Australia Felix No. 1 Our History

The events of the day were the responsibility of Lodge Australia Felix, the first Masonic Lodge in Melbourne. You will remember from our history that Australia Felix was the name Sir Thomas Mitchell gave to that part of New South Wales south of the Hume River - we now know the Hume River as the Murray River. The Lodge was consecrated on 25 Mar 1840 under the English Constitution and came under the Provincial Grand-master in Sydney. In the first 12 months of its existence they had 50 Candidates and 30 joining members, certainly different to today's situation.

The parade is significant in Australian history that it was the first parade or procession in the history of the Australian colonies that did not have a military presence. The Commanding Officer of the troops did not receive the invitation because he was on leave and the 2/IC, who was commanding the company of troops, wanted a personal invite from the Judge and when the invite from the judge did not arrive the pleas of the masons went unheard and the military stayed in their barracks.

A later issue of the newspaper had an article which claimed that the Lodge Australia Felix members, at their latest meeting, voiced their disgust with the inaction of Capt. Lewis and intended to complain to his Commanding Officer and the Commander-in-Chief, and as both these gentlemen were members of Freemasonry it was felt that Capt. Lewis may have a much shorter military career than he had hoped for.

If I may now go back a bit farther to 23 December 1839, for it was on this day that 21 Freemasons met and drew up a petition to form a Lodge; the Lodge was to be called Lodge Australia Felix and to come under the authority of the United Grand Lodge of England. The 1st Worshipful Master of Lodge Australia Felix was George Brunswick Smythe, who was initiated into St. Mary's Lodge, No. 76 in London in 1835. Smythe was installed as the Worshipful Master of Lodge Australia Felix and 'hen resigned after the conclusion of the consecration ceremony - he never attended another Lodge meeting. He felt that as he was the Police Magistrate there could be a conflict of interest - there must have been some shady characters at the consecration. It is interesting to note that Brunswick Street, Fitzroy was named after him. The Senior Warden of the Lodge was William Meek, the first lawyer to settle in Melbourne, he was initiated in Restoration Lodge, no. 128 on 31 July 1834 in Harlington, England. William Meek was the foundation secretary of the Melbourne Club: the Junior Warden was Isaac Hind who was initiated into the Tasmanian Lodge, No. 313 in Hobart.

When Smythe resigned, his duties were taken over by John Stephen who was born in America in 1798, of English parents. Stephen who eventually became the 2nd Worshipful Master was employed by "The Port Phillip Patriot" as a freelance journalist and may be the author of the newspaper article. He was initiated into Lodge of Regularity, No. 259 in England on 25 March 1824 and was appointed Grand Steward in 1826, well before the usual time. In 1827 he arrived in Sydney and was appointed Registrar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, he was eventually removed from this position. During his time in Sydney he served as Master of a Lodge and First Principal of a Chapter. He arrived in Melbourne two weeks before the original meeting to sign the petition to form Lodge Australia Felix. He served a number of terms as a Town Councilor. As Stephen and Smythe were the only past masters in the colony and Smythe was to be the first Master, it fell to Stephen to consecrate the Lodge and install the first master. Evidence suggests that he was the driving force behind the formation of Lodge Australia Felix. He also had a street named after him - Stephen Street, which became Exhibition Street, when the Royal Exhibition building was opened in 1869.

The 3rd Master William Kerr was the editor of the "The Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser", and he also had a street named after him - Kerr Street, Fitzroy. He was at one stage the Provincial Grand Master of the Orangemen of Victoria, the first secretary of the St. Andrews Society and Chairman of the Burns Society. Rt. Wor. Bro. Peter Thomton in his book "A Century of Union" states,� nothing is known of Kerr's previous Masonic background�.

The 4 master was John Thomas Smith. Smith was probably the best known of the early Masonic leaders, among his achievements were:

1. He opened the first theatre in Melbourne,

2. He was elected a town councilor in 1842,

3. He was mayor in 1852 and on six other occasions

4. And he also had a street named after him. Smith Street that divides the cities of Fitzroy and Collingwood.

Smith was initiated into Lodge Australia Felix on the 12th April 1840; the first meeting after the consecration and with three others holds the distinction of being one of the first brethren initiated into freemasonry in the colony. In 1856 John Thomas Smith was appointed Provincial Grand Master of the Irish Constitution in Victoria, a position he held until his death in 1879. As a point of trivia: Smith's sister was the Great-grandmother of the famous Gregory cricketing brothers who represented Australia at the highest level.

