Following its reopening by the Premier of New South Wales the building is now used as a justice museum with interpretive displays depicting the town's early days as a penal settlement. Description The block is on the corner of Clarence and Hay Streets. The site has two large mature Norfolk Island pines (Araucaria heterophylla) on the eastern side of the courthouse (which enhance the building's setting). Much of the rest of the surrounds of the building is grassed. The former court house is a symmetrically planned single storey Victorian Georgian painted brick building of unpretentious form with a central gabled portion (the courtroom) and smaller hipped roofed wings on either side. Roofs are of premium grade bloodwood shingles, with chimneys retaining their metal pots. Doors are four-panelled and windows are large paned. There is a simple verandah with iron roofs to three sides on squared timber posts. The interior is made up one major room, the Courtroom and originally four, since modified to three, secondary rooms. These rooms contained the Clerk of Petty Sessions on the West Wing and the Magistrates and Judges room on the East wing. The physical condition of the building was reported as good at 16 October 1997. The archaeological potential was reported as medium, with evidence of convict drains occurring in the eastern part of the site. The volume and massing of the courthouse have sustained little external change since its initial conception. Heritage listing The courthouse reflects the role of Port Macquarie in the late 19th century as a centre of public administration. It is an early example of James Barnet's phase with the Colonial Architect's office and typical of the Victorian Georgian style. It is one of the last 19th century buildings remaining in Port Macquarie. It makes an important contribution to the historic centre of the town and has important relationships with the adjacent Museum, Garrison Centre and Police Lock up buildings. Courthouse and Norfolk Island pines was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. The courthouse reflects the role of Port Macquarie in the late 19th century as a centre of Public administration. The courthouse is an early work of James Barnet's phase of the Colonial Architect office typical of the