Melbourne Magistrates' Court

Visitors and parties are advised to arrive well in advance of their scheduled court time, to allow for delays proceeding through security and to account for elevator wait-time.

Visitors are expected to surrender all loose items and bags to an x-ray scan, and pass their bodies through a metal detector upon entry.

The court features 4 busy elevators commonly ferrying visitors among the multiple floors, along with a stairwell.

Smoking is not permitted in the stairwell, or anywhere else inside or within 5 metres of the building – ash-trays are located on public bins along William Street.

Captain William Lonsdale, a police magistrate, was appointed in 1836 and the first case was heard at a location near the present site of Southern Cross station.

The then Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin, presented Blashki with an illuminated address signed by 30 of the court's solicitors when he retired, aged 70.