Both are substantial masonry buildings, whose construction reflected Queensland Government confidence in the growth of Cairns as an important regional centre during the interwar period.

In this first phase of Cairns' development there was a small flurry of building activity (mostly shanties and tent houses), but the town competed with both Cooktown and Port Douglas for the Hodgkinson trade, and made little progress until the establishment of a local sugar industry and the opening up of the Atherton Tablelands' mineral fields, in the early 1880s.

Reinforced concrete was the preferred building material, but the Queensland Government chose to erect the important Public Offices in brick.

In 1883 the Works Department prepared plans for a more substantial timber courthouse, which was erected in 1884 on the Esplanade, but facing Abbott Street, on the police reserve.

Despite repeated comment from public and judicial circles alike that the courthouse at Cairns was the worst on the circuit, it was not replaced until the present building was completed late in 1921.

[1] In 1917, Alfred Barton Brady, Queensland Government Architect and Under Secretary for Public Works, finally acknowledged that the Cairns Court House was beyond renovation and that a new building was necessary.

Plans were prepared in the government architect's office in 1918, working drawings were completed by January 1919, tenders for the supply of materials were called early in 1919, and construction was commenced in May that year.

As a post-First World War initiative by the state government to create employment for returned servicemen, the new courthouse at Cairns was constructed using day labour, under the supervision of the District Foreman of Works, EJ Oakley.

The construction period stretched over two and a half years, with the Cairns community attributing the slow progress of the building to the use of day labour.

[1] In 1926, the city's sesqui-centenary year, the Cairns Chamber of Commerce requested that the Queensland Government improve the Court House grounds.

[1] In 1968, the building was extended at a cost of approximately $53,000, with the extensions rendered to match the existing facades, and the roof re-clad with corrugated iron sheeting.

In February 1933, the Public Service Commissioner reported on the requirements for an office building on the site, which would necessitate the re-location of the Senior Sergeant's Residence and the Tracker's Hut.

In the same month, Cabinet approved that the Works Department erect an office building for and at the expense of the SGIO, and sketch plans were completed in April that year.

[1] Late in 1936, the grounds around the new Public Offices were laid out, with concrete kerbing to match that in the courthouse gardens, and the lawn extended to the new building.

[1] The Court House is a single-storeyed rendered masonry building, with a hipped corrugated iron roof, fronting the Abbott Street gardens to the southwest.

The central entrance of the western wing has a recessed porch with a slightly projecting facade surmounted by a stepped parapet with a curved pediment, cornice and a lion and unicorn crest.

The southwest facade comprises a series of triple window units separated by pilasters with an expressed base, jettied eaves and deep sills.

The northwest facade has a double casement, with a panelled hopper above, to either side of the central porch and stepped parapets are located midway in the hipped roof revealing the corners of the main court room.

Arched panelled windows with central hopper sections, lighting the main court room, are located above the verandah line with deep curved timber eave brackets.

[1] Internally, the main court room contains silky oak fittings including the Judge's bench, which sits on a raised platform with a lion and unicorn crest on the wall behind, the prisoner's dock, jury and press seating and gallery rail.

[1] The Art Gallery, a two-storeyed masonry structure with a corrugated iron gable roof, is located on the eastern corner of the site fronting Abbott and Shields Streets.

[1] This Georgian Revival building was designed to be extended to the northeast along the Shields Street frontage, with a repeat of the portico on the western end of that facade, but this extension has never occurred.

[1] The symmetrical Abbott Street elevation, forming the main entry, consists of an Ionic central distyle in antis portico (receding into the building with two columns flanked by pilasters) on a rendered base with a circular window in the pediment.

The western corner room contains an enclosed staircase which has a terrazzo floor and stair, an iron balustrade, timber panelled walls and a window display cabinet to Abbott Street.

[1] The eastern wing contains a central entry with vestibule and staircase, with offices to either side and a corridor leading to the corner section of the building.