Port Darwin Lodge

Port Darwin Lodge newly installed Worshipful Master, Jent Delos Santos and his lodge members with the Grand Lodge installation team 8 August 2024

Port Darwin Lodge, Lodge No 41 of the South Australia and Northern Territory was consecrated in 1896, the first in the Northern Territory, with Paul Foelsche as inaugural Master. At that time Port Darwin was the harbour on which the town of Palmerston was situated and the Northern Territory was the northern territory of the colony of South Australia. The Lodge originally met at the Victoria Hotel until they bought their own property at 43 Mitchell Street, where they met until 1962. 

A more detailed history of this lodge and its founding members including Paul Foelsche, is provided below, based on historical research by lodge members.

Lodge Information

Masonic Centre: Darwin Masonic Hall

Date Consecrated: 1896

Lodge Type: Craft

District: 2019-NT-Top End

Meeting: First Friday Every Month in the Evening at 7:30 pm

Secretary: portdarwinlodge41@gmail.com
Care Officer: All Brethren

Worshipful Master: Mr. Jent Delos Santos

Senior Warden: Mr. Rohan Kelly

Junior Warden: Mr. Jeff Verlander

PORT DARWIN LODGE HISTORY

Abridged from report by W Bro John O’Callaghan April 1975

Paul Foelsche was born 30 March 1831 at Moorburg, near Hamburg, Germany, son of Matthias Foelsche. At 18 he enlisted in the German Hussar Regiment, and at 25 he migrated to South Australia.

In November 1856 he was appointed trooper third class in the mounted Police. He was transferred to Strathalbyn, a small town in the hills 30 miles from Adelaide. On 5 January 1860 after considerable trouble, he obtained permission from the Commissioner of Police, to marry Charlotte Georgina Smith.

Paul Foelsche was the first Senior Warden of Lodge St. John No. 1240 English Constitution at Strathalbyn, Warrant granted 3rd November 1868. With the formation of the South Australian Constitution, his Lodge became Lodge St. John No.15. Foelsche became Master of this Lodge in June 1869. It was the holding of this office that later made it possible for him to present the petition for a charter for the first Masonic Lodge in the Northern Territory.

During his last year at Strathalbyn he was appointed Sub-Inspector in charge of the Northern Territory Mounted Police, formed principally to keep the aborigines in order and to protect the parties constructing the Overland Telegraph line from Port Augusta to Palmerston.
Foelsche arrived at Palmerston in January 1870 with a contingent of 1 Corporal and 9 Constables.

After establishing a modest home in Palmerston where he spent the rest of his life, apart from a brief visit to Adelaide in 1884 and China in 1897, he sent for his wife and two daughters. Foelsche adapted well to the difficult environment, he set an example for the settlers, and became a great force in the community. He understood and spoke English as well as his native German, and was very popular. He became a perfect Encyclopedia on Northern Territory affairs and people. He was reputed to be a good dentist and took his fine collection of the best dental instruments available in those days with him on his patrols. He had a keen intellect, studious habits, and a retentive memory. His knowledge of law was such, that he was considered to be the best lawyer outside the South Australian bar.

At that time there had been very little penetration into the hinterland. Ferocious wild tribes of Aborigines freely roamed the bushland of the costal belt, making frequent raids on the cattle the settlers had so laboriously transported from the south, and otherwise making life a continuous hazard for the few squatters and miners. Soon after Foelsche arrived in the Northern Territory, he realised the difficulty in administering justice to the natives, so he made a systematic study of aboriginal customs and languages. On 2 August 1881 his authoritative paper “Notes on the Aborigines of North Australia” was read to the Royal Society of South Australia.
It is to the credit of Foelsche, that scarcely six months after his arrival at Port Darwin that the Government Resident was able to report that “It affords me much satisfaction to state the arrival of the force stationed here are under excellent discipline and performing their duties most satisfactorily. Mr Foelsche is eminently qualified for the part he fills”.

The immediate success of Foelsche was due to his systematic study of the psychology, customs, and languages of the aborigines, which gave him a great advantage when dealing with them.

Foelsche also had a keen interest in photography and took his camera with him on his long tours of inspections, recording the scenery, industries, home life, and customs of the natives. It was no small feat, transporting the bulky camera, glass photographic plates, chemicals and their sturdy wooden packing cases, by packhorse over miles of untouched bushland. These photos are kept in the Museum of South Australia and were exhibited here in Darwin at the Museum about 15 years ago. There was a book produced which is dated 2005.

Foelsche performed his numerous duties without fear or favour.

Foelsche rendered valuable service for ten years as Stipendiary Magistrate to the Local Court of Burrundie and presided for some years over the Palmerston Local, Insolvency, and Police Courts, and Chairman of the licencing Bench, in addition to his ordinary Police duties. These days it would not even be contemplated for Police and Judicial duties to be so closely linked.

