[1] As it evolved from a hastily established mining settlement, Gympie developed a distinctive character with an irregular street pattern amid a series of valleys and ridges.

The Gympie Gold Commissioner, Henry Edward King, (also Secretary for Public Works and Mines from November 1874 to May 1876) initially conducted his court in temporary structures, and the first permanent mining court was a slab and shingle-roofed building near Cross Street, northwest of the Surface Hill Uniting Church.

It is not attributed to FDG Stanley (Colonial Architect 1873 to 1881), although it has some stylistic touches in common with his work on the Maryborough Court House (1875-1878) and the third Gympie Post Office (1878-1880).

Much of his work is derivative of FDG Stanley or John James Clark (Colonial Architect 1883-1885), and his best known designs include the classical revival style Northern Supreme Court at Bowen (1880-1881).

The classical revival style was thought to be well suited to those public buildings intended to convey a sense of stability and dignity.

By June 1876 the building was occupied, but due to a lack of fittings the Police Magistrate had to convey his documents to the old court house.

On 1 July 1876 the Brisbane Courier's Gympie correspondent commented on the bad acoustics of the alcove behind the bench, stating that "sounds as if a multitude of voices were speaking at the one time were heard all over the building, and caused much confusion ...directly a word is uttered, it is immediately sucked into the alcove, and smashed into fragments against the walls, the pieces being hurled back at the speaker".

Expenditure on the Gympie court house, as reported by the Department of Public Works in 1891, included: £1,017 in 1875; £674 in 1876; £86 in 1877; £37 in 1881; and £220 (for a strongroom by George Caldwell) in 1882.

This is the plan that was used, and in March 1893 the tender of Mark Doggett of Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, for £535, was accepted by Horace Tozer, Secretary for Public Works and Gympie solicitor.

The brick extension to the south-west included a second room for the Clerk of Petty Sessions (where the old verandah had been), a new room for the Judge and Police Magistrate at the rear, a hallway to Channon Street, a new office for the Lands Commissioner at the rear corner, and a Lands Office in the south-west corner to Channon Street.

A small verandah was located at the rear corner of the new south-west elevation, accessed from both the Land Commissioner's office and the Judge's room.

The flèche on the roof of the former court house was removed about 1951, as it had rotted and was leaking water onto the counter used by the Department of Agriculture and Stock.

[1] Defined vertically by plain pilasters, the elevations are unified by employing semi-circular arched openings, decorative moulded sill strips and projecting window head cornices.

The former court house comprises a central pedimented portico flanked by open verandah bays which terminate in the end wings.

[1] The north-east elevation comprises an enclosed entrance porch flanked by the northern and eastern corner room wings with the whole crowned by a blank pediment.

The north-west elevation is dominated by the skillion roofed, brick kitchen extension notable for its banks of hopper windows to three sides.

The central room, lit by clerestorey semi-circular lights to the south-east and rectangular hopper windows to the northwest, is notable for its coved ceiling and a vaulted timber lined alcove to the southwest end.

Original joinery (including fine panelled doors and fanlights, skirtings and architraves) is cedar and floors are of pine.

Evidence remains of the earlier south-west court house entrance porch configuration including the infilled arched doorway into the courtroom.

The roof is framed with steel web trusses, the ceiling lined with fibre cement sheeting and the kitchen fit-out is modern.

Measuring 12 by 10 feet (3.7 m × 3.0 m) internally with 18-inch (460 mm) thick walls, the building stands on a concrete slab and is sheltered by a gable roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting.

A heavy metal entrance door opens into a depressed arch vaulted ceiling space and lit by a narrow rectangular louvered window to the northwest.

Only the north-east end retains its interior concrete blast wall, which forms an entrance corridor into the main space of the shelter.

The floor and ceiling are coved and there are three openings to the north-west and south-east sides housing pairs of eight-light casement windows.

It replaced an adjacent timber court house, and represented the growing town's need for impressive justice buildings to project an image of stability.

Important for its association with the Air Raid Precaution (ARP) activities undertaken for the protection of the civil service, the air raid shelter is a rare surviving example of a shelter associated with a public building and is an uncommon surviving example of an ARP structure built during World War II.

[1] A single room structure with thick, solid brick walls and a heavy metal door, the strongroom behind the main building is a good example of a secure storage vault.

[1] Retaining its context and the major design elements of an air raid shelter (rectangular in plan, reinforced concrete roof and external and internal blast walls, two entrances to the same side and toilet cubicles), the air raid shelter is important in demonstrating the layout, operation and siting of structures in the ARP system.