History Notes - the old courthouse
History Notes
What a surprise to find the Court House all fenced in and workmen actually attending to the building this week. It is now sometime since the pigeons and the vegetation were removed so it is nice to see something actually happening to one of the oldest buildings in Barraba.
The Court house is one of the oldest buildings in our town -the old school in Cherry Street, is probably just older, as is the Post Office which was opened in 1882, while the hospital is younger.
We have two "Festival Booklets" printed in 1946 and 1983 but neither of them has much information about the Court House so I resorted to the Witten Diary and found some information although no actual date or official opening appears.
Arthur Witten took the contract to "draw bricks for the Court House" on 25th March, 1881, and a week later there is a note in the diary "23,400 bricks carted for the Court House." Four days later we read "25,200 bricks carted by Charley and Hubert which finished the kiln of bricks."
A few days later the courthouse contractor returned Turpin (the draft horse) and Arthur Witten sold Turpin two days later to Mr. Lee for 15 pounds.
On 19th April, 1881 Daly started carting bricks again and noted four days later that 4,000 bricks had been carted.
The diary noted on 28th May, "finished bricks for the Court House".
Unfortunately, the diary does not mention when the actual building was finished or when court cases were moved to the Court House.
Reading on I find that the debt was paid off the church on 2ih October, 1881- this is of course the old Anglican Church which stood near the corner of Queen and Alice streets and which was demolished in 1905 and rebuilt as the Parish Hall in Maude Street. The Post Office, next to the Court House was opened on 18th November, 1882, and had several additions before finally being removed to the present site, diagonally opposite the old site. The present Regional Bank is now on the southern side of the Court House.
I wonder if anyone has an idea to use the old Court House - the old court room would make a wonderful Gallery- perhaps a new version of Frost Over Barraba in spring!! There are several rooms in the old building and the remains of a sizeable kitchen for catering. It is a shame that the building has remained empty since the S.E.S. left it. Bill Bright was one citizen who thought it would make a wonderful gallery and often spoke about the waste leaving it empty.