Foelsche was one of the founders of the Methodist Church in Darwin, which was situated where the Woolworths car park is on Smith Street. He was also a Botanical collector for F. Muller, a noted Botanist of that time, who named in his honour “Eucalyptus Foelshena” a well known Northern Territory tree. In the Northern Territory there is a mountain, a river, and headland, and a street in Darwin, named in his honour.

He retired from the Police Force in 1904 and was awarded the Imperial Service Medal. In his last two years of life, he was confined to a chair and suffered much pain before he died on 31 January 1914. He and his wife are buried in the old cemetery adjoining the present Masonic precinct. Lodge Foelsche used to hold a memorial service each year at the grave on 31 January, and the Worshipful Master of Port Darwin Lodge laid a Wreath along with others including the Police Commissioner or his representative.

Whilst involved in all these pursuits, W Bro Paul Foelsche retained his interest in Freemasonry despite the great distances separating him from his Lodge and Brethren. By 1896, 26 years after leaving South Australia, he gathered a group of 17 Freemasons around him, and sponsored by Lodge of Friendship No. 1 as Mother Lodge, the first meeting of Port Darwin Lodge No. 41, South Australian Constitution, took place on 6th May 1896 in the upstairs lounge of the Victoria Hotel, Smith Street Darwin. (note no ‘The’ in the name).

By direction of the Grand Master M W Bro Way, Paul Foelsche consecrated Port Darwin Lodge, and then proceeded to take his obligation as the first Worshipful Master. He then took the Chair of the Lodge and invested his officers. The first Senior Warden was also a Policeman, Sergeant Nicholas Waters, Second-in-Charge of the Northern Territory Mounted Police.

No member of Grand Lodge was able to be present.

The meetings were arranged to coincide with the full moon, so that Brethren on foot or horseback would have the light to travel home.

On 23 July 1896 the first regular meeting of Port Darwin Lodge was held and five candidates were initiated.

No time was lost in looking for a permanent home. On 25 September 1896, the freehold title of Section 643 Town of Palmerston, adjoining the Club Hotel, where the bar of Hotel Darwin now stands, was transferred to Charles Edward Herbert a Solicitor, George McKeddie, a storekeeper, and Paul Foelsche Inspector of Police, as Trustees of Port Darwin Lodge No. 41. In 1901 using Chinese labour, the first Masonic Temple in the Northern Territory was erected, being very small. It was about 36 feet by 18 feet with a smaller room adjoining on the north eastern side to form a ‘T’. It was constructed of corrugated iron with ripple iron linings for walls and ceilings. The few small dormer windows were set high in the walls to discourage inquisitive outsiders. With little ventilation and no fans it must had been very uncomfortable for the Brethren in their starched clothes of those days.

On 7th January 1897, only eight months after the founding of Port Darwin Lodge, Darwin was subjected to its first major cyclone since settlement, and the destruction of Palmerston was almost complete, similar to that of Cyclone Tracy on Christmas morning 1974.

From the turn of the century until the mid 1930s was a time of quiet but steady expansion in strength and numbers of Port Darwin Lodge.

In 1918, 22 years after its consecration, Port Darwin Lodge saw its first Grand Lodge Officer when R W Bro Charles Glover (rank not mentioned) who was visiting the Northern Territory for a holiday, represented the Grand Master at the installation of W Bro D A Roberts.

To add to the difficulties of determining what happened with the Lodge, the Minutes up to February 1942, were lost in the Bombing of Darwin. The Register of Members survived, and has been restarted four times, with a new register written up by V W Bro Leigh Marsh in early 21st century.

Palmerston was renamed Darwin in 1912, when through economic necessity, the State of South Australia was forced to relinquish control of the Northern Territory to the Federal Government.

The first official visit of Grand Lodge occurred in 1936, when the Deputy Grand Master, Junior Grand Warden and Grand Director Ceremonies, attended the Installation of W Bro Howie.

On 19 February 1942 Darwin experienced its first and heaviest bombing raid by the Japanese. Most civilian activity ceased, and the area came under military control. The Worshipful Master declared the Lodge in Recession. The Warrant was forwarded to Grand Lodge for safe keeping. Two beer cases of Lodge records turned up at Grand Lodge of N S W, being returned later.

Masonic activities didn’t cease entirely during the war years, as servicemen formed a number of organisations to enable Masons to keep in touch with one another, with MINT (Masons in the Northern Territory) formed in Darwin, MADA (Airforce association), and a Fidelity Club formed in Batchelor. They couldn’t use the Masonic Temple as it had been requisitioned for use by the Navy. At the end of the war these club donated their excess funds and equipment to Port Darwin Lodge, which was able to resume its normal workings on 8 November 1946 under the same Worshipful Master, W Bro A S Drysdale.

