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Oakleigh

Description

Building TypeResidentialHistory

Built for Dan Jones and completed in early 1887. At the time, the residence was described as a mansion and the land on which it stood had been purchased “at a very high price”. As built, it had four rooms downstairs and four upstairs, a balcony on each side at the upper level, and a detached kitchen with servants room attached, wash house, coach house and stables. Early photos who that the balustrading around the lower verandah was originally iron lace.

The first members of the Jones family to arrive in Redbank Plains were Lewis and Martha who came from Wales in 1864. Lewis started growing cotton but later turned to grazing and horse breeding. His son Dan married Bess Josey and they built Oakleigh, apparently while Dan had aspirations to enter Parliament. The house was later owned by his younger brother Henry who developed the very successful Mel Bonum apiary there. He imported Italian bees and produced a magazine and a catalogue of bees and bee-keeping equipment which became institutions in the industry. He was President of the Queensland Bee-keepers Association 1904-1920. He established a factory to build bee-keeping equipment (on the site of the present-day Woogaroo Hotel), and set up a sawmill in Mill Street Goodna to cut timber for bee boxes and for general purposes. The family also sold mangoes each summer from the grove of trees planted there.

The most famous visitor to his apiary was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1921.

Building Description

Timber house with steeply-pitched roof and attic level. The attic rooms have french doors opening onto small timber balconies with a curved corrugated galvanised iron roof and broomstick balustrading. The lower level has an encircling verandah, to which a later extension has been added. The original iron lace balustrading has been replaced with timber and the original exposed stud framing has been covered with chamferboards. The house has a brick chimney.

References (online)Bees from America, The Queenslander, 12 Sep 1891, p509A Glimpse at the Redbank Plains, Mr. H. L. Jones's Bee Farm, Queensland Times, 30 Jun 1894, p3The Mel Bonum Apiary, Queensland Times, 23 Jan 1897, p4Council Elections. Moreton Nominations. Twenty Candidates, Queensland Times, 16 Mar 1927, p4Probate Granted, The Telegraph, 7 Jul 1934, p5Funeral Notice, H. L. Jones, Queensland Times, 14 Mar 1932, p1Expanded Ipswich Heritage Study, Vol 3, 1997

Images

7th birthday celebrations at 'Oakleigh' for Audrey Jones, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1909

Audrey Jones, at 'Oakleigh', Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1905

Audrey Jones, with her A.T.C.L. and A.L.C.M. certificates, at 'Oakleigh', Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1919

Charlotte (Elsie) Jones with children Queenie and Mervyn at Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, c.1902

Charlotte Elsie Jones with her children, Queenie, Merv and Audrey, at 'Oakleigh', Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1902

Elsie (Queenie) Jones and Myra Leard at Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, c.1920

Elsie (Queenie) Jones at her home, Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, c.1902

Elsie Jones with her daughter, Queenie, at their home, Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1900

Group at Beekeepers Field Day, held at Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1933

Group at Oakleigh, before attending the Peace Ball, Redbank Plain, Ipswich, 1925

Group of people collecting mangoes in the orchard at Oakleigh (house), Redbank Plains, Ipswich, c.1917

Group playing tennis at Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1914-1918

H. L. Jones with 'Lulu' the pet wallaby at Oakleigh (house), Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1920

Henry Lewis Jones, with his beehives at Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, 1920s

Henry Mervyn (Merv) Jones holding a koala at 'Oakleigh', Redbank Plains, early 1910s

Henry Mervyn (Merv) Jones, with farm animals at his family's home, Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, c.1901

Jones and Evans families with friends at Oakleigh (house) Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1941

Jones family entertaining members of the AIF and their families at Oakleigh (house), Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1942

Jones family group at Oakleigh (house), Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1940

Kangaroo in yard at Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, early 1900s

Merv Jones in the apiary, Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1950s

Merv, Audrey and Queenie Jones at Oakleigh, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, 1905

Mervyn and Queenie Jones, Redbank Plains, Ipswich, c.1900

Histories

Pathways of the Pioneers - Boonah

People & Families

Audrey Jones (1902-1989)

Curated Collections

Domestic Architecture

Heritage Trails

People, Places and Events Eastern Suburbs Trail

Connections

PlacesRedbank PlainsCurated CollectionsDomestic ArchitectureDefining Tulmur | IpswichBoom & Bust: Domestic Architecture

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Places

Redbank Plains

Curated Collections

Domestic Architecture

Defining Tulmur | Ipswich

Boom & Bust: Domestic Architecture

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Buildings & Structures (33)

Histories

Buildings & Structures

People & Families

House Name

Heritage Trails

Buildings & Structures

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Oakleigh