Customs House Museum, historic site in Queensland, Australia

The Customs House Museum is a single-story timber building with a rectangular shape and verandahs on three sides in Goondiwindi. The corrugated iron roof, timber sash windows, and French doors are typical of structures built between the 1860s and early 1900s.

The building was constructed between the 1860s and early 1900s, shortly after Goondiwindi was founded in 1858 and the first land sale took place in 1860. After Australia's federation in 1901, customs duties between states ended, and the building was later used as a private residence, shop, and eventually as a museum.

The name is misleading: no formal record shows the building ever served as a customs house, and it stayed in private hands while duties were collected. Matthew Maher, a mail contractor, bought the land in 1863; in 1872 it passed to Samuel Droughton, also a mail contractor and a dairyman, whose family held it until 1901, when it was sold to newspaper editor Edward Drake.

The museum sits at a street corner in central Goondiwindi and is easy to reach on foot. The location provides access to nearby parking, picnic areas, and wheelchair access for visitors with limited mobility.

No formal record shows the building ever served as a customs house; it stayed in private hands throughout the period when border duties were collected. The customs books were kept at the Court House even in 1898, and the customs officer's role was long an extension of police duties.