On 09 February 1860, the Circuit Court sat at Ipswich on a particularly hot sub-tropical summer’s day. Here’s how the Moreton Bay Courier recorded the day:
THE court opened at 10 o’clock. There were seven prisoners for trial. The attendance of jurors was very good, two only of those summoned being absent, a good and sufficient reason being given.
The clerk of arraigns was instructed by the Judge to write to Mr. Cullen, as he did not then appear and ask his attendance on the previous day.
Considerable inconvenience was felt both by judge, jury, spectators and others, on account of the ill-ventilated and ill-constructed character of the court, which, although quite new and creditable in appearance as a public building, must, in the language of the learned judge, have been arranged by a person “wholly unacquainted with the practical workings of courts of justice.” The seat of judgment itself is so constructed that the representative of justice is completely “cribbed, cabined, and confined,” while the jury boxes are admirable contrivances for torturing her Majesty’s lieges while engaged in judging between her sovereign ladyship and the prisoner at the bar.
As for the representatives of the press, they are left out of the question altogether, and are obliged to appropriate one of the narrow contrivances aforesaid-greatly to the annoyance of any whom Nature may have graced with an extreme length of lower limb. The room set apart for the jury when retiring is so badly ventilated and ill contrived that the judge informed the first jury who went into it, that he should be happy to place his own room at their disposal, as he knew that no twelve men could stay in the other for any length of time “without positive injury to their health.”
To return to the court itself, we may remark that the important matter of ventilation has been altogether neglected, while, to increase the heat, plain glass has been let into the four skylights, apparently with the diabolical intention of inflicting un coup de soliel upon the jurors, or any individuals who might chance to sit within the focus of the sun’s rays, as they dart down through the skylights aforesaid. This produced a ludicrous effect on the court today, for the Judge, not wishing to see the services of the Coroner called into requisition – requested the jurors to dispense with the usual courtesy and respect shown to the bench, and to wear their hats – which many of them were positively obliged to do.
Of course, perspiration reigned supreme, and the most agreeably situated personages were, the prisoner and those of the hoi polloi who ensconced themselves near the front windows. It is a great pity that so fine a building should have been spoiled by the inconvenience of its internal arrangements, and we hope that some steps will be taken to render this new “temple of justice,” (as the Attorney-General grandiloquently termed it) more endurable than a hot-house.
The Old Ipswich Courthouse, as it is known today, served its purpose from 1860 to 1982. There were extensions made to the original sandstone building in the 1930s. The building was sandstone and brick and a design by Charles Tiffin. Unfortunately, some of the features that Tiffin thought would make the building beautiful and airy did not suit a subtropical February day, particularly with the Courtroom full of prisoners, jurors and spectators.
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 11 February 1860, page 2
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