Masonic Lodge celebrates 100 years

To commemorate this, a special re-enactment of the lodge being formally created will be held at the South Brisbane Masonic Centre, 2404A Logan Road at 7 pm.

Many local family names have been associated with Redlands Lodge 252, which began in 1895 in the Oddfellows Hall, Passage Street, Cleveland, before building their own lodge at 61 Shore Street in 1921.

This land is about to be redeveloped and Redlands Lodge 252 has moved into new premises.

When Redlands was the salad bowl of the south east and had strawberries in profusion, the annual installation ceremony of new officers always had festive tables laden with strawberries supplied by local lodge members.

Flowers were also supplied and ladies spent a Saturday morning arranging colourful centerpieces.

Redlands Lodge has many historical documents from the past 100 years, showing evidence of the values of society at that time the wonderful penmanship of the long time secretaries and the social engagement of the fraternity.

(The Suspension Register, starting 1922, does not include any brethren from 252 but highlights the standards of the days; stealing cattle and adultery both being reasons for expulsion, along with using insulting language, writing an offensive letter, bigamy, blackmail, sodomy and wife desertion.)

Sadly, some documents were water damaged or lost when meetings took place at the Palaise de Dance in Thornlands, resulting in a move to the Stones Corner Masonic Centre a few years ago.

Local charities and schools have benefitted over the years from the benevolence of Redlands Lodge, which holds plaques from the likes of Meals on Wheels, St Lukes Nursing and The Leukaemia Foundation. A particular endeavour has been to support Redlands Special School which this year received an eye gaze communication device.

Lodges typically support charities in their local area but during the drought, all of Queensland’s Freemasons worked towards a disaster relief fund to help the farmers and families out west survive the extreme conditions. That fund and work continues and is managed by Hand Heart Pocket, the Charity of Freemasons Queensland, which also supports each lodge by doubling the amount a lodge raises to give to a charitable cause.

Freemasonry in the 21st century is more open to the public than ever before and is making itself visible in the community.

It has values that reflect what it means to be a better man: “Becoming a Freemason is a commitment to develop your own potential, to values that see all humankind as equal, and to helping others in our community’ and probably due to the extensive charity work carried out by the craft, more information being available  on the internet and men wishing to be involved in an established fraternity, it is experiencing a resurgence in membership.’’

While Redlands Lodge meets once a month in the evening, now at Logan Road, it has been instrumental in creating two daughter lodges that meet during the daytime, one in Capalaba called Bayside Daylight Lodge, and Myora, on Stradbroke Island.

A new banner, made by Margaret, wife of secretary Ken Rose, to commemorate the centenary will be presented to the lodge at their first meeting at the South Brisbane Masonic Centre (SBMC) this month.

Anyone wishing to attend the centenary celebration should call Mr Rose on 3206 4930. Information on daytime lodges can be obtained from Roger Brady on 3286 6625.