Renew Australia and Working Heritage are calling for groups that would like to use the court house for any purpose.

The court house was in operation for 98 years from 1891 to 1989. 

Renew Australia manager Angela Simons said they had launched an expression of interest process and were hoping to hear from anyone who wanted to use the court house.

“It’s been vacant for some time after operating for almost 100 years,” she said.

“It’s been sporadically used by different groups over the years and Working Heritage has now done minor works to it.

“We want to see it being used again.”

Ms Simons said Renew Australia worked with vacant and disused spaces and tried to reactivate them.

“We will be casting a wide net across the Wimmera, asking for ideas about what people want do with the space,” she said.

Ms Simons said in previous projects, old buildings had been used by many different groups.

“There is an old factory in Melbourne that now has multiple people using it, from a bespoke furniture marker to artists and a puppeteer,” she said.

“We are open to anyone that is willing to take it on – it doesn’t just have to be used for creative purposes, it could be anything.”

Ms Simons said many Warracknabeal residents wanted to see the court house open again.

“It’s such a beautiful, old building with a great history,” she said.

“People are passionate about it and want to see the lights on again.”

Ms Simons said the expression of interest process was open-ended.

“We will consider what people want to do with it before we put a timeline on it,” she said.

“There are options for different uses – long term, short term or medium term.

“If someone wanted to do something short term and didn’t require things like toilets – such as a pop-up art gallery – then we might be able to reactivate the space immediately.”

Ms Simons said Renew Australia was excited to be part of the project.

“We are looking forward to hearing people’s ideas,” she said.

Ms Simons said people could go to renewaustralia.org for more information.