"So, you're on holidays in Australia?" they ask.  "Actually," I reply, "I'm driving across the country taking pictures of . . . old rural court-houses.  This revelation brings some incredulous looks.
     It all began in the mid-80's, as an excuse to take weekends off from a busy Redmond, Washington law practice and get out into the countryside.  Now it's grown into something larger: artistic, political, philosophical . . . and just plain fun.
     I was born and raised in a small town where lawyers were both respected and admired.  'My son, the lawyer (or doctor)' was every mother's dream.  But, by the time I entered the practice of law in 1979, things were changing.  Nowadays, most litigants selfishly and myopically demand things their own way.  Lawyers have become the bad guys for telling people what they must do.  Never mind if we are fair and justified in our opinions and actions!
     In 1996 I decided to give the law a rest and pursue my love of writing and photography for a while.  I suppose it's natural that I am drawn to photographing those majestic old buildings in which justice really was dispensed.  I remain enamored of the mystique of rural culture and its inherent sense of what is 'right'.
     But did I ever foresee Australian courthouses?  No way!
     It took an editor friend at The Sydney Morning Herald to get the wheels turning when I arrived last November to spend the summer.  After learning I had had several law journal cover photos of court-houses published in the US, Greg encouraged me to take a look around -- so I bought a car and took off.
     I've spent the last 4 months driving around NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, SA and WA, searching for quintessential country court-houses . . . and I've found quite a few.  Only a handful still hold judicial proceedings.  Some are now museums, a few craft shops.  Modern 'phone, electrical and plumbing fixtures are hard to incorporate into old stone and brick, and population growth often necessitates larger structures.  Good highways and efficient cars and 'planes have shrunk the distances, even in your vast land of open spaces, facilitating the progressive centralisation of legal functions; the trend is away from the provincial and toward the city.
     But hose grand old halls of justice are still out there, and I will tell you this -- you have some beauties!  Have you ever argued a case in a 100-year-old court-room with solid jarrah floors and Tasmanian oak wainscoting?  A jury box bookshelved along the wall, a dock that juts like a cliff and acoustics that amplify each word like a nail driven into a plank?  If so, then you will understand the mood that drives me to photograph them.
     As I write I'm 2 days from catching the Indian Pacific to Sydney, then driving into Queensland.  By mid-April, I'll have visited every region except the Northern Territory, and framed more than 30 court-houses in my view finder.
     I hope to convince a publisher to release an end-of-the-millennium calendar of court-houses for the year 2000, to be available later this year.  If not, well, I've seen a lot of Oz and hopefully captured something of value on my film, something that may perhaps inspire future generations of lawyers.
     I hope you enjoy the images your law society has so graciously agreed to print in this issue.   If you want to see more, my court-house photos can, by 1 July, be accessed on the Internet at <stanmorse.com>.  [Webmaster's note: address changed to: <courthousephotos.com>]
     And, if you have a burning desire to know more, or to share your thoughts, write to me at my e-mail address <stanmorse@hotmail.com>.[Webmaster's note: address changed to: <stan@courthousephotos.com>]