An uncommon sight

This is the Berrima Courthouse which is adjacent to the Berrima Gaol I blipped about yesterday.
 
In the non-aboriginal population of New South Wales during the 1830s, there remained a large number of convicts. As the colony began to emerge from its convict origins, proper court houses were needed.
 
Australia's second Colonial Architect, Mortimer Lewis, designed Berrima Courthouse in the Greek Revival style. (Examples of this style are not all that common in Australia, particularly outside the major cities.) Although the foundation stone was laid in 1835, problems with a succession of builders delayed completion until 1839. Built of hand-hewn sandstone, the Courthouse was used to convict criminals through to 1900 and saw crimes from cattle steeling through to notorious bushrangers and murderers.
 
Around the turn of the century the library for the School of Arts was kept in the courthouse and during the First World War, German officers who had been made prisoners of war were housed in the building.
 
In 1927 a public fund helped pay for restoration work and the committee of the School of Arts re-opened the building in 1936. It was again closed in 1972. Careful restoration of the building to something resembling its original state was then undertaken by the NSW Government and was completed in 1976.
 
The Courthouse is now open 364 days a year for tours and ghost tours.