Co-Masonic Temple

Values

The place is associated with architect William G Bennett, and loosely based on his 1934 Nedlands Park Masonic Lodge.

The place is a Co-Masonic Lodge, open to men and women.

Physical Description

The single storey Co-Masonic temple was constructed in 1936 by prominent architect William Bennet loosely based on the design of his 1934 Nedlands Park Lodge (RHP 1828 Nedlands Park Masonic Hall).

The temple is an austere brick and stucco building, originally constructed of red brick, but was rendered in 1990. The central entranceway is emphasised with a massed portico, with a half moon window above the doorway.

History

When Freemasonry came to Australia in the 1840s, it was no longer a requirement that its members were part of the building trade. Freemason meetings were an opportunity for men of differing religions to share their moral and spiritual values through rituals, lectures, teaching and practices.

The first meeting of St Cuthbert’s Co-Masonic Lodge No 408 was held in 1916 by Brother Olive Jay Farmer, at her residence in Meadow Street, Guildford named ‘St Cuthbert’s’. The Co-Masonic lodge was open to both men and women, its membership swelled to 30 within the first year, and included Edith Cowan, Australia’s first woman parliamentarian; Dame Florence Cardell-Oliver MLA, the first woman to obtain a cabinet rank; Muriel Chase, a co-founder of the Silver Chain Nursing League; and, Edith Priest, the Principle Mistress for Cottesloe Infant School.

Meetings of the Co-Masonic Lodge were held at Farmer’s residence for the first 10 months, until moving to a rental premises on Hay Street, west of William Street. The building has since been demolished.

In 1919 the lodge moved to the Temperance Hall in Museum Street in Perth, where they remained until 1936 when a purpose-built Masonic Lodge was built at Brisbane Street. While at the Temperance Hall, in 1927, St Cuthbert’s Lodge established a Daughter Lodge – Memphis Lodge No. 433 – and from 1928 the two lodges shared the Museum Street Building.

For a short while, St Cuthbert’s owned two residential properties in James Street, Perth and intended to convert the buildings into a lodge facility. These properties were later sold, and the money put towards a Co-Masonic Building Fund.

St Cuthbert’s Lodge purchased the site on Brisbane Street for £265, and in 1936 employed William G. Bennett to design the new lodge. Bennett had only two years previously completed the Nedlands Park Masonic Hall, and designed St Cuthbert’s Co-Masonic Lodge as a replica with a number of improvements. A two-storey building with caretaker’s cottage was planned, but when tenders were called and came back too high, the plans were reduced and single storey design was accepted, excluding the cottage.

Bennett was also known for the Peace and Memorial Rose Garden (1948) in Nedlands, Applecross District Hall (1934), and Beverley Infant Health Centre (fmr) (1954).

The foundation stone of St Cuthbert’s Co-Masonic Lodge No 408 was laid on 25 April 1936, by the Rightful Worshipful Brother Stanley Sprott Fisher. The first meeting was help in the Co-Masonic Temple on 2 August 1936, officially opened on 15 August and consecrated on 7 February 1937. At Brisbane Street, St Cuthbert’s continued to share the use of their building with their Daughter Lodge, Memphis.

The building continues to be used as a Co-Masonic Lodge, at its peak, the Lodge is reported as having 100 male and female members. In 2007, the Lodge was noted to have 25 Brothers.

In an interview with the Perth Voice, the Rightful Worshipful Master of St Cuthbert’s Co-Masonic Lodge reports that in Western Australia, the male-only Freemasons do not want to know about the Co-Masons.

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