The civil population of Darwin expanded rapidly in the post war years, and it was felt that an additional craft lodge was required. At a meeting held on 18 August 1948, by a unanimous decision, a petition was made to Grand Lodge for a new lodge to be formed. In February 1951 the fiat was granted for the issue of a Warrant for the formation of Darwin Lodge of Remembrance No. 182. The title was chosen to perpetuate the memory of members of the craft who lost their lives during the war.

From 1951 to 1961 there was a doubling of the population in the Darwin area, and it was apparent that the formation of a third lodge was desirable. A unanimous decision was made at a meeting held in 1961 or 1962 to form a third lodge. Lodge Foelsche No. 211 was Consecrated on Friday 20 July 1962 by Deputy Grand Master R W Bro Reverend W R Ray (later Canon), assisted by a large team of Grand Lodge Officers, with the First Worshipful Master being W Bro H K Hockley. On the previous Friday 13 July the Ceremony of the dedication of the new Masonic Temple at Stokes Street Parap was performed by the same Grand Lodge team, and the Installation of W Bro John O’Callaghan as Worshipful Master of Port Darwin Lodge.

When Port Darwin Lodge resumed after the war, it was realised that the old temple had a very limited life and required large expenditure of funds to renovate it. It was not until 1958 that any serious attempts were made to dispose of the old land and building. The Government granted a lease of a large block of land in Stokes Street Parap. Tenders were called for the disposal of the old property, resulting in two offers, one from the Hotel interests for 12,500 pounds, and the other from a builder to do 13,000 pounds work on a new building and allow the Lodge to use the old building until the new one was completed, which was accepted. The Lodge entered into a contract for the building of stage one of a new Masonic Temple and Hall complex at Stokes Street for 19,000 pounds. The E S & A Bank agreed to advance 5,000 pounds repayable over three years. A great deal of work had already been carried out by the Brethren on the land before the building commenced, including foundations. Later electrical, painting and ground floor flooring construction was performed by Brethren to save money.

It was decided that a Trust be formed by members of both Lodges to be responsible for the premises, and Port Darwin transferred all furniture and fittings to the Trust, which was gazetted on 7 February 1962. The culmination of this is mentioned above. When Lodge Foelsche was well established, it became a full member of the Trust.

The establishment of the Aged Person facilities, Leichhardt Lodge of Research, as well as other Masonic Orders in Darwin, also occurred over this time and are comprehensive subjects in their own right, but not covered here.

During 1995 the Worshipful Master of Port Darwin Lodge Bill Allom organised what the lodge would hold for the Centenary Celebrations of Port Darwin Lodge in May 1996, with John Brockie being Worshipful Master (2nd time). during those celebrations.

A contemporaneous account records:

“On Thursday 2 May 1996 we had an initial meeting at the Lodge with visitors at 5.00 pm.

We held a Morning Tea on Friday morning with visitors on the lawns of the Museum.

At night on Friday 3rd May we held the Centenary Meeting of Port Darwin Lodge with a large attendance including Most Worshipful Grand Master David Fewster, and many Grand Lodge Officers. There is a large sheet with the Attendees signatures.

On the morning of Saturday 4 May we formed up in the park on Bennett Street in Regalia, then marched to the Victoria Hotel where the Grand Master David Fewster unveiled the Centenary plaque of Port Darwin Lodge (has date of 3rd May 1896 on it) first meeting place.

The Northern Territory Administrator, Most Worshipful Brother Austin Asche (Past Grand Master of Victoria) was also in attendance.

We then all went to the Foskey Pavilion at the Showground for the re-enactment of Consecration Ceremony, at which there was a large attendance including Ladies

In the album of photos taken by Bro Garry Whistler, there are photos of attendees at Government House as guests of Austin Asche.

On Sunday 5th May there was a Masonic Church Service at the Uniting Church (now where the Woolworths Car Park is). There is a photo of then non-member R W Bro Neil McHattie playing the Church organ.

We then went to Tiwi Gardens for the opening ceremony performed by the Governor General, Sir William Deane.

After the Centenary Celebrations, W Bro Jack Hayden compiled a History of the Lodge, and there are copies still available.

The Warrant of Port Darwin Lodge was destroyed during Cyclone Tracy on 25th December 1974 along with a lot of other items in the lodge. When Grand Lodge in Adelaide created a new Warrant from their records, they added the word ‘The’ to the front. All other remaining old records including the Register of Members and a copy of the 1902 By-Laws, don’t have ‘The’ in the name.