Skip to main content
  1. The Dictionary of Sydney
  2. Subjects
  3. Culture and Customs
  4. Cultural Institutions
  5. Clubs and Societies
  6. Freemasonry

Freemasonry

Subject
Goold, Stephen Styles
Transcript: Mr George Bates talks about the Ancient Order of Foresters during the Great Depression
Eastwood Masonic temple
Masonic Hall York Street
Oddfellows Hall Newtown
Oddfellows Hall Ryde
Oddfellows Hall Woollahra
Pan Arcadian House
Chinese Masonic Society
Foresters Friendly Society
Grand Orange Lodge of New South Wales
Grand United Order of Oddfellows
Independent Order of Oddfellows
International Order of Co-Freemasonry Sydney Lodge
Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows
Pride of Warringah Lodge of Ancient Order of Druids
Sydney Lodge of Mark Master Masons No 25
Wentworth Masonic Lodge
Chuey, James
Goold, Stephen Styles
McDonald, Hugh
Oddfellows Memorial Hyde Park
Frederick Neitenstein in Masonic apron c1885
Headstone of Hugh McDonald, Devonshire Street Cemetery c1900
Oddfellows Memorial Hyde Park c1934
Mr George Bates talks about the Ancient Order of Foresters during the Great Depression, interviewed in 1986

Browse

  • Browse
    • Artefacts
    • Buildings
    • Events
    • Natural Features
    • Organisations
    • People
    • Places
    • Structures
    • Entries
    • Multimedia
    • Subjects
    • Roles
    • Contributors
Connections
Broader Subjects
Clubs and Societies

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Copyright
  • Contact

Footer Secondary

  • Contribute
  • Donate

Freemasonry

Goold, Stephen Styles

A painter and glazier who rose to Mayor and member of Parliament, SS Goold was also a deeply religious man.

Transcript: Mr George Bates talks about the Ancient Order of Foresters during the Great Depression

Mr George Bates was born in 1912 was interviewed in 1986 for 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960 ' project. Here he talks about a friendly society called the Ancient Order of Foresters, which was active in the Liverpool area during the Great Depression.

Eastwood Masonic temple

Former Masonic hall in the Interwar Free Classical style which served as a picture theatre in the 1920s and is now used for community events. It ceased to be used for Masonic purposes in 2002 due to declining membership.

full record »

Masonic Hall York Street

Hall constructed by the Freemasons in the 1840s which had become a hotel run by Mr Entwisle by 1842.

full record »

Oddfellows Hall Newtown

Oddfellows Hall constructed for the Loyal William Gane Lodge No.5 which was one of many friendly society lodges established in Sydney in the nineteenth century.

full record »

Oddfellows Hall Ryde

Hall opened in 1869 in Ryde by Oddfellows Lodge Uniting Friends No.48. Since 1917 the hall has been owned by the adjacent Wesley Uniting Church.

full record »

Oddfellows Hall Woollahra

Masonic hall initiated by the Loyal Rose of Denmark, No 39 Lodge of the Manchester United Independent Order of Oddfellows. In the 1880s it also hosted dances.

full record »

Pan Arcadian House

Classical Revival style building initially built as a Masonic Temple it is now known as the Pan Arcadian House.

full record »

Chinese Masonic Society

Organisation launched to provide a respectable alternative to the loose social networks that were perceived to harbour criminal behaviour and stand-over tactics.

full record »

Foresters Friendly Society

Friendly society which provided financial support to members in need and promoted the moral, social and intellectual improvement of its members. The order began in Victoria in 1849, based on the English model of 1700s.

full record »

Grand Orange Lodge of New South Wales

Ultra loyalist Protestant masonic organisation founded in the 1790s in Ireland which was to spread throughout the world with Irish migration.

full record »

Grand United Order of Oddfellows

Friendly society which provided financial support to members in need and promoted the moral, social and intellectual improvement of its members. The order began in Australia in 1848.

full record »

Independent Order of Oddfellows

Friendly society established on the English model to provide financial and practical assistance to members, particularly in times of illness or unemployment.

full record »

International Order of Co-Freemasonry Sydney Lodge

A branch of French organisation Le Droit Humain, which admitted men and women equally, and came to Australia via England in 1912. The lodge had strong links with Theosophy.

full record »

Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows

Friendly society established on the English model to provide financial and practical benefits to members in times of illness or unemployment.

full record »

Pride of Warringah Lodge of Ancient Order of Druids

Warringah lodge of the Ancient Order of Druids which was established in Australia in 1851

full record »

Sydney Lodge of Mark Master Masons No 25

Masonic lodge which derived from the English trade whereby stone
masons indented their stone with marks to identify the position and orientation of the stone within the building and also to identify the mason who prepared it.