Back in those days the intrigues of Freemasonry must have appeared very curious to the non-initiated - and I am not talking about the Secrets or the Ritual. Kerr, the 3rd Master fell out with the 2nd master, John Stephen and was suspended, he and several members of Lodge Australia Felix then formed the Australasian Kilwinning Lodge which came under the Scottish constitution and recently amalgamated with the Letchworth Lodge and became the Letchworth Kilwinning Lodge which meets in the Brunswick North Masonic Centre. It should be noted that the 4th master of Lodge Australia Felix, John Thomas Smith was the brother that consecrated the Australasian Kilwinning Lodge on 13 May 1844. He, and John Thomas Smith, eventually fell out with both Stephen and Kerr and formed the Australia Felix Lodge of Hiram, which of course came under the Irish constitution.

By 1844 Melbourne had 4 lodges - the fourth being the Lodge of Australasia but times were tough and a lot of the population had moved out on to the land. The membership of Lodge Australia Felix had dwindled to just 10, and by 1849 Lodge of Australasia had gone into abeyance and in June of 1851 Australia Felix Lodge of Hiram went into abeyance.

In December 1851 Lodge Australia Felix installed a new Master and the Lodge did not meet of 13 months - the Master would not hand in the warrant as he wanted to achieve the rank of past master, and the only way he could do this was by being a W.M. for 12 months.

The first lodge in Geelong, The Geelong Lodge of Unity and Prudence was formed in 1847 and the first lodge in Portland, the Portland Lodge in Victoria for the Queen, was formed in 1849.

In 1839 when Lodge Australia Felix was consecrated the population of Melbourne was just over 6000, by the year 1851 the population was over 20,000.

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Taken from A Century of Union Peter Thornton

The beginning

On 23 December 1839, some four and a half years after colonization began in the area which was to expand into the city of Melbourne, 21 Freemasons (presumably called together by word of mouth) met and drew up a petition to form a lodge. It was to be called the Lodge of Australia Felix under the authority of the United Grand Lodge of England.

The small town was in the Port Phillip District of the Colony of New South Wales and, masonically, under the control of a Provincial Grand Master resident in Sydney. He approved the petition and duly forwarded it to London. For the meantime he granted the brethren a dispensation warrant which allowed them to work until the actual warrant arrived.

It is recorded that the master-designate brought the dispensation warrant from Sydney on horseback so that the lodge could commence its work as soon as possible. It is now in the possession of our Grand Lodge.

On 25 March 1840, the lodge was constituted and consecrated, the master-designate was installed and his nominated officers were invested. The actual warrant, reportedly entrusted to an individual for delivery to the lodge, did not arrive and the lodge was to receive a warrant of confirmation.

Although Melbourne was little more than a primitive, straggling village, with unmade streets which alternated between muddy and dusty and possessed neither drainage nor sewerage, there is no doubt that a small proportion of its 6 000 odd inhabitants were ready and eager for the introduction of Freemasonry at the end of 1839.

The Lodge of Australia Felix grew rapidly with 50 candidates and 30 joining members in the first 12 months.

During the 1860s the original warrant was discovered by the Grand Secretary in London among the papers of his predecessor.

Our first leaders.

George Brunswick Smythe, the first master and the horseback rider who delivered the dispensation warrant, was initiated in St Mary's Lodge No. 76 in London in 1835. He gave an oration at the consecration but his position as a magistrate for the territory prevented him from attending any further meetings. Smythe resigned from the lodge during 1840, and by 1843 had returned to England for a period. He eventually settled in Fitzroy and his memory is perpetuated in Melbourne by Brunswick Street.

William Meek, the inaugural senior warden and the first attorney to settle in the town, was initiated in Restoration Lodge No. 128 in Harlington on 31 July 1834. After serving as secretary for nine months, he resigned in September 1836 as he was emigrating. In 1838 he was the foundation secretary of the Melbourne Club.

Isaac Bade Hind, the first junior warden, was a merchant and a member of Tasmanian Lodge No. 313 in Hobart.

None of the three, however, was to play a prominent part in the future affairs of the lodge and Smythe, as mentioned, attended only the consecration meeting.

The man who rose quickly to prominence, and acted as master in Smythe's absence, was John Stephen. History has not recorded the individual who was initially to the forefront in congregating the original 21 who petitioned for the local lodge, but one is forced to conclude that it was not Smythe. Official duties notwithstanding, he would surely have managed to attend some of the meetings which were being held at the rate of about two a month.

John Stephen was undoubtedly a fascinating person he was a member of a famous family connected with the law but appears to have preferred to expend his energy in journalism although he occasionally visited the courts where, to the chagrin of the professional and full-time lawyers, he acquitted himself more than creditably.

Born in America in 1798 his mother had traveled there for health reasons - Stephen was initiated in England in the Lodge of Regularity No. 259 on 25 March 1824. This was one of the "red apron" lodges from whose members the 19 Grand Stewards of the year were always chosen. Each lodge nominated one Grand Steward, but the office was very different from the one we know in Victoria and required the incumbent to be reasonably wealthy.

The office and honor were keenly sought and, as if in evidence of his growing ability to obtain his own ends, Stephen was nominated as a Grand Steward in 1826, well before he would normally have been considered.

The source of the above is here