Jane Gilmour welcomed members and thanked Registrar Jeff Fox for his invitation to visit Forbes court house.

Jeff said the first court house was erected in 1862 of timber construction and on what is now Forbes Shire Council offices. The first birth recorded was on January 30, 1860. The present imposing structure was opened in 1883 and the gallery a year later. The date on the Bar table is October 1888. The first case to be heard involved marriage desertion.

Today Forbes court house has regular petty session or district courts, criminal cases are heard in Parkes. The mottos on the coat of arms located above the Bench translate to, “Evil to him who evil thinks”, and, “God and my right”.

Senior Constable David Greef then addressed the company. There are 12 police persons stationed at Forbes. Forbes experiences peaks and troughs of break and enter no greater or lesser than towns of comparable size. CBD cameras have been a deterrent and aid to indentifying culprits, however Forbes does have a high rate of domestic violence.