Lodge Southern Cross #44 AF & AM
Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon

OUR PAST

by R.W.Bro. James G. Bennie

The city of Vancouver attracted a fair number of Australians at about the turn of the last century, and among these were a number of Masons.

There were three lodges in the city at the time - Mt. Hermon No. 7, Cascade No. 12 and Acacia No. 22. But none of them did things the way they were done in Australia. So one Mason who hadn’t joined any of them got an idea that he would form a Masonic Lodge to bring a bit of “Down Under” to Vancouver.

The minutes reveal “An enthusiastic meeting of Australasian brethren was held in the Australian Club Rooms, Friday, 9th Febry 1906 to discuss the formation of a Masonic Lodge and elect officers, etc.”

Chairing the meeting was the Lodge Founder, J. J. Miller. He had been mayor of Cootamundra in New South Wales and had joined Freemasonry there, and eventually became Master of his Lodge and District Grand Inspector of Workings. J.J. later became the first president of what is now the Pacific National Exhibition board and an alderman of the city of Vancouver. Also present were W. C. Kingsford-Smith and R. MacLeod Past Masters; R.H. Kingsford-Smith, A. Newland, J. H. Harris J. G. Arthur, M. Freed, H. R. Morton, M. McPhatter, and J. Ward, Master Masons. William Kingsford-Smith was the father of Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, the famous Australian aviator who met a tragic end on one of his flights. Sir Charles was just a boy during his brief time in Vancouver and later joined a lodge in Australia.

The first motion at the meeting was to form a Lodge, the second was to name it “Lodge Southern Cross”. The officers were then selected, then the brethren decided to adopt the ritual of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales, which had to be especially allowed by the Grand Master.

The Lodge was instituted on 15 June 1906 by the Senior Grand Warden, Frank J. Bowser, at the Masonic Hall on the corner of Granville and Hastings with J.J. Miller as the first Master. 23 Masons signed the petition for the dispensation. The Lodge carried on and was constituted on July 17, 1907. J. J. remained in the Chair for a few more months, then Harold Kingsford-Smith was elected in his place. J. J. was selected as District Deputy Grand Master in 1909. He was later made an Honourary Past Grand Master in 1948, Honourary Past Grand Z. of the Royal Arch Masons of B.C., and was Grand Master of Cryptic Rite Masons of Canada. J. J. died on Christmas Eve 1950.

Though a small Lodge, it agreed to put up $1000 toward the building of a Masonic Temple, which was opened at Georgia and Seymour in 1910. However, the Lodge wasn’t happy with the $75/month rent being charged and moved to the Labour Temple on Pender Street in April 1913. We were lured back to the Masonic Temple on the condition we move to a smaller room and change our meeting nights from the first Wednesday to the second Friday. The Lodge also met in the summer months until 1931.

The Master installed in 1921 was Royal Lethington Maitland, better known as Pat Maitland. He had been initiated less than four years earlier. Pat was involved in politics even then and later became the B.C. Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition after the 1937 provincial election. In 1941, the Liberals and Tories formed a Coalition government, with Pat as Attorney General. He died in office in 1945.

Some history has been made by the Lodge, as the first airmail letter from North America to Australia was a letter from Lodge Southern Cross to J. J. Miller’s father. That flight was made on 8 June 1928 by Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith.

The fraternal spirit of Lodge Southern Cross extended across the border in 1931. Fern Hill Lodge in Tacoma paid its first visit that year, because two old friends had met up after being separated for quite some time - Fern Hill's George Hendry and our Charlie Mulligan. 32 members came up. And so started our annual visits. 13 April 1933 was the big one, likely a meeting that will never be equaled. We went to Tacoma to exemplify the Third Degree. More than two thousand Masons packed the Scottish Rite building to see it. Several hundred more were turned away for lack of room. Our Master that year was Laurence Healey. He became Grand Master in 1952 and was a well-known speaker at Masonic banquets for many years. The Toast to the Ladies was a particular favourite of his, this being somewhat ironic as Laurence never married.

Our visits with George Washington Lodge in Seattle began in 1937.

11 May, 1945, was the date that Worth Connolly received his First Degree in our Lodge and he is now our longest serving member. Worth had been an early member of Beaver Chapter, Order of DeMolay. Other items of interest in the minutes for that meeting - there was a plug for our annual dinner-dance at the Georgia Hotel. Tickets were $1.75, and for that you got a live band. Members stood in silence to mark V.E. Day, and to remember Bro. Ross Smither, who had been shot down and killed in 1941.

Like many other lodges, we received a steady stream of petitions toward the end of the war and for the next number of years. Lodge Southern Cross got so large that there was talk of forming a second Lodge, because it would have taken many years for a lot of the interested new members to serve in office. A motion was proposed on 13 November, 1953, to “give permission” to a new Lodge to use the Australian ritual if and when a dispensation was issued for that Lodge. There was some opposition but the motion was passed by a substantial majority - so the plans carried on to form Commonwealth Lodge, with our Fred Simmons as the first Master, and a number of our younger members amongst the officers.

Our tireless Secretary became a Mason on 14 January, 1955, and was honoured with a special presentation and jewel in Lodge, 50 years to the day later. Bill Shippam is the longest-serving current Secretary in the jurisdiction, having taken the job in 1980.

After our Hall was sold, and temporary residence in Mt. Pleasant Masonic Hall at Broadway and Ontario, we moved into our current home in 1973.

We began our annual Chinese dinner in 1984, and the following year was held on Robbie Burns Night, with Hector Turnbull piping in the haggis in a Chinese restaurant to much confusion amongst some of the other patrons.

In recent years, the Lodge has seen a resurgence, with many interested young men joining and learning about the principle of the Gentle Craft, and enjoying our Australian festive board customs such as ‘The Flutter’ brought to the Lodge by our founder. As we approach our 100th birthday, we hope our little Lodge has added to the Masonic fraternity and the enjoyment and instruction of the members.

A final note - while the Lodge was founded by a number of Australians, there are no Australians amongst the membership today.

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© 2006-2008, Lodge Southern Cross No. 44, BC&Y
Last Updated: 28 Dec, 2007/TMC