THE LODGE OF AUSTRALASIA
Was established in the early part of 1844, and held its meetings at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Little Flinders Street East. It was officered by Bro. C. J. Sanford as Worshipful Master ; Bro. F. L. Clay, S.W. ; and Bro. F. Hinton, as J.W. S o m e years after the United Tradesmen's Lodge, under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, was established at Geelong, through the instrumentality of M r . George Coppin, w h o was installed as its first R . W . M . T h e first Royal Arch Chapter, styled the Australasian, was constituted on the 7th May, 1844, and was in affiliation with the Australia Felix Lodge. In January, 1845, M r . Henry M o o r (the then Mayor), was elected its principal. In May, 1842, the Masonic Lodges ordered three gold medals to be presented to Messrs. Henry Fowler, Peter Snodgrass, and Oliver Gourlay, three of the five amateur volunteers w h o effected the gallant capture of bushrangers on the Plenty, as described on page 351. It was not a nice thing to leave two (not the least meritorious) unrewarded, but a line of demarcation was drawn, so as to include the three named as members of " T h e Craft." In August, 1842, the Masons are reported to have purchased, for 600 guineas, a splendid organ, imported from England by Bro. F. L. Clay; and in August, 1846, a magnificent set of jewels (worth over £106) was subscribed for by the members of the Lodge of Australia Felix, as a mark of esteem for their " worthy and dearly beloved brother," P.M. John Stephen. From Mr. H . Bannister, Secretary of the Geelong Lodge of Unity and Prudence, I learn that the fourth Lodge established in the colony was the Geelong Lodge of Unity and Prudence, No. 801, E.C., the AVarrant being dated 13th October, 1847, and the building fully erected on the 26th October, 1848, Bro. R. Forrest, w h o wasfirstS.W. of the Australia Felix, being installed W.M., with William T i m m s , S.W., Abraham Levy, J.W., Bro. Richard Ocock, P.M., from Melbourne, was the installing officer. T h e meetings were held in the Royal Hotel. This Lodge is still flourishing, although all the original members have passed away. T h e first Masonic Provincial Grand Master in Victoria was M r . J. H . Ross, of the Scotch Constitution. H e was installed in the year 1847. T h e second of that Masonic rank was Mr. J. T. Smith, of the Irish Constitution, installed in 1856. T h e third was Captain A. Clarke, of the English Constitution, installed in 1857. It is unpleasant to be impelled by a spirit of impartiality to record that m u c h bad feeling was engendered in the olden time by prominent Freemasons, who, it is to be feared, frequently abused their positions in their respective Lodges to gratify personal animosity generated outside. This was especially the case with Brothers W . Kerr and John Stephen, who, when beyond the jurisdiction of the Tyler were in a chronic condition of hostility to each other. At the Corporation elections, and in the Council, at public meetings, and in the newspapers with which they were connected, they evinced but little of that " Brotherly Love and Charity" upon which the " Moral Order" professes to be founded. Kerr was always not only insinuating against, but openly accusing, Stephen of the grossest immorality, and the manner in which he befouled the n a m e of Bro. Henry M o o r in the Argus formed matter not only of comment, but judicial history. Bro. J. T. Smith occasionally jumped into the mire, but the two arch-offenders were Kerr and Stephen, the former the more culpable, as he was usually the aggressor. Matters went so far that Kerr was accused before the Lodge of Australia Felix with having cast certain imputations on the character of Stephen, and, unable to establish them by proof, was (according to newspaper report) subjected to expulsion. But one thing must be admitted of the early Freemasons, viz., that they did m u c h collectively and individually to help and sustain the early Charities of the colony. T h e Masonic procession in laying a foundation-stone was one of those bright sunshiny events of the past, to be lovingly recalled by the few w h o n o w remember them ; and which even when by chance read of, act like a kaleidoscope shaken before the mind's eye. Such days used to be gala days, and in a small community where spectacular attractions were rare, the variegated glories of the grand turn-out of the Masonic and
