Before the Chambers, Council met in a tent.

Cue grew so quickly during the gold rush that local government had to develop almost from nothing. Before a permanent civic building existed, the Municipality of Cue held meetings in the Warden's Court tent.

In 1896 the town gained a proper Municipal Chambers on Robinson Street — a compact but confident stone building that would remain at the centre of Cue's local government story for more than seventy years.

Council's first meeting had one small problem: there was no furniture.

The councillors moved into their new home and held the first recorded meeting in the Chambers before the furniture had arrived.

By the next meeting the situation had improved considerably: ten Austrian bentwood chairs and two office chairs had been purchased.

Remarkably, those chairs survived. Heritage records note that they were later kept in the present Council Chambers at the former Gentlemen's Club — a small physical connection between Cue's first permanent council chamber and its current administration.

Decisions about Cue were made here for generations.

Heritage records identify the Municipal Chambers as the centre of local government in Cue from 1896 to 1912 and again from 1921 until 1980.

Inside this modest building councillors debated roads, water, health, sanitation, town improvements and the endless practical questions involved in running an isolated goldfields community.

In October 1980 the Shire administration moved out, ending the building's long career as Cue's municipal headquarters.

The old stone has been brought back into view.

Recent conservation works have transformed the Old Municipal Chambers. Masonry and building restoration undertaken by the Shire has repaired and revealed the historic fabric, allowing the building's local stone, arches and classical proportions to take centre stage again.

The restoration forms part of a wider effort to preserve Cue's extraordinary collection of heritage buildings — not simply keeping them standing, but returning them to a condition where they can remain useful.

Council planning documents have paired the refurbishment with another task: investigate future uses. The building has been saved. The question now is what Cue asks it to become next.

One of Cue's smallest civic buildings has one of its longest stories.

The Old Municipal Chambers is at 33 Robinson Street, only a short walk from Austin Street, the Rotunda, Government Buildings and the wider heritage precinct.