Childers Magistrates Court is one of those places you go and you feel like you’re working in a different era. In the late 1800’s, Childers was thriving and was becoming known as a very effective Sugar Cane growing region. The need for critical infrastructure to accommodate this growth was identified by the Isis Progress Association following an extension to the Isis Railway Junction. In fact, the Isis Progress Association penned a letter to the Home Secretary in October 1896 pressing “the urgent necessity of building a courthouse”.

In early 1897, tenders were called to construct a new public building. The tender was awarded to William Christine Houghton & Louis Bouttell for around £300 and construction was completed by November 1897.

Only two years later, the Clerk of Petty Sessions wrote to the Home Secretary highlighting necessary alterations in light of the District Court being established there. Tenders were then called again and awarded to Contractor George Upham who constructed a new wing (which I believe exists on the Bundaberg side of the property) and the structure was remodelled to include a witness room, jury room as well as a police Magistrate and Judges room. It is that structure which continues to operate monthly as a sitting Magistrates Court dealing with a wide variety of criminal, domestic violence and civil cases. Lawyers often travel to this court from other areas to represent their clients.

The building was entered into the State Heritage Register in October 1992. Over the last decade, I’ve appeared as a lawyer in various cases at the Childers Court. It’s always an enjoyable experience conducting cases in regional courts and takes me back to my time as an early career lawyer when I worked as the circuit duty lawyer in the Gayndah Courthouse which is a very similar courthouse to this one in the way it is built, just larger.

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