Talk given to the Society by Bryan Oxlade on 25 Sept 2010
THE Oxlade brothers can claim descent from a very old English family dating back to Nicholas Oxlade who lived in Radnage, Buckinghamshire (England), before 1476. George Oxlade, grandfather of Bryan Oxlade of Oxlade Brothers, was born in 1848. George emigrated in August 1863 on the ship Fiery Star, arriving at Moreton Bay on 20th November. This was an ill fated ship that caught fire off the coast of New Zealand. This was on a return voyage in April 1865; it sank with the loss of many lives. George was 15 years of age when he arrived in the colony of Queensland.
George Oxlade travelled to Toowoomba and settled there, and married Louisa Maria Byers in 1877.
William was born on 29th October 1877. George lived in Toowoomba for five more years, until moving to Brisbane with his family in 1883. In that year he was working as a signwriter for Exton and Gough, with W G Lewis, founder of the Brisbane signwriting and painting firm W G Lewis and Sons.
Two years later he was working in the O’Keefe Building, Petrie Terrace. Around 1893/4 he moved to Burnett Lane, and took on a partner (Oxlade and Wright, signwriters) but nothing is known about this man, and in 1895 George was on his own again at George Street, between Charlotte and Mary Streets.
In 1894 George’s son William joined him as an apprentice until 1900, and at the end of the apprenticeship in 1900 the pair became Oxlade and Son, Signwriters, at 229 Adelaide Street near Foundry Lane (now Isles Lane). They were there for nine years before moving to 293 Adelaide Street between Creek and Wharf Streets.
In 1907 George built a home at 588 Lower Bowen Terrace. The couple had nine children, five boys and four girls. George passed away on 14th Sept 1910. Three of the sons, William, George and Allen, formed Oxlade Brothers, and moved in 1912 to 149 George Street near Roma Street, but it was too small for their expanding business and they moved to 526 Queen Street (the old Exton and Gough building). They expanded into other areas specializing in glass etching, silvering, glazing leadlights and paperhanging.
Allan Oxlade was an alderman for the Merthyr Ward, as well as a businessman and a first class rugby player: he captained Australia in 1907. He had been on good terms with James Clark, the Pearl King, but after Council resumed some of Clark’s land to extend River Drive and named it Oxlade Drive, the friendship faltered.
In 1920 the brothers bought an old one-storey shop in Wickham Street at number 136, demolished it and built a new two-storey shop plus basement. The basement was used for storage of stock, the front of the street level for the shop and office, and at the rear a silvering room. The top floor was where most of the production took place, the front for commercial art, and areas for glass etching, lead turning and leadlighting, signwriting and screen printing.
The firm employed 44 painters at one stage, but because of the uncertainty of the weather at times, Oxlade Brothers decided to expand into other areas, producing beautiful decorating products as well as sales of paint. They won a bronze medal in 1933 for a glass sign, at the Panama Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco. During the war, paint was rationed and business was lean, but after the war, the family began rebuilding the business. The developing paint industry meant that Oxlades decided to specialize in art products, which is still the case today.
William became manager after the death of his brother George Colling. Stephen’s son Bryan joined the firm in 1938 at 13 years of age. In 1948 his father Stephen took over after the death of William. Bryan became head of the business in 1961 after the death of Stephen, and successfully continued this old Brisbane family business, and was joined by his children, Kay in 1978 and Paul in 1991.