Lodge St George

Festive Season Greetings

A wonderful Festive Season to all Brethren, their families and friends.

A huge year for Lodge St George coming up with new members, more social and educational activities and the continuation of preparations for our centenary in July 2015.

Second Degree on Bro Ben Creevey @ Lodge Caledonian

Many thanks to the WM and Brerthren of Lodge Caledonian at Ipswich for Passing Ben Creevey to the Second Degree last Saturady night. This December meeting is an imporatnt evening on their lodge calendar as the Grand Master is invited and a night of Scottish celebration is enjoyed by all.

This year the GM was accompanied by the RW Deputy Grand Master, RW Bro Alan Townson, RW Bro Wayne Williamson PDGM, and RW Bro Geoffrey Walker PAGM GSWKs.

Ben was extremely well prepared and was a great candidate. A good contingent of St George members led by our WM Simon Bell was present.

Pictured above is Ben flanked by WM Simon Bell and the WM of Lodge Caledonian, Phil Galer.

Wor Bro Dave Jensen - our roving ambassador to the the USA

One of our senior PMs, Wor Bro Dave Jensen, has been at it again - travelling to the States and enjoying the Fraternity of American Freemasons. Here's a pic of Dave with Brethren of Magnolia Lodge in Washington. Can't imagine what they made of his bush drawl and tall stories.

We'll need to rename him Dave Jetson if he keeps this up.

Welcome to the Lodge St George website

From December 2013 we resumed our original name of Lodge St George. The explanation for this is provided elsewhere on this site. Our previous site, Yeronga Lodge, has been archived but will remain available for review. Posts on that site take in meetings and events from August 2007 to December 2013.

This site has been designed in a similar way, so that all our previous web functionality will be available here.

Please feel free to comment on posts and also follow us on Social Media.

Find out more about joining Freemasonry and Lodge St George here.

Lodge St George - a little history

This post contanis some information on our Lodge's naming history provided in a recent post on our old site for Yeronga Lodge.

Background

Yeronga Lodge was originally consecrated Lodge St George No. 1152 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1915. Our founding Brethren are listed below.

Phillip William MOSES (R Wor Master)	Toowong 2306 EC
Thomas James FORSYTH (Dep Master)	Hope 1134 SC
Charles Robert MORTON (Sub Master)	Fassifern Kilwinning 808 SC
Thomas Harvey JOHNSTONE (SW)	Fernberg 1091 SC
Robert PAINE (JW)	Fenwick 2378 EC
George KIRSHAW (Sec)	St Andrew 435 SC
Arthur George DORE (Treas)	Mt Gambier 35 (South Australia)
Richard Arthur LESLIE (SD)	St Andrew 435 SC
Charles Henry DEANE (JD)	Fenwick 2378 EC
Richard Ezekiel BIDDLE (IG)	Fenwick 2378 EC
Joseph Kenneth McPHAIL (Org)	Fenwick 2378 EC
Arthur Frederick JACKSON (Chap)	Tullibardine 1124 SC
Isaac Richard HANAN	St Andrew 435 SC
Henry BAXTER	St Clair 824 SC
George KINGHORN	Fenwick 2378 EC
Henry RANKIN	Fernberg 1091 SC
John George TREW	St Andrew 435 SC
Frederick G BUTLER-WOOD	Aberleigh 1133 SC
Joseph McCULLAGH	Dundonald 303 IC
James Alexander Cadenhead BAXTER	Morningside 1079 SC
Thomas MAWHINNEY	Tullibardine 1124 SC

 

The most obvious question that is asked is why a Scottish Lodge was named St George in the first place. It has been the subject of a substantial amount of research but no definite answer can be found. A couple of things are clear however. With 13 Scottish Ritual Freemasons in our original Lodge of 21, there can be little chance they simply made a mistake. Perhaps, as Wor Bro Flynn once speculated, this name associated with warriors was chosen particularly in the months of the Gallipoli campaign. The timing is almost exact as the lodge was formed in July 1915.

Recent research has uncovered another interesting possibility.  When James II was deposed he fled to France where he established a base for the ongoing Jacobite cause.  His son, James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766), often called the ‘Old Pretender’, was also known in France as ‘the Chevalier de St George’. This, along with the believed Jacobite connections to the origins of the Rite of 25 Degrees (later the Ancient and Accepted or Scottish Rite), suggests that this could be another story to underpin the choice of Lodge name. In discussions with RW Bro Trevor Stewart during his recent visit to Queensland this proposition was discussed and he concurred that there could be a logical connection.

St George (c. 275/281 – 23 April 303) was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian. He is remembered as a Christian martyr. Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. He is immortalised in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints. His English connection is only one of many.

There have actually been two Scottish Lodges St George established in Queensland Freemasonry. The first was established in 1897 as Lodge St George 853 SC in the town of St George. It disappears from the record however in 1906, shortly after the formation of the breakaway Grand Lodge of Queensland. Prior to that in 1885, St George Lodge No 1978 English Constitution was established in Herberton and, as the English lodges did not join the GL of Q, it continued with that name and number until 1920 when the Queensland Grand Lodge was formed as a means of leading towards unification. St George 1978 EC became St George No 28 QGL.

Our lodge, Lodge St George No 1152 SC, was formed in 1915, nine years after the previous Scottish Lodge St George folded. Was there are connection between the two? Our surviving documents don’t shed enough light on that although interestingly we were not the daughter lodge of an existing Scottish Lodge but had Lodges such as Woolloongabba and Hope as sponsors.  Our brethren were drawn from a number of existing lodges.

Our lodge joined the Queensland Grand Lodge in 1920 and was renumbered Lodge St George 180 QGL. In 1921 we joined the newly formed United Grand Lodge of Queensland and originally kept our name. However the other St George Lodge No 43 UGLQ at Herberton (28 QGL & 1978 EC) had seniority and so our Brethren decided to take the name of the locality in which they met – Yeronga. On the name change we were renumbered 246 UGLQ. Disappointingly St George 43 UGLQ (28 QGL & 1978 EC) at Herberton then within six weeks merged with Lodge Evelyn 39 UGLQ (39 QGL & 685 SC) to form Lodge Herberton No. 39 UGLQ. We thus lost our name in that first year after the formation of UGLQ and our Brethren continued with their new name.

The displeasure of our early Brethren at this turn of events was something that was carried down through the years and remembered by our more senior members to this day.

We have sought to return to our original name as we near our Centenary to honour our founding Brethren and also to choose a name less confusing as we now have little connection to our original suburban location.