Falling stock … Bill Wilkinson at work, prior to being charged
with fraud.  Falling stock … Bill Wilkinson at work, prior to
being charged with fraud. Photo: The Monaro Post  This article
originally appeared in Good Weekend  At the height of Queen
Victoria's reign, the colonial architect James Barnet built
hundreds of grand civic buildings throughout NSW, from Sydney's
Customs House and GPO to ambitious and opulent courthouses in
Goulburn and Bathurst. They spoke of hope, authority and a
prosperous future for the colony.  Over a period of seven years,
he transferred his entire life savings, more than $2.5 million.
Not a cent came back.    And then in the late 1880s, at the
foothills of the Snowy Mountains, he built the Cooma Court
House. It was one of his final commissions. Fashioned from
severe local granite that could sharpen knives, it sits on a
hill in the centre of town dourly surveying the citizenry. Its
message is clear: take a wrong turn and the full fury of the law
will come thundering down.  William