High Court Building, Little Bourke St, Melbourne (Summer 2006)

Digital InnovationsPreservation, Victoria

The former High Court building was added to the Victorian Heritage Register following its transfer from the Commonwealth in 1999. However, this did not stop the bureaucrats in the Justice Department from seeking its demolition to expand the Supreme Court precinct.

The building is a fine example of interwar stripped classical architecture, dating from 1926 with a 1935 extension. It is highly significant in Australian history as the place that housed the first High Court of Australia and where a number of major cases in Australian legal history were determined.

The demolition proposal was vehemently opposed by ADS, the National Trust, the Commonwealth Attorney-General, and many members of the legal profession.