Hartley Court House - 1837 to 1937

16 HARTLEY AND ITS COURT-HOUSE.
of the division. The damage had been repaired but he considered
it would be no stronger than the original wall. As a result of
investigation the Colonial Architect received a report from
Edward P. Delany, the Clerk of Works, who stated that it was
not stone work which had fallen, but plaster, about fourteen
inches square, which had broken bond owing to the mason
cutting off a header that projected beyond the bond timber in
the lock-up. Delany also stated in this report, dated September
16, that the building “ will be completed this week, as the cedar
to fit up Privy and some fastnings have come up from Sydney,
which caused the delay of completion.” On October 3, 1837,
according to Blair’s letter of that date, to the Colonial Secretary,
the contractor for erecting the new Court-House had that day
given him notice that the building was completed. Blair
however declined to receive the key until he had received
official instructions. Towards the end of December he was
anticipating moving the Police establishment into the new
Court-House within a few days. Following the Report of the
Board of Survey the Court-House was officially declared to be
satisfactorily completed and payment of Coulter and Reddie’s
account was sanctioned.
The change of site caused some inconvenience and extra
expense to the contractors. In making out their costs before
tendering they had calculated the cost of transporting the stone
to the site by the River Lett. The final decision regarding the
site was not made until September, 1836, and then it was
discovered that this entailed carting the stone forty-seven chains
beyond the site first intimated. This suggests that the quarry
was situated near Bowenfels ; the Court House is sandstone
but the local rock is granite. The quarry from which stone was
evidently brought across the River Lett must have been somewhere
in the sandstone tableland, and at no great distance, for
it was the practice of the Police Magistrate, Day, to ride quietly
b y it. Had the stone been brought from the direction of Mount
Y ork it would neither have been taken across the River Lett
nor beyond the site first proposed. After completing the
building the contractors applied for compensation and were
allowed £50 in addition to the contract price of £1,426.
G e n e s i s o f t h e T o w n of H a r t l e y .
Official records indicate that the name Hartley came from
the office of the Colonial Secretary or the Executive Council