Oakwal, Heritage residence in Windsor, Australia.
Oakwal is a single-storeyed sandstone residence on a hilltop north of Breakfast Creek at Windsor, encircled by Bush Street. Its Georgian-influenced east elevation has a portico with a timber pediment and sandstone steps, paired square timber verandah posts and louvred shutters to French doors. The slate U-shaped gabled roof carries four sandstone chimneys; inside, a central hallway with archways and a domed skylight leads to rooms with cedar panelled doors, plaster ceiling roses and original beech floors.
Built in 1864 by contractor John Petrie to a design by architect James Cowlishaw for Chief Justice James Cockle, Oakwal cost about £4,000. Cockle, who consolidated Queensland's early statutes and was knighted in 1869, left the colony in 1878 and rented the house at £250 a year; Sir Arthur Palmer, premier 1870–74, lived there in the 1880s. Cowlishaw bought the property in 1888 for around £10,000 and subdivided the estate.
The name comes from combining Great Oakley in Essex and Walton in Suffolk, the birthplaces of James Cockle and his wife. This choice reflects the family's personal ties to their English origins.
The property sits at 50 Bush Street in Windsor and is protected as part of the Queensland Heritage Register. Visitors should note that this is a private historic property with potentially restricted public access.
In the late 1940s the two-storeyed sandstone kitchen wing was demolished to allow the land to be subdivided and Bush Street to be created; the timber extension was added then. Sandstone blocks from the demolished service wing were reused in the landscaping of the remaining grounds.
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