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Innisfail Court House

10 Edith Street, Innisfail

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Innisfail Court House (2009); Heritage Branch staff

Innisfail Court House (2009)

Innisfail Court House view along Rankin St (2002); EHP

Innisfail Court House view along Rankin St (2002)

Innisfail Court House (2009); EHP Training and Education

Innisfail Court House (2009)

Ingham Court House (1994); Heritage Branch staff

Ingham Court House (1994)

Innisfail Court House interior (2002); EHP

Innisfail Court House interior (2002)

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.

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Coordinates: -17.52436552, 146.03154794

Full details of this heritage-registered place are in the Heritage register.

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Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Last reviewed
1 July 2022
Last updated
28 February 2023