[1] The St Lawrence police station and courthouse, constructed in 1878, the second to be built on the site and the cell block, constructed by 1880, are situated in a prominent position overlooking the St Lawrence Creek, located on the site of a government reserve which has served the community as part of the justice system since 1863.

Additions to the police station and former courthouse in 1934 included the enclosing of verandah in the north-west corner to build a bathroom.

[1] European settlement began in the St Lawrence area by 1860, when John Arthur Macartney formed Waverley Station.

He introduced a new system based on the Victorian model comprising Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors, Sergeants, Constables and a Detective Force.

In ensuing years, the structure of the Force underwent a number of additional modifications and by 1924 Queensland had the highest state ratio of policemen to residents in Australia, with one officer to every 725 persons.

The Inspector of Police reported that the Barracks were in an unsatisfactory state, the result of "...keeping a number of pigs, goats and poultry on the premises".

By October 1881, in compliance with the Inspector's instructions, William Tagg's premises at St Lawrence were rented to serve as a police barracks for twelve months at a cost of £25 per annum.

The Constable in Charge proposed that the slabs from the buildings to be pulled down to make way for the new police barracks, not be sold off, but reused to erect stables, a saddle room, a cart shed and other out offices.

[1] In January 1914, Herbert Payne was awarded the tender to remove eight decayed stumps from under the courthouse and replace them with solid blocks.

[1] The arrival of the North Coast railway line in 1921 provided an important economic boost to the area, as well as a transport link.

St Lawrence was a meal stop for rail passengers and the refreshments rooms at one time employed 22 women.

[1] Located in the south-west corner of the site, the St Lawrence Police Station and former Courthouse is a single story, "T-shaped" timber building, with an exterior cross-braced frame supported on low stumps.

The building is surrounded on the south, west and east by a verandah with timber posts, under a separate roof, clad with corrugated iron.

The verandah to the north (rear) of the building, has been partially enclosed on the north-western side, to accommodate toilet facilities.

The verandah has also been partially enclosed, with vertically jointed timber, on the north-eastern side to accommodate toilet facilities.

Forming part of the transverse section of the building, on the eastern side, is located a set of long, rectangular casement windows, protected by a sunhood with timber brackets, clad with corrugated iron.

Court records and the original straitjacket, issued for the restraint of violent prisoners, are located in storage in the former courtroom.

A timber door at the western end of the rear verandah leads to a small office, forming part of the original section of the building, which is used as an interview room.

[1] An incinerator with the words "CP ENG MK1" embossed on the body is located to the north of the police station and former courthouse building.

[1] Police Station and former Courthouse and Cell Block was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 November 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.

As a single-storey, timber, government building, with drawings prepared by the Office of the Colonial Architect, the St Lawrence police station and former courthouse is significant as an example of a typical type of design and construction.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.