Future of old courts still unknown

NEARLY ten months after the Bendigo Law Courts relocated to their new site there is still no word on what will happen to the old buildings.

According to Peter Cox, president of the Bendigo branch the National Trust of Australia, the buildings are heritage listed and a symbol of Bendigo’s goldmining wealth.

Despite having contacted the State Government about conservation of the buildings in 2018, Mr Cox said the National Trust had not received any updates on their future use.

“We were making the point that it’s important to have a forward plan, and I mean we the branch of the National Trust because once the buildings closed up and not used it deteriorates very quickly,” he said.

Mr Cox also said the National Trust has some ideas for how the buildings could be used and has contacted Courts Victoria to request the buildings be opened for their upcoming heritage festival.

“I think partnerships are the way to go,” he said. “Because it involves many more people and that’s the way we got the old gaol restored and transformed into a performing arts centre.”

As concerns rise that the buildings will fall into disrepair, Nationals upper house MP for Northern Victoria, Gaelle Broad, raised the matter in Parliament last week.

“The State Government has been working on designs for the new $152 million law courts for over three years, but there is still no plan for the old law courts,” she said.

Ms Broad said she thought the State Government’s inability to determine how the heritage court buildings would be utilised signified an oversight in the projects planning.

“They’re just not doing their homework, that should have been part of the original project,” she said.

“You build the new law courts, what are you doing with the old building? That should have been part of that planning and that journey.”

Ms Broad suggests turning to community and stakeholders for direction on how the buildings could be used in future.

“I think we need to be good stewards of this history and see it utilised, but to engage the community in that process,” she said.

The buildings are a State-owned asset leased by three different organisations including the Bendigo Law Courts, the Department of Justice and Community Safety Victoria, and the City of Greater Bendigo.

Bendigo Law Courts, who oversee courts one and two at 71 Pall Mall, are currently in the process of cataloguing the books and artefacts left at the site.

There are no plans in place once that process is complete and a spokesperson for the Bendigo Law Courts said future of the building is up to the State Government to determine.

The municipality was contacted for comment on plans for courtroom five, which sits above the Visitor Centre on Pall Mall.

A spokesperson from the City said future use of the space will be reviewed in due course.

The Victorian Attorney General was contacted for comment but did not responded at the time of publication.