May Brothers and Company

May Brothers and Company was an engineering and manufacturing firm founded in Gawler, South Australia in 1885 by Frederick and Alfred May.

(John) Frederick May (1840 – 15 December 1897) and Alfred May (6 December 1851 – 22 September 1920) were two children in a family of nine of Perranzabuloe, Cornwall who emigrated to Adelaide, arriving in December 1858. Upon arrival, the family travelled north to the mining town of Burra, where Frederick, (then aged 18), gained employment in a copper mine with his father Henry (1818 – 16 March 1872) and two brothers, William (1838 – 8 August 1914) and Joseph (1844 – 2 November 1922). Alfred, who was only seven at the time, attended school until the age of 15 when he then began work as a "picky-boy" – a menial job involving sorting ore on the surface of the mine.

Although not formally qualified in engineering, Frederick's keen interest and skill in machinery meant that he was soon promoted to the position of mine engineer, overseeing the installation of a steam-powered lift in the Schneider shaft in Burra. The fact that workers could obtain better positions in the new colonies based on skill and merit was one of the reasons Frederick's father had chosen to bring his family to Australia.

During the 1860s, the part of Yorke Peninsula known as the Copper Triangle – in particular the towns of Moonta, Wallaroo and Kadina – experienced a mining boom. Towns were growing quicker than mining equipment could be built and installed, and engineers were in high demand. Frederick's skill and efficiency at the Schneider shaft had earned him a reputation, and in 1861 he was appointed by pastoralist and mining magnate, Walter Watson Hughes, as chief engineer at the Moonta mine.

In 1862 Frederick married Mary Ann Mitchell, and in 1873 he took on Alfred, (then aged 20), as an apprentice engineer

In 1873 Frederick was approached by industrialist James Martin. His company James Martin & Co was a manufacturer of mining and agricultural implements, and his foundry in Gawler was the largest in the area, employing at times over 700 men. Martin aimed to expand operations and offered Frederick a partnership which he accepted in February 1874. Frederick secured a position for Alfred in 1875 as the foreman of the fitting shop.