Innisfail Court House

This classically designed brick courthouse was completed in 1940 and is the third courthouse on this site in Innisfail. The first structure, built in 1888, was destroyed by the 1918 cyclone and was replaced with a high-set timber structure in 1921. The 1921 building, also heritage-listed, was moved further along Edith Street in 1938 and refitted as a police station and later relocated to Yorkey’s Knob, north of Cairns in 1988. It is now a private home. The 1940 Innisfail Courthouse is a product of the unemployment relief schemes initiated by the Forgan Smith Government during the Great Depression (1929-39), with the aim to generate work for architects, builders and labourers. The courthouse is a landmark structure. Its curved portico dominates the corner of Rankin and Edith Streets and features columns with Ionic capitals. A double-height verandah runs down each street façade. The building complements other masonry buildings in town including the Catholic Church, shops, hotels and the former Commonwealth Bank which has a similar curved portico overlooking the Esplanade.