The Old Court House Law Museum’s Mission is to:
Collect, conserve, interpret and research Western Australia’s legal and social history
Provide visitors with a unique Western Australian experience that stimulates discussion and reflection
Represent Aboriginal, British and Australian systems of law
Be a site of ‘unforgetting’ Aboriginal peoples’ experiences of justice and injustice under colonial rule of law
The Museum has a role in the global discussion concerning the relationship of colonialism to the rule of law and its contribution to systemic discrimination, the impacts of which is still evident today.
Year in Review 2023-2024
The Old Court House Law Museum made significant progress towards its goals as detailed in the Year in Review 2023-2024. Significant achievements included:
- The trialling of weekend opening from Jan 2024; a great success with visitation increasing 62% to 12,129 total visitors; and
- Additional resourcing allowing the Museum to progress its collection management priority, particularly regarding conservation and digitisation initiatives to expand access to the Collection.
Donor support has contributed to expanding the reach and impact of the Museum as we work to shift the Museum from a hidden treasure to a must see Western Australian cultural heritage site.
Click below to read the full review.
Ways you can Support our Work
Volunteer at the Museum
Saturdays and Sundays
Shifts available: 9.45am – 1.15pm and 12.45pm – 4.15pm
Join our growing group of volunteers who make a valuable contribution to Visitor Experience and Museum projects!
You do not have to be an expert in the law, history, or architecture. We will guide and support you while you learn about this historic building and its unique collections. To become a volunteer, you must be:
- 18 years or older
- Have a friendly and helpful attitude
- Be reliable, able to work in a team, and comply with Museum policies
- Be able to work with minimal supervision.
Volunteer positions at Old Court House Law Museum are unpaid. Email museum@lawsocietywa.asn.au to enquire.
Donate to the Museum
The Museum has charitable and Deductible Gift Recipient status and is governed by the Old Court House Law Museum Trust Foundation Committee.
There are multiple ways to donate to the Museum:
- Donate online
- EFT
Old Court House Law Museum
BSB: 066-000
A/C: 134 02841 If you would like to discuss donating, please email Dean Curtis at dcurtis@lawsocietywa.asn.au or call 9324 8670.
Your tax deductable donation will enable us to care for the oldest building in Perth, support us to grow and digitise our collection, energise the creation of new and exciting exhibitions and provide access to country kids through our education resources
Expanding Accessibility to the Museum
Ensuring the Collection Reaches a Wider Audience
Redesigning and Interpreting the Judge’s Chambers
Year in Review 2023-2024
The Old Court House Law Museum made significant progress towards its goals as detailed in the Year in Review 2023-2024. Significant achievements included:
- The trialling of weekend opening from Jan 2024; a great success with visitation increasing 62% to 12,129 total visitors; and
- Additional resourcing allowing the Museum to progress its collection management priority, particularly regarding conservation and digitisation initiatives to expand access to the Collection.
Donor support has contributed to expanding the reach and impact of the Museum as we work to shift the Museum from a hidden treasure to a must see Western Australian cultural heritage site.
Click below to read the full review.
Expand Accessibility to the Museum
There is demonstrated demand to visit the Museum. Our aim of extending opening hours from Tuesday to Friday to now include weekends, will allow a whole segment of the community, including families, to access the oldest building in Perth and its collection of international significance.
Extending the Museum opening hours to weekends expands opportunities for local, interstate and international visitors to access this significant Western Australian cultural heritage site.
Providing free access six days a week is a catalyst towards:
- shifting the Museum from being a hidden treasure; and
- expanding the reach and impact of the Museum.
Please donate if you would like to see the Museum continue to remain open and free to all at the weekends in 2024/25 and beyond.
Ensure the Collection Reaches a Wider Audience
The Museum collection is deemed to be of State, National and International significance.
Digitising the Museum collection to make it more accessible online, will create an opportunity for the Museum to reach a wider audience and will democratise access to, and expand the reach of, the collection.
“The Museum collection is nationally significant for its close inter-relationship with and direct provenance to the building, its functions, communities and people whose history the collections embody, and the exhibitions interpret.”¹
The Old Court House Law Museum’s new virtual tour and the increasing digital visitation demonstrates that, whilst nothing can beat seeing collection items and a museum up close in person, contemporary museums and their collections need to be, and benefit from being, accessible online.
