Sandridge Marine Lodge Honour Board
The Sandridge Marine Lodge established their Freemasons’ Hall in Stokes Street in 1858 and remained there until just before the outbreak of the Great War. In July 1914 they sold their Masonic Hall to Swallow and Ariell Pty Ltd. It made perfect sense for the biscuit company to acquire a neighbouring building for their ongoing business needs. The Freemasons had secured a site in Liardet Street, then occupied by two cottages, where they intended to build a larger and more modern structure.1
That larger and modern building carries the date 1917 and the first lodge meeting in the new building was, indeed, held on 11 April 1917. It was in these premises on 10 September 1919 that the Roll of Honour was unveiled by Right Worshipful Brother Cuthbertson SGW, representing the Most Worshipful Grand Master
The beautiful Roll of Honour was made by Brother Sam Burston. Burston was a ship’s joiner who salvaged aged timbers from ships that were being scrapped. He fashioned these timbers into pieces of furniture for the lodge.2
The lodge sold the property for redevelopment as four apartments in the 1990s, but what happened to the Honour Board?
We are happy to report that along with the Past Masters Board from the lodge it has ended up at the Light Horse and Field Artillery Museum at Nar Nar Goon. While these boards are not linked directly to the Light Horse Regiments of the First World War, the museum has made a habit of adopting ‘orphaned’ honour boards and including them in the museum.
It is worth a trip down the highway to have a look at the museum and take in an unexpected piece of Port WWI history.
References:
1 1914 ‘MASONIC HALL SOLD.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 18 July, p. 1. , viewed 18 Feb 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91163943
2 Porritt, J U (compiler), 1958. The First One Hundred Years 1858-1958: Sandridge Marine Lodge No 21. 1st ed. Melbourne: G W Green & Sons Pty Ltd (Printers), p. 26, 28 & 62.