Ryde Masonic Centre Celebrates its Centenary: 17 May 2008

Centre celebrates its centenary by The Weekly Times Staff (as appeared on TWT 14 May 2008 issue, page 6)

"The centenary of the Ryde Masonic Centre will be celebrated this Saturday (17 May) at the building (pictured above), 142 Blaxland Road Ryde.

From 9am to 3pm, there’ll be an exhibition of Masonic artefacts and tours of the Lodge room, and a display by the Ryde District Historical Society and Family History Study Group, the teachers of Ryde Gymbaroo Centre, Masonic charities and others.

Unveiling of the plaque to commemorate 100 years of the setting of the original foundation stone on May 16 1908, will start from 5pm.

Lodge Horace Thompson Ryde, formerly Lodge Star of Eastwood was consecrated on March 31, 1885 and had several meeting places before the Ryde Masonic Centre was built.

Only three meetings March, April and June 1885, were held in a room at Moores Eastwood Hotel. In May 1885 the lodge held one meeting at Free-masons Hall, York Street, Sydney.

In July 1885 the lodge moved to the Odd Fellows Hall in Church Street, Ryde and met there until September 11, 1889.

It then met in a corrugated iron building built (for £40) adjacent to the Ryde Railway Station, now West Ryde Station. A Mrs Darvall had given the land to the lodge. On May 7, 1890 a letter was received from Mrs Darvall’s solicitor claiming £20 for two cows that had been killed by trains due to negligence of lodge members.

It appears that they left the station gates open allowing her cows to wander. Perhaps this was due to late night drinking, but the bill was paid anyway.

In 1898 the Lodge moved to Ryde Town Hall until August 1903.

In 1902 the Lodge bought this block of land with the view to building a Masonic building. In April 1907 a committee was formed to consider the advisability of erecting a Masonic hall and conveniences; on February 3, 1908 it was recommended that the sketch plans be approved and a voluntary subscription to raise money for the building.

On the March 5, 1908 a tender of £671 was accepted, which was later increased to £721. The foundation stone was laid on May 16, 1908 by the Most Worshipful the Grand Master, His Excellency, Admiral Sir Harry H Rawson GCB, Governor of New South Wales.

The building was dedicated on September 8, 1908, and the Lodge has met there monthly except for two short periods during the Spanish flu epidemics of 1918 when all public buildings were closed.

By 1921 the Lodge and supper rooms were providing inadequate for the numbers attending special meetings and social events. By 1923 it was decided not to alter the building but build a new Masonic Hall on a new site. The Lodge bought land on the corner of Parkes St (now Blaxland Road) and Argyle Avenue.

In 1925 the building committee submitted a report suggesting that the new venue be scraped and that the existing building be extended to accommodate a new Lodge and supper rooms. The cost was £2,350.

On August 10, 1926 the new Lodge room was dedicated and that is where the Lodge meets today.

The extension was modern for its time having mechanical ventilation and electric lighting; the 1908 building was gas lit. With the larger hall and a stage, the Ryde Masonic Centre then became the social hub of the Ryde district. There were dances on a regular basis and it was a popular wedding reception venue.

The Ryde Masonic Centre still serves the community today in many ways."