full record »

Wentworth Masonic Lodge

One of the inner city lodges of freemasonry which were established from the early years of the nineteenth century. This one met monthly at Currency Lass Hotel in Glebe.

full record »

Chuey, James

Leading nationalist and republican activist among the Chinese community in Sydney, and founder of Min Guo Bao newspaper.

full record »

Goold, Stephen Styles

House painter and building contractor who lobbied for Protestant political organisations and greatly expanded Masonic membership, despite his Jewish ancestry. He served as Mayor of Sydney in 1874.

full record »

McDonald, Hugh

Quartermaster in the 46th Regiment who also operated a private retailing business which he ran from his premises in York Street where he lived with his wife Mary and their four children. The 46th left Sydney for Madras in 1817, but McDonald returned to join his family in 1818. McDonald died in 1819 at the age of 36 and was the first person to be buried in the new Devonshire Street cemetery.

full record »

Oddfellows Memorial Hyde Park

full record »

Elaborate drinking fountain commemorating members of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows who served and died in World War I.

Frederick Neitenstein in Masonic apron c1885

full record »
By
Tuttle & Co
From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[PXD 1117/1]
(Mitchell Library)

Headstone of Hugh McDonald, Devonshire Street Cemetery c1900

full record »

On 11 September 1819, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser reported the death of Hugh McDonald as follows:

Death—On Thursday morning last, in the 36th year of his age, after a long and painful illness, borne with Christian fortitude and patience, Mr. HUGH McDONALD, Quarter-master of the 46th Regt. leaving an amiable widow and four children to deplore his early fate. Mr. McDONALD was much and justly respected by the Regiment to which he belonged. He left it a few months ago at Madras, in order to come hither for his wife and family, whom he was obliged to leave behind him when the 46th embarked for India. In respect to the memory of this worthy man, HIS EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR, the LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, and nearly all the principal Officers (Civil and Military), and Gentlemen of Sydney, attended the funeral at one o'clock this day. We noticed, also, several ribbons on the breasts of the Gentlemen, to mark the memory of the deceased as that of a good & worthy Brother Mason. The 48th Regiment attended, and the usual military procession and honors were paid on the mournful occasion, whilst the body itself was borne to the grave by a detachment of the 46th Regt. which happens to be here at this time on its way to India. The interment took place in the new burial ground (being the first there), at the instance of the deceased, who had repeatedly, during his illness, expressed a desire to that effect.

After the Devonshire Street cemetery was resumed to make way for Central Railway Station, his remains, and those of his wife Mary, were reinterred in St Jude's cemetery, Randwick in late 1901, in the Coulson family tomb. The headstone was unfortunately broken during the removal and is also apparently in the tomb. 

By
Ethel Foster
From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[ON 146/413a]
(Mitchell Library)

Oddfellows Memorial Hyde Park c1934

full record »
Contributed By
City of Sydney Archives
[020320]
(NSCA CRS 538/063)

Mr George Bates talks about the Ancient Order of Foresters during the Great Depression, interviewed in 1986

full record »

Mr George Bates was born in 1912. He was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900-1960 ' project. Here he talks about a friendly society called the Ancient Order of Foresters, which was active in the Liverpool area during the Great Depression.

Transcript:

GEORGE: In those Depression days I joined that very good Ancient Order of Foresters. Now that used to take the place of what Medicare does today. They done it for the goodness of people and everything like that. And I joined that Ancient Order of Foresters, raised to the honour of, right up to the general of it, the headmaster of it. And one thing I got a great distinction from that of getting the Ancient Order of Foresters and that was renowned in the Depression days round Liverpool. You joined the Foresters, a subscription to it, and if you had doctors, sickness or anything like that it covered like Medicare does today, and that was renowned the Ancient Order of Foresters. Even recently I had reason to be working for the St Vincent de Paul here in Hillview, paying their accounts, being the treasurer, and a lady noticed that I was paying an account and she said 'you are Mr Bates'? I says 'yes'. She said 'my godfather, good luck to you. I can remember you helping my mother in the Ancient Order of Foresters forty years ago, helping with that family and it gives me great distinction to say hello to you, you helped them and you're doing that to this day. Great credit to you'. And it gave me a great privilege for her to say that to me.

INTERVIEWER: How many people belonged to the Foresters in Liverpool?

GEORGE: Approximately, well say, for instance, if you joined up all the area around Liverpool, it'd be up to approximately fifty families.

Contributed By
Liverpool City Library
[BRN: 56334]
(Detail from interview with George Bates, from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith.)

Clubs and Societies