Before 1832 courts were established on an ad hoc and informal way. But in that year an Act of parliament regularised the procedure and proclamations published seriatim in the Government Gazette advised the names of places where court sittings were authorised. The establishment of a court and building of a courthouse usually followed. The next action was the calling of tenders followed usually by the announcement of the letting of a contract, both being advertised in the Government Gazette.
For many years in courthouses in the country Honorary Magistrates or Justices of the Peace provided the only regional administration of justice in colonial N.S.W.
The District Court Act of 1858, stimulated the clamour for instant courthouses. This Act was to constitute in N.S.W. , District Courts like the County Courts in England. They provided a jurisdiction intermediate between the Supreme Court and the courts of the magistrates.
There was a great courthouse boom in the 1880’s under the direction of Colonial Architect James Barnett. The preoccupation with finding new court accommodation meant that existing buildings were often not maintained.