A Melbourne Masonic mystery part 2: The ‘uninvited’ Freemasons

This part of the story describes the Freemasons of Melbourne before they knew they had no place in the foundation stone ceremony for the University of Melbourne.

La Trobe and Freemasons

La Trobe was not a Freemason, but he was certainly a friend of the Masonic bodies and the Churches which he saw as civilising forces. The Freemasons formal welcome to La Trobe’s replacement, Sir Charles Hotham, includes the following statement:

‘… La Trobe, however was pleased on several occasions to express himself very favourably disposed towards our body, and has more than once honoured us by his presence at such festivities as may be partaken by those who are strangers to our Order.’

Freemasons and the Prince’s Bridge

Foundation stone laying events were popular and were opportunities for everyone to dress in whatever organisational garments they possessed and carry any tools of trade. In 1854, the biggest events in living memory were for the Prince’s Bridge foundation stone in 1846 and its subsequent opening in 1850. This is not the bridge we know today; this was for a stone structure to replace a timber bridge.

Edmund Finn,
Courtesy State Library of Victoria.

Catholic Irish-born journalist Edmund Finn writing as Garryowen in The chronicles of early Melbourne, 1835 to 1852 described the event.

The need for a permanent bridge compelled the Government of New South Wales to commit funds. The bridge would be begun on the same day and with the same ceremony as the much-needed Melbourne Hospital. After the Masonic Brotherhood and other Societies settled, proceedings began with Rev. A. C. Thomson, Masonic Chaplain, offering a prayer, after which he delivered the following invocation:

‘May the great Architect of the Universe permit this work to be carried on successfully to its completion…’ The Masonic response came from the crowd: ‘So Mote it be.’

The stone was then partly lowered, and Brother Frederick Lord Clay, as ‘Junior Worshipful Master’, having received a bottle containing various coins of the realm from His Honor the Superintendent deposited it in the stone, and also a brass plate, the inscription on which was read by Brother John Stephen (1798–1854), as Director of Ceremonies.

THE FOUNDATION STONE

Of

This Bridge Over the Yarra Yarra River, at Melbourne,

Was Laid on the 20th Day of March, A.D. 1846,

By

His HONOUR CHARLES JOSEPH LATROBE,

Assisted by

The Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Freemasons,

…

The silver trowel of the Australia Felix Lodge was handed by ‘Senior Worshipful Master’ A. H. Hart to His Honor, who spread the mortar, after which some verses of a psalm were sung. The corn was then scattered, some oil and wine poured on the stone, and another invocation was offered by the Chaplain followed by ‘So Mote it be.’

Three cheers were given for the Queen and three for La Trobe. The National Anthem was then ‘chanted’ by all present, and everyone moved on to the foundation of the Hospital.

Freemasons acted as officiating assistants and formal payers were read by the Masonic Chaplain, but Foresters, Druids and Oddfellows also paraded as was common practice. There were no angry letters to the press afterwards asking how the Freemasons came to be so favoured. Broad customary practice was probably the basis of the ritual at such events – and this is an area worth further research.

Finn’s account concludes with a reference to the formal opening on 15 November 1850 as the ‘grandest processional display witnessed in the colony’. The celebrations joined three events, the opening of the Bridge and the Hospital, and separation from New South Wales.

The Melbourne Daily News recorded the various community bodies and their banners at the Bridge. The procession having arrived at the crown of the centre of the bridge, the Australia Felix Lodge of Freemasons formed a lane through which the procession passed, until the arrival of La Trobe when the cavalcade halted. John Stephen as senior Past Master of the Lodge addressed His Honor thanking him for inviting Freemasons to officiate at the completion of ‘a great national monument’. After wishing His Honor long life and happiness, he called for three cheers for La Trobe, ‘which were but faintly given’.

Can you spot the 'hat and feathers'? Opening of the Prince's Bridge, Courtesy State Library of Victoria.

The Argus version consistently refers to La Trobe as ‘the hat and feathers.’ Their reporter also had difficulty hearing what La Trobe said, though his hearing improved when there was an opportunity to make an uncomplimentary comment.

The Freemasons had an organising role for the procession, but there were no Masonic rituals performed and no formal prayers offered. La Trobe continued south across the Bridge and made his famous formal announcement under the Separation Tree at 10.30 a.m. Hat and feathers in place.

Victoria separates.

Changing plans

In 1853, La Trobe made plans to return to England and his wife, Sophie, left before him. The foundation stone events at the University and the Library would have been an appropriate way to conclude his service in Melbourne.

On his arrival in Melbourne La Trobe had declared, 'It is not by individual aggrandisement, by the possession of numerous flocks or herds, or by costly acres, that the people shall secure for the country enduring prosperity and happiness but by the acquisition and maintenance of sound religious and moral institutions without which no country can become truly great.’ The University and Library were clearly consistent with this philosophy.

On 27 April 1854, La Trobe was reading the Morning Post of 8 February which had just arrived from England. He was stunned to see the death notice for Sophie. The foundation stone ceremony had already been postponed to 1 May and had now to be postponed again with the new Governor to officiate.

Morning Post, Wednesday 8 February 1854.

The Freemasons of Melbourne had also undergone some trauma. The Gold Rush enticed many to abandon the city to try their luck. Melbourne lodges lost members, though this was a gain to the lodges of Bendigo and Ballarat.

Robert Levick writes to Barry

The next day, the four Masters of Melbourne’s lodges wrote to Barry through Robert Levick W.M. of the Australia Felix Lodge 697 (English Constitution).

There is no record of discussion about this in the Australia Felix minutes and it is likely that the Masters met up informally. The other Masters involved were M. Hall Lodge of Australiana No 773 (English Constitution), Henry T. Shaw, Lodge of Australasian Kilwinning 337 (Scottish Constitution) and J. Elliott, Lodge of Hiram No 349 (Irish Constitution).

Although somewhat forgotten now, in his day, Levick was a widely respected and energetic Freemason much loved for his efforts to develop Freemasonry. In December 1855 he was presented with a silver snuffbox engraved '… in testimony of the valuable services rendered to his younger brethren as their masonic instructor during the years 1854 and 1855.’ 

Robert Levick was much-admired in his day.

There is an interesting summary of Freemasonry in Melbourne written in 1858 by an ‘eminent member of the Craft’. The ‘clue’ to his identity may be a negative one. A person of significance not mentioned is Thomas McCombie, an omission perhaps explained by modesty rather than ignorance. The four pages are in the Handbook to Australasia written and published by William Fairfax – a cousin of the more famous John. It highlights a positive consequence of the Gold Rush.

‘After the discovery of gold in 1851, an immense influx of Europeans arrived in the colony, and amongst them several brethren of great masonic experience, fully conversant with the various rituals and qualified to carry on the work of Freemasonry according to the ancient usages, customs, and land-marks of the order. Some of these brethren greatly accelerated the progress of Freemasonry in Victoria, and still continue to exercise a marked influence over it. Amongst these may be mentioned ... Br. Robert Levick [who was] ... established in 1854, and has successfully continued to the present a lodge of instruction, which has been of inestimable advantage to the craft.’

Levick died in 1873 ‘after a long and severe illness … an old colonist, and past master and founder of many Masonic lodges in Melbourne.’ His grave remains unmarked, but in his day, he made a significant contribution to Freemasonry.

The hat and feathers are just ahead of the second flag.

The concluding part of the story looks at why Hiram might have imagined he’d been ‘uninvited’ and suggests what might have really been going on.