Tenders for a second court house were called in late 1887, and a timber building was built on the corner of the police reserve bounded by Edith and Rankine Streets.

The Queensland Government expressed its intention of opening up Mourilyan Harbour and of resuming, and extending the local tramline inland from the coast, which gave further impetus to development of the district as a sugar production area.

[1] It was normal practice in colonial days for country and regional court houses to be built of timber, often with corrugated iron elements.

[1] In the design of Colonial and State Government buildings in Queensland, there is considerable continuity, particularly in the use of timber as the predominant material, and in details of composition.

While many of these elements including timber composition were common to many buildings in Queensland from early on, government buildings such as court houses, post offices, schools, and police stations for example, can be distinguished from the common mode by the high standard of architectural composition, the careful detailing, and the attention to climate - as evidenced in the use of sun shading devices, ventilation systems, and the overhang of eaves beyond the verandah edges.

It is notable that at least one of the alternative schemes for the new court house featured plans of a grand two-story masonry structure in inter-war free classical style.

Indeed, court house architecture of the time set out to impress and awe the unfortunate citizens who were unlucky enough to be involved in the process of the law.

Even in small country towns it was common for second-generation court houses to be built this way, replacing an earlier and more basic timber building.

The reasons for constructing the court house, a symbolically important building, out of timber at this time, may reflect availability of materials as well as economic factors, although further research could enlighten this debate.

[1] The vast majority of timber buildings built in North Queensland have traditionally relied on use of elevation, verandahs, and cross ventilation from windows to keep them cool.

More elaborate conventions included regulating fanlights, ceiling vents and louvered openings on both sides of the roof or in gable ends.

Plans and sections showing extensions to the building in 1933 reveal an elaborate ventilation system to cope with Innisfail's hot and humid climate.

The sugar districts of the north Queensland coast experienced a boom during the 1930s and it was considered necessary to expand the court house facilities in Innisfail to cope with the increasing amounts of official and legal business.

[1] Timber and iron buildings are well adapted for removal and modification for re-use, and in north Queensland this has been a common response to changing economic conditions in settlements, such as mining towns.

[1] The timber court house was moved to an excavated site at 8 Edith Street in 1938, placed on concrete stumps and adapted for use as the Innisfail Police Station, which opened in 1942.

[1] A carpark was proposed for the site of the police station in 1988, and the building was purchased by Frank Fisher and Bea Masschelein for relocation as a private residence.

While there are limited associations with government or justice in its current location, the building has become an important element of the streetscape of Buckley Street, overlooking the Yorkeys Knob Marina and Boat Club.

Aesthetic features that can be appreciated from the street include the dominant use of timber as a construction material, pyramid shaped corrugated iron roof and the elaborate ventilation fleche and casing of the court room, pattern of 4 panel sash windows and vertically framed frenchlights, encircling verandahs, symmetrical double-elbow shaped front stairs, verandah entrance highlighted as a frontispiece by paired posts and gable pediment, slat balustrading, high set frame, large scale and its siting above street level.

[1] Since its use as a private residence the building has undergone work to restore its original character, such as re-instatement of the front double steps and removal of the verandah enclosures.

A set of symmetrical steps with double dowel balustrades leads from a gabled entrance porch at the centre of the front verandah.

A verandah room is enclosed on the western side with tongue and groove timber boards and double hung sash windows.

A bedroom and bathroom, separated by a fibro partition that reaches halfway to the ceiling (installed during its conversion to a police station) are on the western side of the front portion of the building.

The bathroom is lined in tile and fibro cement sheeting boards and its fittings are constructed from materials salvaged during relocation of the building from Innisfail.

Two lattice ventilation openings are visible in the unpainted ceiling, and four fans and cross bracing of painted metal poles are also evident.

[1] The second Innisfail Court House, now at Yorkeys Knob, was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 December 2004 having satisfied the following criteria.

Its sophisticated ventilation system, which has survived largely intact, features low-level hinged wall flaps to allow cool air into the courtroom and associated ducted roof vents.