NSW Dubbo Coroner’s Court List Today

The Dubbo Coroner's Court list is the published record of coronial matters listed at Dubbo Court House on a given sitting day. Unlike the Local Court list, which can run to dozens of criminal, traffic and apprehended violence matters, a coronial list at a regional location such as Dubbo is usually short. It commonly carries a single entry, because inquests are hearings that are scheduled months in advance and then run for several consecutive days. A one-line list at Dubbo therefore does not mean a quiet day. It usually means a multi-day inquest is part-heard in the building.

Coronial matters at Dubbo are not a separate court. Under section 16 of the Coroners Act 2009 (NSW), every judge of the Local Court is a coroner by virtue of their office, and coronial sittings use the same Dubbo Court House rooms as Local and District Court matters. Mandatory inquests are different again: under sections 22 and 23, only the State Coroner or a Deputy State Coroner may hold an inquest into a death in custody or a death resulting from a police operation, so those matters are heard at Dubbo by a Senior Coroner who travels to the region.

Dubbo Court House: address, registry hours and contact

• Street address: Brisbane Street, Dubbo NSW 2830
• Postal address: PO Box 50, Dubbo NSW 2830
• Telephone: 1300 679 272
• Fax: 6885 7697
• Registry hours: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
• Telephone hours: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
• Days open: Monday to Friday
• Audio visual link: AVL facilities are available in Courts 1, 2 and 3, plus three additional suites

Dubbo Court House is one of the busiest regional court complexes west of the Great Dividing Range. It also services satellite registries, with Gilgandra Local Court operating care of PO Box 50 Dubbo, and Dubbo sharing circuit arrangements with Wellington, Walgett, Bourke and Coonamble. Dubbo has a documented coronial history going back well over a century: the NSW State Archives holds a dedicated Dubbo register of inquests and magisterial inquiries covering 1904 to 1917, and Dubbo appears among the small group of towns named in the surviving 1851 inquest papers alongside Bathurst, Wollongong, Queanbeyan and Camden.

How many deaths reach a NSW coroner each year

The scale of the coronial jurisdiction is larger than most people expect. The Coroners Court of NSW reports that coroners investigate roughly 7,400 reportable deaths a year, of which about 4,000 are coordinated through the Coroners Court at Lidcombe and about 3,400 are coordinated by coroners and assistant coroners at rural and regional locations. The Local Court of NSW Annual Review 2024 gives the precise figures.

Year	Metro (Lidcombe)	Regional	Total deaths reported
2019	3,672	3,037	6,709
2020	3,570	2,839	6,409
2021	3,563	3,156	6,719
2022	4,190	3,461	7,651
2023	3,950	3,388	7,338
2024	4,095	3,579	7,674

Two figures stand out for anyone tracking a regional court such as Dubbo. First, 2024 was the highest year on record, with 7,674 deaths reported, up 4.6 per cent on 2023 and up 14.4 per cent on 2019. Second, regional matters made up 3,579 of that total, or 46.6 per cent. Almost half the coronial workload in New South Wales sits outside Sydney, which is why sitting days at Dubbo, Orange, Walgett, Albury and Broken Hill carry more weight than their short lists suggest.

Closures, coronial certificates and how few matters reach inquest

Most reportable deaths never reach a hearing. In 2024, NSW coroners closed 7,793 report of death cases, of which 3,394 were regional, giving a clearance ratio of 101.5 per cent. Coronial certificates were certified in 3,109 cases, including 1,428 regional certificates, a figure that has risen 65 per cent since 2019 when only 1,882 certificates were issued statewide. A further 1,188 medical certificates were filed. A coroner may dispense with a post-mortem examination under section 89(6) where, after advice from police and medical practitioners, the coroner is satisfied the death was due to natural causes and the senior next of kin has indicated the family does not wish an examination to occur.

By contrast, only 102 death matters were closed after inquest in 2024, and just four of those were regional. A further 139 inquests were suspended during the year, generally under section 78, which requires a coroner to suspend an inquest and refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions where the evidence suggests a known person has committed an indictable offence. Fire inquiries have fallen sharply: reports of fire dropped from 157 in 2019 to 33 in 2024, of which only eight were regional.

Because so much of the coronial workload sits in the west, families and legal representatives often follow more than one regional list at once. The nearby Walgett Coroner's Court shares the same circuit region as Dubbo, and statewide coordination runs through the NSW State Coroner's Court at Lidcombe. If an inquest is part-heard, confirm with registry staff whether it will resume at Dubbo or move to another venue before you travel.

