Courthouse Museum
Museum and Historic Ravenswood
Hours:
11am - 1pm Daily
The Ravenswood Court House was built in 1884 to replace a previous building destroyed in a cyclone earlier that year and quickly became the hub of the gold mining town. Here mining claims were registered, applications for exemptions from work regulations heard and all manner of disputes settled – all the formal business of mining was conducted here. From 1890-1912 the best known of the Ravenswood Wardens - William George Kelly Cusack - presided over the court house. Warden Cusack is buried in the Ravenswood Cemetery, his grave marked by a Celtic Cross.
Description
The building was used as a Court House until 1959, then for a further two years by the Ravenswood Police before falling out of use in 1961. In the late 1960s the building, alongside the police quarters and jail cells, was relocated 70km away to Mt Graham station for use as a homestead.
In 1987 the Ravenswood Restoration and Preservation Association and a team of volunteers worked to bring the buildings home to their original location. The Court House was then set up as a Museum containing many items donated by local families and is used for family histories and to store historical records of Ravenswood. When the buildings returned to Ravenswood the original furniture- including the witness block, prisoners enclosure, public gallery seats and judges stand – were discovered stored in the building and the Court House has been restored to its former glory.
Contact Details
Map & Directions
Location
Barton Street, Ravenswood