From WBro Damien of DevotionA friend and reader from America recently asked me why we
have the “ United” Grand Lodge of Victoria
rather than just Grand Lodge Victoria. The answer lays in our history....
Melbourne was founded in 1835 as an agricultural city and
port, but flourished during the Gold Rushes of the 1850's. By the 1860's Melbourne
was Australia's largest and wealthiest city - indeed the first Federal
Parliament (1901) was held in Melbourne. Likewise, Freemasonry flourished in
the State and its cities and towns.
In the 1800’s there were three regular Constitutions under
which Masonic Lodges in Victoria worked. These three regular Grand Lodges were
those of England, Ireland and Scotland – each having a District Grand Master in
Victoria. There were also a noticeable number of irregular Freemasons working
under a French Grand Lodge but that’s outside the scope of this short article.
Just as Masons have all over the world, local Freemasons
decided they wanted self determination and decided to move away from
geographically distant Grand Lodges by founding their own.
The first native Grand Lodge in Victoria was formed under a
member of the Irish Constitution; George Selth Coppin (1819-1906),
a theatre entrepreneur, comic actor and politician (MLA & MLC). Coppin formed
Grand Lodge Victoria (GLV) in 1883.
Of the three Constitutions working here the English by far had the largest
number of Warrants and Freemasons. Coppin failed to attract the English Lodges
to his new Grand Lodge - but despite that, there was a lot of inter-visiting;
indeed Freemasons that were excluded in one of the European Constitutions would
just visit or join the other Constitutions - it was all very loose. Once GLV was
founded, Coppin could not get the number of Lodges he wanted, it was basically
the Irish who supported GLV - but we do have warrants on the walls from GLV signed
by Coppin; it was not a tin pot show but a legitimate Grand Lodge. Critically,
despite requests for amity, GLV was not recognised by the three European Constitutions
working here. It is reported that of the 121 regular lodges in Victoria when
GLV was founded only 16 Lodges became members of that Grand Lodge.
Towards the end of 1887 the Earl of Carnarvon visited
Victoria. He was Pro Grand Master for England and it is generally reported he encouraged
a local Grand Lodge, just as in a wider sense he encouraged Australia’s
Federation during his visit... and there was just the local leader to form that
Grand Lodge.
Sir William John Clarke (1831-1897),
was a hugely wealthy and well known Victorian businessman, philanthropist, politician
(MLA) and community leader. The Australian Dictionary of Biography records "William was also a prominent Victorian
Freemason and was elected Provincial Grand Master of the Irish Constitution in
1881 and District Grand Master of both the Scottish and English Constitutions
in 1884, a unique record at that time....In 1885 he had largely financed the
building of the Freemasons' Hall in Collins Street... . In 1889 he became the
first Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria..." Clarke
used his unique position as a District Grand Master of the three major Grand
Lodges working here, and, cutting a long story short, he was able to united all
of four Constitutions (UGLE, Grand Lodge of Scotland, Grand Lodge of Ireland,
Grand Lodge Victoria) into one - critical in that was attracting the English
Lodges – and hence - we became United
Grand Lodge of Victoria (UGLV) under Clarke. About 6,000 Freemasons
attended the celebrations. Clarke was not just an impressive Freemason, but
businessmen and his stamp was left in many ways - including World Test Cricket –
for it was on his property in Sunbury (now an outer suburb of Melbourne) that
the Ashes were born (it is a cricket thing.) Coppin was also an impressive individual
and also worth reading about – he left us with some great legacies and even
played a role in establishing Torrens Titles in Victoria (it’s a lawyer thing
but affects us all).