Mandatory inquests: deaths in custody and police operations

Section 27(1)(b) of the Coroners Act 2009 makes an inquest mandatory where jurisdiction arises under section 23. These are the matters most likely to bring a Deputy State Coroner to Dubbo Court House for a week-long hearing. The State Coroner's Deaths in Custody and Police Operations Report for 2025, tabled in Parliament in April 2026, records the highest annual figures ever measured.

• 66 deaths were reported as occurring in custody or as a result of a police operation in 2025, an increase of 18 on 2024 and the highest single-year total on record
• 39 of those were deaths in custody, and 27 resulted from police operations
• All 39 custody deaths occurred in Corrective Services custody, with no deaths recorded in police cells
• 24 of the deceased (61.5 per cent) were serving a full-time sentence, and 15 (38.5 per cent) were on remand
• Reported manner of death in custody was natural causes in 22 cases (56.4 per cent), intentional self-harm in nine (23.1 per cent) and unascertained in five (12.8 per cent)
• Police motor vehicle pursuits accounted for nine of the 27 police operation deaths, or 33.3 per cent, continuing a rising trend

First Nations over-representation

Seventeen of the 66 deaths reported in 2025 were of First Nations people, or 26 per cent, against a First Nations share of the NSW population of 3.4 per cent at the 2021 Census. Twelve First Nations deaths occurred in custody, which the State Coroner described as the highest number ever recorded in a single year. BOCSAR data cited in the same report records 4,244 First Nations adults in custody as at March 2025, being 32.4 per cent of the adult prison population, with the First Nations custody population up 18.9 per cent over five years while the non-Aboriginal prison population fell 12.5 per cent. First Nations remand numbers rose 63 per cent across the same period. This context matters for Western NSW courts such as Dubbo, where the coronial and criminal jurisdictions intersect most visibly, and where the Youth Koori Court and the Winha-nga-nha List for Aboriginal families in care proceedings both sit.

Cultural support and case management

Where a First Nations person dies in custody or as a result of a police operation, the State Coroner's First Nations Protocol of 11 April 2023 applies alongside Coronial Practice Note 3 of 2021. The protocol provides for referral to the Aboriginal Coronial Information and Support Program, a family meeting facilitated by ACISP, family updates every two months unless less contact is preferred, and consultation with the family on inquest arrangements including cultural considerations. From 9 May 2025, revised timeframes give Corrective Services NSW, the NSW Police Force and NSW Health Pathology 16 weeks from the determination of jurisdiction to deliver their reports to the coroner, a four-week extension on the previous standard.

What a coroner decides, and what a coroner cannot do

Section 81 requires a coroner to make written findings on whether a person has died, the identity of the deceased, the date and time of death, and the manner and cause of death. Those findings must not indicate or suggest that an offence has been committed by any person. Under section 82 a coroner may make recommendations considered necessary or desirable in relation to any matter connected with the death, with public health and safety specifically identified. There is no limit on subject matter, and recommendations are provided to the State Coroner, the recipient agency and the relevant Minister.

Compliance is not compulsory. The Coroners Act contains no mechanism obliging an agency to respond, and the process instead relies on Department of Premier and Cabinet Memorandum 2009-12, which asks for acknowledgement within 21 days and a ministerial letter to the Attorney General within six months. Of 44 section 23 inquests finalised across NSW in 2025, 20 produced recommendations, 16 of them in custody matters. Persistent themes included welfare check and head-check failures, ligature points in detention infrastructure, delays in access to Opioid Agonist Treatment, and the need for a health-led co-responder model when police encounter a person in mental health crisis.

If you have arrived expecting a longer roster of matters, it is worth checking whether your business is criminal or civil rather than coronial. Everyday charges, bail and traffic matters are listed on the Dubbo Local Court list, while trials and sentences on indictment sit with the Dubbo District Court. The coronial list at Brisbane Street covers only reportable deaths, so a name you are searching for may simply belong on a different sitting that day.

