Mayford

By the late nineteenth century Oxley had two main areas of development. The first was along Ipswich Road where the hotel had been established. Businesses such as a store, a butcher and a blacksmith shop were established as the population slowly increased and the need for services arose. In 1864 a non-denominational church was built near the corner of Bannerman and Ipswich Roads and the first Oxley school was built in 1873 with 32 enrolments when opened. This area became known as Oxley Central. The second area of development in Oxley was beside the railway station.

In 1865 George Freeman, an English immigrant from Cambridgeshire, purchased a nine acre and two rood parcel of land in Oxley on which he established a dairy farm and raised four children with his wife Sarah.

In September 1899 George’s son, William Freeman, married Tryphena May Ford. A three acre parcel of land was subdivided from the original Freeman farm and transferred to William Freeman at this time. According to local historian, Lona Grantham, this was given to William Freeman as a wedding present from George Freeman. The house was built by Sherwood building contractors Dunlop and Hedges at a cost of £365/13/6. In 1900 William was first listed in the Post Office Directories as residing at Oxley, this corresponds with the 1899 and 1900 Electoral Rolls that first record William residing in a separate dwelling from the original Freeman home at this time.

Unlike his father, William Freeman did not carry on dairy farming. Instead he worked as a clerk for the Railway Commissioner’s Office. The name of the house seems to have been derived from William’s wife’s middle name, ‘May’ and her maiden name ‘Ford’. In 1911 William died and his property passed onto his wife Tryphena. In 1956, after Tryphena’s death, the house was transferred to the two daughters Elfrida Alice May Freeman and Edna Rose Freeman who resided in the house together. Edna died in 1978 and Elfrida Alice May, known as May, in 1982, each daughter remaining in the house until their passing.

Jutland Street was called “Freeman’s Lane” until 1954. Although some of the land on which ‘Mayford’ was built was subdivided and sold in the 1950s, the area of land on which the residence currently sits is large in terms of suburban blocks. This is important as it contributes to the setting of the residence and assists in the understanding of the local area’s history. ‘Mayford’ is important in Oxley as a rare intact timber nineteenth-century residence. 

An additional old cottage was added to the rear of the original cottage in the early twenty-first century. Although complementary, this building is not part of the original fabric and not of heritage significance.

1. Fones, Ralph, Oxley! A Mind of its Own, Oxley-Chelmer History Group, 2006

2. Grantham, Lona, Heritage Tour: An Historical Tour of Oxley, Oxley-Chelmer Historical Group, 2003

3. Judy Gale Rechner, Brisbane House Styles 1880 to 1940: a guide to the affordable house, Brisbane: Brisbane History Group Studies No. 2, 1998

4. Historic Titles, Department of Environment and Resource Management

5. Hortz, Michael Submission re Proposed inclusion of Residence ‘Mayford’ 56 Jutland Street … in City Plan Heritage Register. 15 Feb 2012

6. Queensland Post Office Directories

7. UBD Refidex Street Directory 1924, 1944-45, 1990

8. Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Survey Maps

9. Queensland Electoral Rolls