Mt Rouse & District Historical Society - Penshurst

Email address: pensearch@iprimus.com.au
Postal address: PO Box 35, Penshurst, Victoria 3289
The courthouse served the town for almost 100 years, the last case being heard in 1970. From the early 1970s the building was used informally by the Historical society. The courthouse contains the original ‘court’ furniture. The magistrate’s room and the clerk’s room are now used as research rooms for the use of members and the general public. The original decision of the relevant authorities was to strip the courthouse of its furnishings. The Society’s members at the time, hearing of this plan, blockaded the courthouse and refused to let the workman enter and remove these historically valuable furnishings. The members won out in the end and we now have one of the few fully furnished courthouses in Victoria.
In 2007 the Department of Sustainability and Environment formally handed over the building to the Historical Society as trustees of this heritage listed building. It is now the official home of the Historical Society. The Society collects, catalogues, files and maintains historical records, maps and photographs and makes them available for public access. With the assistance of various grants the interior of the building has been painted and other maintenance work carried out to assist in the preservation of the building. In 2008 the Victorian Police Department donated the old police lock up to the Historical Society and it was moved from its old location, behind the police residence to its new home at the rear of the courthouse.