Brisbane, QLD


Sunday, October 31, 2010

BRISBANE MAGISTRATES COURT

A few weeks ago we went to "Open Day" for Brisbane Buildings. Some buildings were open for public tours. We chose to visit the "Brisbane Magistrates Court". We would have liked to have seen more of the others but the rain chased us home.



The architect was our volunteer tour guide. He explained how they used a lot of open spaces, as it is supposed to make people more at ease, especially if they can see outside.

The court rooms go off from the open space.

A general courtroom.

A Murrie (aboriginal) Courtroom. The magistrate sits at a round table with tribal elders and the accused to make it more like their traditional ways of settling disputes. There is the rainbow serpent in the middle of the table. (An icon of their Dreaming Culture.)

A Criminal Courtroom, with safety glass. We enjoyed the tour.

14 comments:

  1. Interesting! Also, quite a treat having the architect as your tour guide for this.

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  2. It is interesting to have a look behind the scenes. The pictures about the Aboriginal courtroom are very special. I didn't know they had their own way of judging.

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  3. I didn't know about the aboriginal courtrooms. I also really like the public artwork in the 2nd pic.

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  4. Our Open Weekend is this one coming ... I have to plan my day yet!!

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  5. Wow---what an incredible court building.... Don't think we have anything in our country that is THAT nice... I am so impressed with Brisbane.. Everything looks so new and CLEAN... Beautiful city!!!!!

    Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  6. Beautiful building and a nice thing for the City to offer; how nice to have the architect as tour guide.

    The part about the murrie (Aboriginal court) completely amazed me and made me want to read more. Native American reservations usually have their own Police Officers. I will have to look up what happens if a dispute about something that happened on the Res goes to Court. I know there is no special room in the County Courthouse -- and I know that if a criminal or civil matter happens off the reservation it would be treated as any one else.

    Quite interesting.

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  7. It's interesting to see my old workplace as a tourist destination :) Thank you for taking me through the building with a different perspective.

    I watched the building being constructed from the window of my cubicle and then was overjoyed not to have to walk all the way down the old courthouses every Monday morning when it was completed.

    I have to admit to fantasising about laying down to read a book on the wave sculpture. It looks so comfy ;)

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  8. It's neat that you got to tour the court building. The architecture of this building is very interesting. I was very impressed with the Murrie Courtroom and its art. Thanks for taking us along.

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  9. Thoroughly modern is what comes to mind Diane.
    Thank you for 'taking me through'

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  10. Wow! Much better than many courts I know... And I tell you: I know a lot of courts... ;))

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  11. It all looks very attractive and quite a calm atmosphere. I love the artwork and the different Aboriginal court is interesting.

    PS: Many, many thanks for your vote.

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  12. This was a very beautiful and well thought out building, Diane. It's nice the aboriginal people have a specially designed room to honor their customs. It is something that should be done here.

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  13. I love this aboriginal art. My son brought me 2 plates from Australia, they are real beautiful;

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