City of Boroondara - Establishing Masonic Lodges

I lament that we have no masonic buildings in the City of Boroondara, one left in City of Yarra and two left in Bayside. State Government taxes have always put pressure on lodges in areas where land is expensive and while wiser legislators of the past understood that we play many roles, including as a men's welfare group and one which supports the wider community while promoting once was called and taught "civics" but seems too often forgotten today.

That said, the below might be really interesting and useful. Two of the Lodges mentioned below have survived, Canterbury & Victoria,  by moving to a cheaper location, but tax has chased that there too. Shame on the State Government(s) who support so many community organisations. At least the author of the below understands we're a community organization...

Source of the below:

CITY OF BOROONDARA THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
prepared for CITY OF BOROONDARA FINAL : MAY 201 by Built Heritage Pty Ltd

The source can be found here https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/media/7376/download?inline= 

8.4 FORMING COMMUNITY ORGANISATION

Freemasons also established a presence in the study area during the boom era, with the first local brotherhood, Victoria Lodge No 82, founded in Hawthorn in 1882. Pentalpha Lodge No 90, which was raised in Collingwood in 1884, had relocated to Kew by 1889, where it initially met at the Prospect Hill Hotel and then later at Gray's Federal Hall on High Street (see 8.4.3). The establishment, later that year, of the new United Grand Lodge of Victoria prompted the formation of additional suburban lodges; these were represented in the study area by Camberwell Lodge No 159, which was founded on 14 January 1891 and held meetings in the Shire Hall.

Otherwise, the establishment of local lodges has been a twentieth century phenomenon; examples include Glenferrie Lodge No 250, Balwyn Lodge No 275, Eastern Suburbs Lodge No 296, Canterbury Lodge No 312, Boroondara Lodge No 321, City of Kew Lodge No 355, Deepdene Lodge No 356 and City of Hawthorn Lodge No 363. All of these were formed after the First World War – in itself, indicative of a massive boom in the popularity of Freemasonry in Victoria in the early 1920s. This inter-war boom period also saw the first purpose-built Masonic Temples appear in the study area. This started in 1922, when the Pentalpha Lodge in Kew erected a new temple in Walpole Street (demolished), which was swiftly followed by the opening of temples in Launder Street, Hawthorn (1923), Prospect Road, Camberwell (1924) and, finally, by the unusual Egyptian-style Emulation Hall in Canterbury (1927-28). The last was notable not only for its architectural style, but also for the fact that it was erected for Emulation Lodge No 141, a brotherhood that had been founded in Box Hill in 1889, and was one of earliest masonic lodges in the eastern suburbs. Befitting the high social status of the masonic movement during the inter-war period, all of these new temples were conveniently and prominently located in side streets adjacent to major commercial and retail precincts.

When the Masonic Temple in Walpole Street, Kew, was demolished for expansion of car-parking facilities behind the High Street shops, the lodge established new headquarters in a former church at 33 Strathalbyn Street, Kew East. 

Related places

former Hawthorn Masonic Temple, 3 Launder Street, Hawthorn (1923) – part HO164

Camberwell Masonic Centre, 12 Prospect Road, Camberwell (1924)
(You can read our articles on that building by clicking here)

Canterbury Masonic Centre (Emulation Hall), 3 Rochester Road, Canterbury (1927-28)
(You can read read articles on Emulation hall with pictures here and by clicking here