Table returned

A historical table, which sat proudly at the Mayne family residence in the 1800s, has found its home at UQ’s Faculty of Medicine.

Formerly the dining room table of the Maynes’s Auchenflower residence ‘Moorlands’, it was gifted to the University in the 1890s.

It served part of its history as the meeting place of Queensland’s greatest minds as the UQ Senate table, until it was sold in 1970.

The Mayne Inheritance – a 1997 biography about the Mayne family’s legacy – detailed several references to the table, but the author had been unable to track down its location until now.

Fortuitously, the table had found its way into the heart and home of a new family.

UQ architect Mr John Maccormick privately acquired the table from the University in the late 1970s.

The Maccormicks kept impeccable care of the enormous cedar dining-room table and captured its history with an engraved bronze plaque.

When it was time to downsize in January 2019, the Maccormicks reached out to UQ and shared the historical significance of the table.

With the current refurbishment of the Mayne Medical School building underway, it was fitting the table returned back under the roof of its original owners – the Maynes.

UQ Faculty of Medicine Executive Manager Marni Jacoby believes it is opportune timing.

“It was serendipitous the table could be brought back into our care at the same time we have begun refurbishments,” Ms Jacoby explains.

“Once building refurbishments have been completed, we aim to relocate the table to the Executive Dean’s office.

“It will take pride of place on Level Two of the Mayne Medical Building.“

The restoration of the Mayne Medical Building at Herston is due to be completed in March 2020.