The Pleasant Creek Court House and Gaol

This building and the small gaol next door were erected in 1860. Before this, the Court was held at one of the hotels on the goldfields and then in a wooden Court House, both situated out on the goldfields of Illawarra/Deep Lead. On the goldfields were also two lock-ups - "one of logs and the other portable".

There are photographs of this building among the 1866 collection in the Court House which is now the headquarters of the Stawell Historical Society. This building was used as the Court of Petty Sessions, Mining Court, Licensing Court, and Court of General Sessions for about eighteen years. In 1880 a new court house was opened in Patrick Street.

Mounted Police Troopers were housed here for some time after the court days finished.

The building was then sold for use as a private residence, eventually becoming vacant and falling into disrepair. After a petition from local residents, the building was purchased by the Stawell Town Council in 1973 and restored by a Volunteer Restoration Committee. With the assistance of Government Grants and local money, the roof was re-slated and the inside walls re-plastered. The Stawell Historical Society became custodians of the premises in May 1982 and their ever growing collection of early Stawell history is housed here.