Water Police Court and Office

By the late 1840s both the Water Police Office and Watch House were located in The Rocks area at the Government Coxswain's Barracks, known as Cadman's Cottage. This accommodation became inadequate and in 1851 a site on the edge of the Governor's domain was selected for a new Water Police Court and Office to be designed by Colonial Architect, Edmund Blacket.

In 1853 sandstone was quarried from nearby Bennelong Point, site of the present Sydney Opera House, and preparations for construction began. However, due to the acute shortage and high cost of suitable labour caused by the Gold Rush the building was not completed until 1856. Cases heard by the Water Police Magistrate in this court related to the workings of the Harbour Regulations Act and the Water Police Act. Despite the delays in completion, the impact of this facility upon the colony was marked.

Not only did its imposing appearance and maritime outlook create an indelible impression of law and order to those on or about the harbour, but its sandstone facade and formal layout became an important prototype for the design of other courthouses. The Water Police Office and Court continued operations until 1918 when it was closed along with the adjoining Police Court. Reflecting the changing needs of a developing city, both courthouses re-opened in 1924 as Traffic Courts, a function they maintained until their final closure in 1980.

The Water Police Court and Office is a single-storey Classical Revival structure. Based on the design of the basilicas in which the ancient Romans conducted their courts, it features a simple porch with three arches positioned slightly forward of two low flanking wings.

The porch, which now serves as the Museum's public foyer, was originally open but was enclosed during subsequent use. The Waiting Room and Accountant's Office that were installed behind the side arches in 1899 by the Government Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, have been removed except for their curved bow windows. Today the existence of these rooms is acknowledged by reconstructed sections of their floors.

This courtroom and the western wing are generally not open to the public but are available for inspection for venue hire by appointment.

The two rooms in the building's eastern wing are used to display the Museum's major exhibitions. These exhibitions are theme based and change annually. The first room once housed clerical staff for the court while the second, and smaller, of the two rooms was originally aMagistrate's Chamber and then, in later years, a small Parking Court.

The western room known as the Yellow Room is dedicated to the Honour Roll of Police slain on duty in New South Wales since 1862. Although a number of watchmen and constables were brutally murdered prior to 1862, this year has been selected because it marks the establishment of the NSW Police Force.

Throughout the history of policing in NSW many more police have died than those named. However, these deaths have occurred through accidents, ill-health and misadventure. Whilst this display concentrates only on those police who have been deliberately slain, the Museum regards the memory of all police who have lost their lives on duty as sacred. A full monument containing the names of all serving police who have died can be found in the Domain.

Police Court

Designed by the prolific Colonial Architect, James Barnet, and erected between the Water Police Court and Water Police Station in 1885-86, the Police Court reflected the need to provide additional resources to cope with the rising incidence of crime in the area and the increased volume of court work this generated. With a similar portico to the Water Police Court, Morton Herman commented in his book The Blackets - An Era of Australian Architecture, “Erected more than thirty years after Blacket's wing, it at least did him the compliment of being in the same design as the old work.”

In this case, however, the delicate curved structures installed in the side arches of the Police Court in 1899 by the Government Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, as separate male and female witness rooms have been retained. While Herman's comment is true for the exterior of the courthouse, the interior of the Police Court makes no concessions to the styling of its earlier neighbour. Through its elaborate roof, it possesses a lightness that the austere early-Victorian Blacket courtroom lacks. James Barnet was to exercise a powerful and direct influence on the character of NSW’s public buildings for 30 years.

He was responsible for the building of 130 courthouses throughout suburban and country centres of NSW as well as many other major buildings in the City of Sydney including the nearby Lands Department building and the Chief Secretary's building. The Police Court has now been restored as an 1899 Court of Petty Sessions. It is not an exact recreation of this particular courtroom but instead is based on the 1856 plans for the Water Police Court and photographs of similar courts in the 1890s.

Original wooden fittings in this room are the cedar canopy, Magistrate's bench, Clerk's cubicle and Court Reporter's screen and sections of the bar (the railing separating the public from the court area). The cedar screen installed in front of the exit doors to Phillip Street to reduce the influence of external noise and weather is also original. Almost all of the movable courtroom furniture has come from the Attorney General's Department's furniture repository, including the cedar bar table which was originally from this building. Lighting is provided by electric reproduction lights based on gas fittings used in courts of the 1890s while coir matting, which was commonly used in courts to deaden the noise, has also been installed. Both the reporter's box and the prisoners' dock are reproductions and are located according to the 1856 plans.

The design of the dock, a term originating from the Flemish word for birdcage, is based on descriptions and etchings of the notorious Water Police Court dock which could hold as many as 15 prisoners at a time. This was necessary because there were no waiting rooms for the prisoners in the Water Police Court and so it was much easier to put them all in the dock together.

Despite the courtroom's airy appearance, it was in fact quite stifling during warmer periods. To ease the comfort of the presiding Magistrate, a hydraulic air-cooling machine was constructed and installed beneath the floor in his chamber. The machine pumped cool air through a terracotta pipe into the courtroom. The squared metal vents for this refreshing flow can be seen in the corners behind either end of the Magistrate's bench. 

The Watch House Kitchen

At the eastern end of the small courtyard between the Police Court and the Water Police Station is the reconstructed sandstone wall of the original kitchen that formed a part of the Watch House complex, built in 1857-58.

All police stations were required to provide cooking facilities for the constables on duty and for the preparation of rations for the prisoners. While the police required sufficient food to sustain them in a fit state of active duty, the prisoners received the poorest quality food in very small portions.

