Kiama Freemasons

This year the Freemasons are celebrating 150 years in Kiama.

Dr Harman J. Tarrant, MLA, was an Irish surgeon who emigrated to Sydney and then moved to Kiama, where he introduced the first Freemason's Lodge on 5 July 1871. He was the Worshipful Master of Lodge Samaritan No. 294, which was under the Irish Constitution.

In addition to practising as a medical doctor, Dr Tarrant was also engaged in a wide range of civic duties and promoting the progress of Kiama. One of these was laying the foundation stone of the first hospital in Kiama, which he had worked hard to establish. He represented Kiama as an MLA for 7 years before leaving for Sydney in 1879, where he was appointed as Honorary Surgeon to Sydney Hospital. Dr Tarrant was very active in politics and was a member of the legislature in Sydney in 1860, and was at one time the Premier of NSW. After he departed Kiama and returned to Sydney, he became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of NSW, relinquishing that position to Lord Carrington upon the formation of the United Grand Lodge of NSW

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Mr Joseph Weston (the original publisher of the Kiama independent) was the Treasurer of Lodge Samaritan for some years from 1878.

Mr George Adams, who owned the Steam Packet Inn in Kiama and was also the founder of Tattersall’s Sweeps, was one of the early Masons of Lodge Samaritan.

In 1887, Lodge Minnamurra was formed under the Scottish Constitution. Lodge Minnamurra was not very successful and it held its last meeting in September 1888. The members merged with Lodge Samaritan, and it was then that Lodge Samaritan was renamed Lodge Kiama after it joined the United Grand Lodge of NSW under the NSW Constitution.

The original building that houses the Kiama Lodge was built by the 'Temperance Society’ (of which many of the original Freemasons were also members). The Freemasons met in various buildings around the township, including the Court House and the Steam Packet Hotel in Market Square, as Freemasons in those days often used hotels or inns for their meetings, normally in an upstairs room. Around the turn of the century, the Temperance Society folded its business and the Freemasons secured the building and converted it for use as a Freemasonry Temple, as was the usual name back then (they are now known as a Masonic Centres).

Freemasonry is now much more open than it used to be, and membership is open to any man who values charity and harmony, and believes in a supreme being (of any religion). There are also lodges for female members that operate in the local district.

Ralph Steel designed a plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Kiama Masons which, in true 21st Century fashion, was 3D printed at Kiama Library and mounted in a wooden setting crafted by the Kiama Men’s Shed. Rusty Shore, Secretary of the Kiama Masonic Lodge, is pictured here presenting a copy of the plaque for display at Kiama Library (it can be viewed near the front counter).