The Port Douglas Court House Museum is a heritage building on Wharf Street that served as the town's courthouse from 1879 to 1980. The building is a fine example of Queensland colonial architecture — elevated timber construction with deep verandahs, designed to deal with the heat and humidity of tropical Queensland before air conditioning existed.
The museum documents Port Douglas's history as a goldfields port and its subsequent decline and rediscovery as a resort town. The exhibits include material from the Palmer River gold rush era, colonial-period photographs, and artefacts from the town's early life. It is small but well-curated, and provides good context for understanding why such an elaborate colonial infrastructure was built in what is now a small resort town.