Prisoners were fed daily, so that if they were brought into the Watch House in the afternoon, they would have to wait until the following morning before they received their daily ration of bread and water. This duty was often carried out by the wife of a resident policeman who was paid an allowance for cooking and cleaning services.

This room now houses the Archive Gallery dedicated to the display and interpretation of selected images from the Museum’s vast forensic photography archive. Displays change twice yearly and showcase the crime scenes, mug shots, motor accidents, murders, fires, forgeries, fingerprints and police activities as recorded by police photographers.

Water Police Station (Watch House)

On the completion of the Water Police Court and Office in 1856, the Water Police Magistrate, Lieutenant Samuel North, complained to the Governor that the Watch House, including cells for the prisoners, intended for construction next to the court had not been built. This caused much inconvenience, as prisoners required to appear before the court had to be marched from the old lock-up in The Rocks across the Quay to the new location.

In 1858 the Water Police Station was duly completed using sandstone obtained from the Pyrmont area. This modest, but well proportioned Classical building is one of the few surviving buildings attributed to the Colonial Architect of the time, Alexander Dawson. It is two stories high and originally consisted of upstairs living quarters for the Water Police and their families, and offices and two cells downstairs. In 1875 another two cells were added to the rear.

By the 1890s the total complex comprised a Charge Court and Summons Court with four Stipendiary Magistrates and 20 court staff, as well as a Police Station with Charge Room, offices, four cells and living quarters. Twenty-seven police processed some 50-60 remand prisoners a day making this station the busiest in the colony. Duties and cases still focused on the Harbour but increasingly extended to a broader metropolitan area with its large share of minor offences. The Rocks district was rife with crime, earning it the reputation as one of the toughest waterside areas in the world. Its maze of crooked streets and twisting passages, its countless hotels and squalid dives were a haven for vicious larrikin gangs, whores, gamblers, transients and thieves who were conveyed to this Police Station on charges such as assault, robbery, drunkenness, vagrancy and prostitution.

In 1913 the resident Water Police were relocated to their new accommodation at Dawes Point. The station then became generally known as the Phillip Street Police Station although it remained a part of No 13 Division (Water Police) for several years. By 1917 the station had become incorporated into the local No 4 Division, of which George St North Police Station was the head station, before reverting back to the Water Police Division from 1926 to 1932. In 1933 the station permanently returned to No 4 Division as its new head station and a number of alterations were made to the building including the enlargement of the Charge Room. The Phillip Street Police Station finally closed its doors in 1985 when its police strength was transferred to the newly opened Rocks Police Station.

Crime Museum

The weapons displayed in this room were collected by police from criminals or at crime scenes. Many were displayed in the first Police Museum set up in 1910. Largely unseen by the public; they were assembled in order to train new constables in criminal practices. During the occupancy of this building by the police, this room at various times was an Inspector's Office, Matron's Office (the female attendant for female prisoners), Sergeant's Office and an Interview Room.

“It would be an excellent demonstration room for a professor in crime ... Sprinkled along the shelves about you are all sorts of little things, the possession of any of which would get an archangel arrested in George Street.” Daily Telegraph (26 August 1910) on the Police Museum.

Charge Room 

When the police vacated the station in 1985, this room was much larger than it is today. The southern wall which was removed in 1933 has been rebuilt to recreate the 1890s Charge Room. The arrested person was placed in the small timber dock while being charged with a criminal offence by station staff. Interestingly, it was the practice of the day for nearly all station functions to be performed from the one office, unlike the modern situation where the charging of criminals is kept quite separate from the public foyer area.

Corridor of Cells

Although grim and forbidding, these cells were not for primary punishment but rather where the accused were temporarily held awaiting court appearance, transportation to gaol or release. Depending on when a person was placed in custody, their stay could be quite brief or extend to a number of days, especially over the weekend. Of the four cells in the corridor, female prisoners were allocated to one, as were sick or diseased prisoners who were isolated in a hospital cell. Evidence for the existence of a padded lunatic cell in this station occurred in 1889 when a police requisition was made for 'padding.' This meant that the remaining cell was on occasion extremely crowded and mixed in its criminality.

In later years, when some cells were no longer required for the custody of prisoners, they were used as storage rooms and locker rooms for the police. The exercise yard provided for prisoners is located behind the back wall of the cells and is not accessible to visitors.

The first cell has been recreated to its 1890s character and if one imagines the dark, the cold, the filth, the overcrowding, the vermin and the smell, along with the meagre rations provided, it is clear that the duty of care to prisoners was far lower than what is acceptable today.

The second and largest cell delivers an entirely different experience as a setting for presentations that explore aspects of the history of policing in NSW. Currently, the two remaining cells are also used for themed displays of major crimes, forensic science and of bushranging.

The Continuing History

Over the many years of its official occupancy, the complex dealt with innumerable criminal incidences. Whilst a few became celebrated, such as the Pyjama Girl Murder and the Graeme Thorne kidnapping, the vast majority occur outside the public eye. However, even the simplest matter could embroil a whole range of people - from the victim, witnesses, offender and police to the lawyers, clerks, reporters and Magistrate and in this way the Museum is testimony to the impact of crime at many levels.

An exploration of the Museum's corridors reveal some of these people - anonymous faces peer out, names are carved deeply in sandstone walls and meticulous handwriting is preserved on endless forms. Yet the site also speaks of a world beyond itself, for the story of these buildings reflects the growth of Sydney from bustling port to modern metropolis.

Today, with its displays and education programs, the Justice and Police Museum explores the continuing history of law, policing and crime throughout the whole of New South Wales. Many of these relate to this site and to particular historical episodes, general themes and contemporary issues. In this way, although the original functions of these buildings have ceased, the history they contain is preserved and continues to grow.