School of Arts with library. Major repairs later required the building to close, but the School of Arts was re-opened in 1936 by Sir George Fuller. In 1953 the sum of ₤2,500 was granted for further structural repairs.
By the 1970s the building had again fallen into disrepair, prompting the NSW Government to undertake its restoration as an historic monument.
MAJOR REPAIRS were required. It was a large undertaking due to the size of the two-storey central courtroom, and to the similarly tall internal dimensions that added to the grandeur and majesty of this space.
On Lewis' original design, the courtroom was topped by a vast "lantern", an architectural feature which allowed natural light to fill the interior.
Adjoining the courtroom are two single-storey wings, which housed the juror's rooms and, although lower than the central section, are not of modest proportions, and a parapet accentuates the height of the walls. A single storey extension is placed across the rear of the building, with curved walls. This extension housed the housekeeper's rooms, staff dressing room, judge's chambers, Clerk’s office and a Witness Room.
From the outside can be seen the chimneys over the fireplaces (three of which originally had carved cedar mantelpieces, now lost), which heated the interior rooms, although the courtroom itself had no heating.
Painstaking research was undertaken by the NSW Government for the repair of the Berrima Court House building and for the restoration or replacement of its interior fittings.
When, after its restoration, the building re-opened to the public in March 1979, the response was overwhelming, with people queuing up to take a tour and enjoy the re-enactment events that were staged.
The Court House, managed by a Trust comprised of local residents, has operated ever since as a museum. Staffed by volunteers with an employed manager/curator, its only revenue comes from visitors and gift-shop retail sales, as well as regular fund-raising events.
A VISIT TO the Court House today is much more a unique theatrical experience rather than a foreboding one. A mammoth project, completed late last year, was the producing and installing of a spectacular Son et Lumiere (sound and light show) titled "Treachery Treason & Murder", a dramatic and moving audio-visual experience masterfully depicting the most infamous trial of the 1830s.
When entering the courtroom, a visitor is surrounded on all sides by the jurors’ public gallery, witnesses and barristers’ clerks of the court. As the preamble comes to a conclusion the judge appears out of the darkened courtroom to commence his sentencing of the two murderers. His final summation and orders will chill you.
In its latest incarnation, the Berrima Court House still provides a glimpse into our early justice system, albeit without the visitor today running the risk of a lengthy prison sentence or an even more sombre outcome, the death sentence.
The Court House now ranks as one of the ‘must see’ attractions for those that visit the Southern Highlands and the historic village of Berrima.
This article is sourced from the archives of Berrima District Historical and Family History Society, Bowral Rd, Mittagong. Contribution of information and old photographs welcome. Email bdhsarchives@acenet.com.au; call 4872 2169. Website: berrimadistricthistoricalsociety.org.au
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