THE WATER POLICE COURT
The Water Police Court opened in 1856 and, although not universally celebrated for its architecture, it was accepted as ‘well fitted for the purpose for which it is designed’. Most of the court’s work revolved around petty crimes – using offensive language, public drunkenness, careless ‘mistakes’ made after a night on the town, petty theft, break and enter – and by 1880 it was dealing with over 17,000 cases a year. Along with those directly involved in the trials, thousands of others passed through the court, supporting friends and family, hoping to see an enemy put away, or simply to enjoy the drama of the courtroom.
Day after day, month after month, the same faces are visible in their dirt and repulsiveness, watching with interest and gloating over the scenes which are almost daily presented in the courts.
Evening News, March 1884
The Water Police Court also held preliminary hearings for more serious offences. Perhaps the most infamous was the case of Henry Louis Bertrand, known as the mad dentist of Wynyard Square. In 1865 Bertrand murdered the husband of his lover Maria Kinder and made it look like a suicide. When another of Maria Kinder’s lovers sent Bertrand a letter accusing him of murder, Bertrand took the letter to the police. The letter writer was arrested and appeared before the Water Police magistrate, who sentenced him to one year’s jail for attempted blackmail. Following the trial, Bertrand commented in his secret diary, ‘I am satisfied. Thus once more perish my enemies’.
But further investigations eventually led to Bertrand’s arrest, along with his wife Jane and Maria Kinder, who assisted him in his plot. A preliminary hearing was held before the Water Police magistrate who, in an attempt to shield the two women from recounting the sordid details of the case in public, allowed part of the hearing to be conducted in his private office. As with other serious crimes, the case was sent on to a higher court, where Bertrand was found guilty, but insane. During his imprisonment, he carved little mementoes out of animal bones. A number of them are held in the museum’s collection, along with the guns he bought for the murder.
The Water Police Court, about 1870. The design by colonial architect Edmund Blacket was inspired by the basilicas used as courts in ancient Rome, while inside the cedar joinery set a formal and dignified tone in the courtroom and adjoining offices. Sydney Living Museums.