Downing Centre, Sydney: what to expect

It is two separate courts in one building

This is the thing that confuses people most. The Downing Centre houses the Downing Centre Local Court and the Sydney District Court criminal jurisdiction. They are different courts, with different registries, on different floors, running different lists.

Your paperwork names the court. If it says Local Court, the registry is Level 4. If it says District Court, it is Level 3. The Chief Magistrate's Office is on Level 5 and is not where you go for your matter.

In the online court list system they are separate selectable locations too: Downing Centre Local Court for the Local Court, and Sydney Downing Centre for the District Court. Searching the wrong one will convince you that your matter is not listed when it is.

One caution on the District Court. It publishes two different Sydney criminal registry addresses on two of its own pages, Level 3 Downing Centre on the court locations page and Level 4 John Maddison Tower on its contact page. Both are official. If you are filing or serving rather than attending, ring first.

The lists, day by day

The Local Court runs fourteen crime courts plus three custody courts every weekday, all starting at 9:30am. The published pattern is:

• Monday. Charge list, General List covering traffic, summons and RMS matters, and defended hearings.
• Tuesday. Charge list, the DPP list, General List including traffic and summons, two Commonwealth lists including tax, and defended hearings.
• Wednesday. Charge list, domestic violence and AVO, defended hearings and the sentence list.
• Thursday. Charge list, DPP list and defended hearings, plus the Registrar's District Court callover at 2:00pm.
• Friday. Charge list, defended hearings and the sentence list.

The custody courts run a charge list at 9:30am, a bail list and defended hearings every day.

If you are appearing by Audio Visual Link, the Chief Magistrate's Office direction is that you must be ready to appear by 9:30am on the day unless a different time is marked.

Finding your courtroom, which is the real challenge

On any given morning this building has around seventeen Local Court courts and up to twenty one District Court criminal courtrooms sitting, most of them starting at the same time. The wayfinding is not good, and the courts know it: new signage and digital listing boards were listed as planned upgrades in the official reopening notice.

The method that works:

• Check the list online before you leave. Court lists are on the NSW Online Registry, and you need to pick the right one of the two locations.
• Allow real time for security. Airport style screening operates at the entrance, and a 9:30am common start across seventeen courts means a queue.
• Read the printed list in the foyer. It shows the case name and the courtroom, and it is the authoritative version on the day.
• If your name is not on it, go to the registry. Level 4 for Local Court, Level 3 for District Court. Do not go home.
• Tell the court officer you have arrived once you find the right room. That is how the court knows not to deal with you in your absence.

Do not photograph the list or record anything anywhere on court premises. It is an offence.

Getting there

Museum station is directly underneath. It is served by the T2 Leppington and Inner West line, the T3 Liverpool and Inner West line and the T8 Airport and South line, which makes it straightforward if you have flown into Sydney Airport.

The station has two entrances, one at the corner of Elizabeth and Liverpool Streets and one at Liverpool and Castlereagh Streets. The Downing Centre sits on Liverpool Street between them, so either works.

Neither the courts nor the City of Sydney publishes any parking information for this building, so we are not going to state any. In the middle of the Sydney CBD, on a weekday, the train is the answer.

The 2025 flood, and why old guides are wrong

If you have found other guidance online telling you that Downing Centre matters are being heard at John Maddison Tower or at Central Local Court, it is out of date.

A flooding incident in June 2025 damaged the substation and critical plant, and the building was closed. Matters were temporarily moved to John Maddison Tower and Central Local Court. The building then came back in stages: the registry reopened 19 December 2025, Local Court sittings resumed 22 December 2025 and reached full capacity 12 January 2026, and the District Court resumed limited sittings on 19 January 2026 and full capacity on 2 February 2026.

All of those dates have passed. The building is in full operation, and it came back with a refurbished foyer, improved security systems, upgraded Audio Visual Links in some courtrooms and additional public amenities including a parents' room and a first aid room.

Anything written between mid 2025 and early 2026 will send you to the wrong building. Check the current list, not a blog post.

Getting help at the Downing Centre

Legal Aid NSW has duty lawyers at all Local Courts. They can advise you, explain what is likely to happen, help you ask for an adjournment, help with documents and in limited circumstances speak for you. They cannot run a defended hearing for you on the day you plead not guilty.

Legal Aid's online JusticeHub request does not cover the Downing Centre. It covers Bankstown, Blacktown, Mount Druitt, Penrith and Sutherland only. Here the routes are LawAccess NSW on 1300 888 529 or arriving early and asking.

For domestic violence matters, Sydney WDVCAS covers the Downing Centre along with Central, Newtown and Waverley, and can be reached on (02) 9287 7505. The AVO list here is Wednesday.

Interpreters in criminal and AVO matters are arranged by the court at no cost to you. Hearing loops and real time captioning need notice, two to three weeks, so ask as soon as you know you are coming.

If you are coming from Queensland

We appear in Sydney as well as in Queensland and at Tweed Heads. The law is different in ways that change outcomes, not just terminology: proceedings start with a Court Attendance Notice, sentencing runs on the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) with section 10 dismissals, Conditional Release Orders, Community Correction Orders and Intensive Correction Orders, and there are five drink driving ranges rather than three.

Our Tweed Heads guide sets those differences out in full, with the sections. They apply in Sydney too.

Between October and April, remember that New South Wales observes daylight saving and Queensland does not. A 9:30am listing is 8:30am on a Queensland phone, and in a building this size, arriving late is not something you can quietly recover from.

If you have a Sydney matter, the first fifteen minutes by phone cost nothing. Call 07 5522 5777.