The Bundarra Police Station and Courthouse is a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

former

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

and

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

located at Oliver Street, Bundarra, in the

Uralla Shire Uralla Shire is a local government area located in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The New England Highway passes through the Shire. The Shire was established on 1 January 1948 as a result of the amalgamation of the Mun ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. It was designed by

James Barnet James Johnstone Barnet, (1827 in Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland – 16 December 1904 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, New South Wales) was the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890. Early life Born the son of a ...

and built from 1869 to 1870 by Alfred Dorrey. The property is owned by Bundarra Community Purposes Reserve Trust. It was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 2 April 1999.

History

The site for a court house at Bundarra was fixed on 11 August 1855, and tenders called on 22 February 1869 for the erection of a court house and Watch House evidently in one combined building. On 9 April 1869 it was notified that Alfred Dorrey was the successful tenderer for its construction to the design of James Barnet, the Colonial Architect, and the building was completed in 1870 at the cost of

A£ The pound (Sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. As with other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s ...

870 (original estimate A£900). The furniture cost 33 pound 14 shillings and 7 pence. Additions were recorded that year. Barnet had further alterations made to the court house in 1883, tenders being called on 14 November 1882, with G. Ross being given as the successful tenderer on 29 January 1883. More additions became necessary and a local man G. E. Henry of Bundarra was shown on 25 September 1899, as the contractor the work on both the court house and watch house section which was under the direction of the Government Architect,

Walter Liberty Vernon Colonel Walter Liberty Vernon (11 August 184617 January 1914) was an English architect who migrated to Australia and pursued his career as an architect in Sydney, New South Wales. In his role as the New South Wales Government Architect he is ...

who had succeeded Barnet in 1890. Vernon then had further additions to both parts of the building carried out in 1901 by William S. Mead and Company of Annandale, whose tender was given as accepted on 29 July 1901. More recently in 1938, a timber verandah addition was made on the north west corner of the Police residence section under a former Government Architect,

Cobden Parkes Cobden may refer to: People * Richard Cobden, British manufacturer and politician Places ;Australia * Cobden, Victoria ** Cobden Football Club ;Canada * Cobden, Ontario ;New Zealand * Cobden, New Zealand ;United States * Cobden, Illinois * Co ...

. It would appear that a substantial part of the building dates from 1870 though the alterations and additions over the years evidently changed the internal planning thus the attached plan shows the relocation of the barrack room from the south side of the north west.

Description

The building is a single-storey brick building (in

English bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...

brick) built in 1870 (with various alterations in 1883, 1889, 1901 and 1938) with timber floors and timber framed

corrugated galvanised iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...

sheeted roof. Internal walls are plaster or timber boarding generally. From the spacing of the roof

batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

s it appears the roof sheeting was originally slates. The building contains 16 rooms (including the Court Room and two cells) and two

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

hs, and is built on a slightly elevated site above the main road through Bundarra (Uralla-Inverell Road).

Condition

As at 8 May 2017, the building was in generally fair to good condition structurally, and the interior has been renovated since 1987.

Heritage listing

As at 19 September 2003, the former Bundarra Police Station and Court House is significant because the building embodies the establishment, growth and evolution of one of the major influential public departments of NSW. The responsibilities and duties of this Department were of fundamental importance to the development of law enforcement after the introduction of the Police Regulation Act of 1862 NSW. The former Bundarra Police Station Court House has close associations with the development of the Region as a centre for Law Administration. The building also has close association with the Colonial Architect's Office and may be used to demonstrate the design philosophy of that Office in rural regions. The former Bundarra Police Station and Court House is a particularly well-known urban landmark in the town of Bundarra and makes a major contribution to the streetscape qualities of the Bendemeer and Oliver Streets Precinct. The quality of workmanship and the unique use of elements in this building has produced a pleasing and esteemed visual aesthetic. The building is a rare and unusual example of a "modified Victorian Georgian" style reminiscent of the earliest Australian buildings idioms into a system based on a utilitarian scale and use. The quality of the design, including its proportions, details and character are of a high standard. The inclusion of the former Bundarra Police Station and Court House on a number of Federal and local heritage registers underscores its widespread importance as an item of cultural heritage to the local and wider community. This importance is further demonstrated by the efforts of the Bundarra community and the Shire Council to development the "place" as a cultural tourist attraction demonstrating the importance of early Bundarra as a service centre and in law administration in this part of New South Wales. The Bundarra Police Station and Courthouse was listed on the

on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. The former Bundarra Police Station and Court House embodies the establishment, growth and evolution of one of the major influential public departments of NSW. The responsibilities and duties of this Department were of fundamental importance to the development of law enforcement after the introduction of the Police Regulation Act of 1862 NSW. The former Bundarra Police Station and Court House has close associations with the development of the Region as a centre for Law Administration. The building also has close association with the Colonial Architect's Office and may be used to demonstrate the design philosophy of that Office in rural regions. The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. The former Bundarra Police Station-Court House is a particularly well-known urban landmark in the town of Bundarra and makes a major contribution to the streetscape qualities of the Bendemeer and Oliver Streets Precinct. The quality of workmanship and the unique use of elements in this building has produced a pleasing and esteemed visual aesthetic. The building is a rare and unusual example of a "modified Victorian Georgian" style reminiscent of the earliest Australian buildings idioms into a system based on a utilitarian scale and use. The quality of the design, including its proportions, details and character are of a high standard. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The inclusion of the former Bundarra Police Station and Court House on a number of Federal and local heritage registers underscores its widespread importance as an item of "cultural heritage" to the local and wider community. This importance is further demonstrated by the efforts of the Bundarra community and the Shire Council to development the "place" as a cultural tourist attraction demonstrating the importance of early Bundarra as a service centre and in law administration in this part of New South Wales.

References

Bibliography

Attribution

{{NSW-SHR-CC, name=Bundarra Police Station & Courthouse, dno=5045480, id=00229, year=2018, accessdate=1 June 2018 New South Wales State Heritage Register Bundarra, New South Wales Former courthouses in New South Wales Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register 1869 establishments in Australia Government buildings completed in 1870 James Barnet buildings