Our digitisation project has three elements:
- In the immediate term bringing our significant collection, The Burt Family Collection and other significant items to life and online
- In the medium to long-term digitisation of the entire Museum collection
- Moving the collection database to an improved cloud-based platform.
¹ Dr Joanna Sassoon, Statement of Significance of the Old Court House Law Museum, Perth, March 2019, p. 4.
Please donate if you would like to see the Museum reach a wider audience through our digitisation projects.
Judge’s Chamber: Re-design and Install
The redesign and install of the Judge’s Chamber gallery will further public access to Western Australia’s legal and social history through the curation of interpretive display content that utilises a diverse range of voices and is inclusive of past and contemporary legal and social injustices. It is intended to update interpretation and better display significant items which will elevate the presentations in the Gallery including:
- The production of a short film (5-10 minutes) on traditional Aboriginal law to acknowledge and affirm that Aboriginal Peoples in Western Australia had, and still have, a complex system of law and social order that existed long before the establishment of British law in Western Australia.
- Conservation of an item that holds high state and national cultural heritage significance, a desktop writing slope box compendium that belonged to William Henry Mackie, the first judicial appointee in the Swan River colony.
Support us
As a contemporary Museum, we collect, conserve and interpret Western Australia’s legal and social histories, our shared histories, from past to present.
Interpretation at the Museum aims to reflect diverse Western Australian voices and lived experiences of the law, its reach and impact.
Donations are tax-deductible and ensure the Museum remains free and open 6 days a week, while also supporting the conservation and interpretation of the Collection for future generations.
Your donation will help us:
Equity of Access
Remain Free and Open 6 Days a Week
Expanding accessibility relies on the Museum remaining open on weekends and maintaining the staffing and other resources to do so.
As the Old Court House Law Museum offers free entry to ensure equity of access, help us keep the doors open six days a week and free to the public.
“This building and its history is unique and so important to retain and preserve. Long may it continue.” Visitor feedback, 2023.
Visitor Experience
Gallery Re-design
Improving the visitor experience within the Museum focuses on the redesign of the Judge’s Chamber interpretation (redesign, fabrication and install) as well as other elements of interpretation in other galleries.
This initiative will further public access to Western Australia’s legal and social history through the curation of interpretive display content that utilises a more diverse range of voices including a new film about Aboriginal Law.
This work will allow us to improve display of our significant objects and update the audio-visual elements in the galleries to enhance our interpretation of themes in the Museum and improve the visitor experience.
Collection Reach and Impact
Maintain Collection for Future Generations
The Museum Collection is deemed to be of State, National and International significance.
“The Museum collection is nationally significant for its close inter-relationship with and direct provenance to the building, its functions, communities and people whose history the collections embody, and the exhibitions interpret.” Dr Joanna Sassoon, Statement of Significance of the Old Court House Law Museum.
This project enables the Museum to undertake essential and ambitious projects to digitise and research the Museum Collection and maximise its cultural impact.
Digitisation ensures that details of each collection object are captured through photography, historic research and material analysis. Digital records will then be made publicly accessible through an online database. Publishing the Collection online democratises access and allows our Collection and its themes to contribute to the wider research field locally, nationally and internationally.
Supporting Collection research work enables the Museum to collaborate with experts in a range of legal, historic and conservation fields, facilitating a range of projects to ensure our collection is maintained and its cultural relevance is fully realised. This work will simultaneously create jobs and opportunities in the cultural and heritage fields and build the Museum’s connections with the wider community.
Year in Review 2023-2024
The Old Court House Law Museum made significant progress towards its goals as detailed in the Year in Review 2023-2024. Significant achievements included:
- The trialling of weekend opening from Jan 2024; a great success with visitation increasing 62% to 12,129 total visitors; and
- Additional resourcing allowing the Museum to progress its collection management priority, particularly regarding conservation and digitisation initiatives to expand access to the Collection.
Donor support has contributed to expanding the reach and impact of the Museum as we work to shift the Museum from a hidden treasure to a must see Western Australian cultural heritage site.
Click below to read the full review.
