The Bright Courthouse - Government Hill, Bright

            Built by the Public Works Department, the Bright Courthouse was designed by architect J. J. Clark.  Constructed by Grieg and Wilson, the single storey courthouse construction began in 1861.  Completed in 1862, it was opened in March of that year.  Alfred Currie Wills was appointed Warden and Magistrate in August 1862.  It stopped functioning as a courthouse after several years of inactivity in 1989.  Upon its closure, the Victorian State Government leased it to the Alpine Shire Council who allowed the Alpine Actors to use the building as a theatre.  Today it serves as the Government Hill Arts Precinct under the jurisdiction of the Victorian State Government.  It sits on "Government Hill" surrounded by beautiful deciduous trees overlooking the old Bright township centre from on high, perhaps as a symbol of the importance of the judiciary when Bright was first founded in 1862.  

The Bright Courthouse has been built in the simple, stripped back style of Victoria Regency architecture and has very little in the way of ornamentation.  

Bright, a town in north-east Victoria, is situated in the Ovens Valley and is part of the Alpine Region of Victoria. 210 kilometres from Melbourne, Bright was one of the towns in the Ovens Valley where gold was discovered.  Gold was found near the junction of Morses Creek and the Ovens River in the 1850s.  Established in 1862 and named Bright, most likely after John Bright (1811 - 1889) an English publicist, reformer and parliamentarian the township thrived.  With the Gold Rush in full swing, Bright soon had Catholic, Wesleyan and Presbyterian churches, schools, three hotels, three quartz mills and two bank branches.  As the yield of gold declined in the 1870s, so too did Bright’s population, yet by the 1880s, it became an alpine tourism town.  The Bright Alpine club was formed in 1887 and a community library was started there in 1889. In the following year Bright was connected by railway to Myrtleford and Wangaratta, bringing with it much needed tourists from Melbourne.  In 1910 a grand chalet was opened at Mount Buffalo and Bright ran a hire car service for visitors, who often stayed there overnight at a hotel or guesthouse.  In 1919 a secondary school was opened in Bright.  It also had a tourist progress association and local angling, bowling, racing, tennis and golf clubs amongst its many attractions.  By the mid 1920s the people of Bright began planting exotic trees partly for landscape improvement and partly to lay the summer dust. The street tree plantings produced extraordinary autumn colours.  By 1933, Bright was described as the “Tourism Capital of the Ovens Valley”.  Bright’s train line continued until 1983 when it was finally discontinued and replaced with coaches.  By that time, it was a well established tourism town with people flocking there all throughout the year for different reasons.  Bright is a base for exploring the peaks of Mount Buffalo National Park and Alpine National Park as well as Mount Hotham, a popular ski resort.  Bright is a starting point for the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail, a hiking and cycling path. Bright Museum, in the town’s former train station, documents rail and gold rush history.  The region is also known for wineries and of course its amazing display of autumnal foliage.

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Bright (show map)

Taken on: May 2, 2021

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/3.2, 1/320 sec, 7.2mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/3.2
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	7.2mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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