Built in 1858, the complex includes a courtroom, police station, aboriginal store, police living quarters and stables. It is important as an early, and unusually austere, work of the colonial architect Edward Hamilton. It is also important because of the buildings’ association with the first period of Port Wakefield’s history when the town functioned as the export port for copper ore from the Burra Mines. Although built in the year the copper teams (bullock and mule) were rerouted through Riverton to the new railway terminus at Gawler, thus by-passing the port, the reason for their construction was the problems faced by the town during its early years.
For the past few years the building has been under restoration by the community to create a museum for Port Wakefield. The courthouse is part of Historical Walk 2 around the town here