was opened in 1849 in Wilson Street opposite the present site. The government granted part of the present site in 1851 and a permanent building was finished in 1852. A brewery was opened in 1851 along with numerous other businesses and small industries. The Joint Stock Bank was built 1855 in response to the gold boom, with others following. By 1857 there were three tanning factories in the town. The 1856 census shows 3045 people in Braidwood police district and in 1861 there were 959 people in the town and 8199 in the surrounding goldfields. The town's population climbed to 1197 by 1871. A small brick Anglican Church and rectory was erected in Wilson Street in 1856. A larger church in Elrington St was dedicated in 1892 and the tower finally added 1899, all from granite quarried on Wilson's Hill and Mt Gillamatong. One third of the local population was Catholic and by 1865 St Bedes was completed. The Wesleyan Church in Duncan Street was built 1856 and the Presbyterian Church erected in 1861 on the corner of Duncan and Monkittee. The Commercial Hotel, which is currently being restored by John Mitchell, was built in 1859. In 1866 there were eleven other hotels in Braidwood besides the Doncaster, the Royal and the Commercial. The Court House Hotel still stands as a two-storey brick building in Wallace Street as does the Gold Diggers Home, which became Nomchong's hardware and now a bottle shop diagonally opposite St Bedes. Nomchong, who came from China to the goldfields, moved from Mongarlowe to Braidwood in 1879 and his family became well known locally. In the late 1860s, 1870s and 80s, many of the less substantial buildings were demolished and brick and granite structures took their place. In 1861 a substantial two-storey gaol and gaoler's residence was erected at northern end of Wallace Street where the barracks for the mounted police had been built 25 years earlier. By 1862 the old mounted police barracks were uninhabitable. The building was repaired to provide extra accommodation for the increased number of police who were sent to the district to control bushranging activity. Repairs and extensions were also made to the courthouse. In 1866 Colonial Architect James Barnet visited Braidwood to review the public buildings. A brick police barracks and stables was constructed next to the courthouse in 1865 and is still in use today. The telegraph station (the