Post-mortem examinations and the rights of senior next of kin

Section 96(1) allows the senior next of kin to make a written request that a coroner or assistant coroner not authorise a post-mortem examination, or not authorise retention of a whole organ. The objection must set out reasons, including any cultural, religious or personal beliefs. If the coroner decides the examination is necessary or in the public interest, sections 96(3) and 96(4) require immediate notice, and the examination cannot proceed for 48 hours. Within that window the senior next of kin may apply to the Supreme Court under section 97 for an order that no examination, or only a partial examination, be conducted. Section 88 requires that the dignity of the deceased be respected and that the least invasive appropriate procedure be used. Families are advised not to confirm a funeral date until the objection is decided, because the process can delay release of the body.

Attending a coronial hearing at Dubbo

• Inquests are public hearings. Members of the public and journalists may attend unless the coroner orders otherwise.
• Where a coroner finds a death was self-inflicted, section 75 prevents publication of the deceased's name unless the coroner directs otherwise, which is why published findings in those matters use pseudonyms.
• Directions hearings and callovers are short procedural listings. A Dubbo entry timed at 10:00 am may be the opening of a hearing block that runs Monday to Friday.
• Arrive early to allow for security screening and to locate the correct courtroom, and confirm the room with registry staff on the day, since coronial matters are frequently listed as unassigned until the morning.
• Written findings for finalised inquests are published on the Coroners Court coronial findings search, and government responses to recommendations are published by the Department of Communities and Justice.

Reform of the NSW coronial jurisdiction

The jurisdiction has been under sustained review. A Legislative Council select committee reported on the coronial jurisdiction in April 2022, following earlier work on First Nations deaths in custody, and noted that no thorough review had been undertaken since 1975. The Report of the Statutory Review of the Coroners Act was tabled in Parliament on 14 February 2024, finding the broad policy objectives of the Act remain valid while recommending updates aimed at timeliness and at improving the experience of bereaved families. Commentary published by the NSW Bar Association has argued that country magistrates conduct comparatively few inquests and make death-preventive recommendations on average around three times a year, despite rural and regional NSW accounting for close to half of all reported deaths and recording higher rates of premature and preventable death than Sydney.

Operational changes have followed. A Coronial Operations Unit was established in mid-May 2024 with responsibility for statewide coronial operations, oversight of assistant coroners and transport of deceased remains. The Coronial Case Management Unit, which co-locates DCJ, NSW Health and NSW Police staff to triage reported deaths, expanded its focus on regional matters in 2024, and dedicated coronial liaison officers were introduced across all NSW Police Area Commands and Police Districts to speed up regional triage. A trial of short-form post-mortem reports by two forensic pathologists was also approved to address delays.

Frequently asked questions

Is Dubbo Coroner's Court a separate courthouse?

No. Coronial matters are heard at Dubbo Court House on Brisbane Street, the same complex used by the Dubbo Local Court and Dubbo District Court. Registry hours are 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday, on 1300 679 272.

Who presides over a coronial matter at Dubbo?

Routine coronial functions may be exercised by any Local Court judge sitting as a coroner, assisted by assistant coroners. Mandatory inquests into deaths in custody or deaths resulting from police operations must be heard by the State Coroner or a Deputy State Coroner under section 22, which usually means a Senior Coroner travelling to Dubbo. Judge Teresa O'Sullivan is the NSW State Coroner, supported by a bench of Deputy State Coroners.

Why does the Dubbo coronial list often show only one matter?

Because inquests are block-listed. A single entry frequently represents a hearing running across an entire week. Regional coronial hearings are also comparatively rare: only four regional death matters were closed after inquest across the whole of NSW in 2024.

What is a reportable death?

Broadly, a death that is sudden, violent, unnatural, unexplained or occurring in circumstances set out in the Act, including deaths in custody and deaths resulting from police operations. Police report these deaths to the coroner, nominate the senior next of kin and assist with formal identification.

How long does a coronial investigation take?

It varies considerably. The State Coroner notes that investigations into deaths in custody or police operations can take many months and sometimes several years, because a comprehensive brief of evidence must be compiled, concurrent investigations by Corrective Services or police professional standards may need to conclude first, and the inquest cannot resume until any criminal proceedings are finished under section 79.

Can names be published from a coronial list?

Publication is restricted in defined circumstances, most notably under section 75 where a death is found to be self-inflicted. Listing information is also subject to change without notice, so details should always be confirmed with the registry before attending.

Where can I find published findings?

Written findings for finalised inquests are published through the Coroners Court of NSW coronial findings search. Recommendations directed to government agencies, and the agency responses, are published separately by the Department of Communities and Justice.