Coat Of Arms - UGLV
The Coat of Arms of
UGLV. Images within the quadrants represent the IC, EC, SC & VC which all
united in the “United Grand Lodge of Victoria”
A total of 136 Lodges, being made up of 92 EC 16 IC, 12 SC.
and 16 GLV all joined UGLV. Three Lodges under the English Constitution
declined to join; Meridian Lodge of St. John No. 729, The Prince of Wales Lodge
No. 1058 (both of which joined the UGLV a few months later) and the Combermere
Lodge, No. 752 E.C. One cool thing to note is that Lodge Combermere remains in
operation in Melbourne to this day under UGLE. Likewise, Victoria Mark Lodge No
47 is the oldest operating Mark Lodge in the Southern Hemisphere, and the second oldest
working outside England. It was originally formed on 25 May 1859. When the Mark
Grand Lodge of Victoria was formed 1899, Victoria Mark Lodge chose to remain
under the English Constitution (EC), and today remains the only EC Mark lodge
still working in Australia. It’s great to go and visit a foreign lodge in your
own city - much cheaper than an air-fare !
The unification of Lodges working under the Irish, English,
Scottish and Victorian Grand Lodges is why we became the “United Victorian
Grand of Lodge” in 1889.
The Combermere Lodge (EC) meets on the 3rd Tuesday
in February, April, June, August, October & December. Installation
June.
www.combermere.org.au
You might also be interested in the EC Mark and Chapter Lodges still meeting in Victoria:
Victoria Mark Lodge No 47
(EC)
Combermere Royal Arch Chapter No. 752 (EC)
Formation of The U.G.L.V.
Reprinted from Gould’s History of Freemasonry, Vol.5, p.180-1.
(It is worth noting some of the membership &
lodge numbers below & also the average lodge size was of 50 men)
The idea of forming an independent Grand Lodge of Victoria appears to
have first been mooted in 1863 and was debated at the Quarterly Communication
of the Grand Lodge of England on March 2, 1864, when it met with strenuous
opposition on the part of the Earl of Zetland, Grand Master. Grand Lodge passed
a resolution expressing its strong disapprobation of the contemplated
secession. The agitation was renewed in 1876, though, apparently, only feebly
and it was not revived until 1883, when, on April 27, the Masonic Union of
Victoria was formed. At that time there were seventy English, fifteen Irish and
ten Scottish Lodges in Victoria, but of this number, only eighteen Lodges,
twelve Irish, five Scottish, and one English – gave their adherence to the
movement and, of that number, two – the only English Lodge and another –
immediately withdrew.
However, at a Convention held on June 19, 1883, it was resolved “that
the date of founding the Grand Lodge of Victoria should be July 2, 1883”. The
opposition of the Grand Lodges of the Motherland will readily be understood
when it is realized that sixteen Lodges, with an estimated aggregate membership
of 840, assumed the position of a governing body of the territory, which
possessed ninety-five Lodges, with an aggregate membership of five thousand. A
satisfactory solution of the difficulty was arrived at in 1888, when with the
assistance of the Earl of Carnarvon then Pro Grand Master of England, the
United Grand Lodge of Victoria was formed, all the Lodges in the colony, with
the exception of Lodge Combermere, No 752, which still remains under the
English Constitution, enrolling under the Victorian Constitution.
According to the Articles of Union, it was agreed that the United
Grand Lodge adopt the Book of Constitutions and the mode of procedure of
the Grand Lodge of England, as far as the same may be applicable, until
otherwise decided. The United Grand Lodge of Victoria became an accomplished
fact on March 20, 1889, when Sir William J Clarke, Bart., was unanimously
elected the first Grand Master and was formally installed by Lord Carrington,
Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales, assisted by Chief
Justice Way, Grand Master of South Australia. Thus, within fifty years of the
opening of the first Lodge in Melbourne, the Sovereign Jurisdiction was
established in the Melbourne Town Hall, in the presence of upwards of 3,000
Freemasons.
The United Grand Lodge started its existence with
140 Lodges and a membership of approximately 7,000, while it was estimated that
there were also more than 10,000 unattached Freemasons in the colony. Already
Masonic almshouses had been erected on a piece of land liberally granted by the
Government and the contributions to Masonic Charities had exceeded 20,000
English Pounds Sterling.
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