Cairns Masonic Temple

The beautiful Masonic Temple on Minnie Street was built to withstand cyclones. The earliest gathering of Freemasons in Cairns was at Hides Hotel in 1885. The first Masonic Lodge in Cairns, Gregory Lodge No 50, was constituted in April 1886. By the mid-1920s there were six local Lodges which met in a building in Lake Street. In 1923, a District Grand Lodge of Carpentaria was created, with members from Cardwell to Cape York. A building in Minnie Street was adapted as a hall in March 1926, and the acquisition included an adjacent vacant lot. The Lake Street hall was destroyed by a cyclone in 1927. In 1929, fundraising began for a substantial Memorial Temple in Minnie Street, honouring those who served in WWI. Architectural firm of Richard Hill and Arthur Taylor designed the new building, and the contractor was C E Stedman. All were masons. Sir Leslie Wilson, Governor of Queensland, opened the building in October 1935. A cyclone in 1956 caused damage to the two large pillars at the entrance. They were replaced in 1957 with hollow pillars, one of which contains all records created since the laying of the 1934 foundation stone.