An address given at the meeting of the Lodge of Fiji 1931 EC on 22 November 2017 on the occasion of the visit to Fiji of the Assistant Grand Master, R Wor Bro Sir David Wootton accompanied by the Grand Director of Ceremonies V Wor Bro Oliver Lodge.
Brethren All, in presenting this paper I have to acknowledge that much of the material I have used has been taken from the Late Sir Leonard Usher’s history of the Lodge of Fiji written to commemorate the Lodge’s Centenary in 1982 and from the Late W Bro Len Sherwood’s papers written around 1966 that give a very precise insight into the early days of Freemasonry in Fiji.
I have also used information gathered from the Lodge of Discovery that gives an account of its development since it was formed in 1977.
In looking at Freemasonry in Fiji we also have to acknowledge the role the Grand Lodge of Scotland has played in this from its very formative beginnings and I am happy to acknowledge the presence of brethren from the Lodge of Polynesia here with us this evening.
IN THE BEGINNING
Freemasonry in Fiji began in 1871 when, at High Noon on December 27, a Lodge of Free and accepted Masons in Polynesia” was opened in Levuka, then the seat of a Government headed by Ratu Seru Cakobau.
Ratu Cakobau on whom the title King of Fiji had been conferred by the European settlers responsible for forming his Government, had been advised that Freemasonry was a dangerous secret society, but enquiry among some of his Ministers who were members of overseas Lodges, convinced him otherwise.
He therefore signed a document authorizing Lodge Polynesia to meet “Under Royal Patronage and by Permission”.
That settled matters so far as State authority was concerned, but for reasons which Lodge Polynesia historians have not so far been able fully to explain, Masonic authority for the Lodge’s formation was less soundly based.
It appears that the founding brethren, men of high integrity and some of them with considerable Masonic experience, were under the impression that a particular Lodge in Sydney Australia, had some sort of District Grand Lodge authority to grant a charter for a new Lodge.
It took a little time for the realization of irregularity to dawn on the brethren concerned, and before an exchange of letters, taking months to travel to and fro half way around the world by sailing ships , resulted in the granting of a charter to Lodge Polynesia No 562 in the register of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The date of the charter was February 1, 1875.
Four months before this, an event of major significance in Fiji’s History had taken place.
On October 10, 1874, Ratu Cakabau and his fellow chiefs ceded all the islands of the Group to Queen Victoria, her heirs and successors, Levuka became the capital of the new British colony, but the Governor and his advisers realized the handicap arising from a harbor of limited size and the lack of room for expansion on the small hilly island of Ovalau.
They looked for an alternative site for the capital and the choice eventually fell on Suva, on the island of Viti Levu.
Suva was proclaimed the capital in 1877 and work began on the construction of roads and Government buildings in preparation for the official move from Levuka in1882.
The Lodge of Polynesia has played a significant role in the Levuka community since its establishment and has given freely to many worthy causes on the island over the years.
Unfortunately during the George Speight coup in 2000 the magnificent Lodge Polynesia premises with its wood paneled walls, gas lights, all its furniture and memorabilia were destroyed by fire by rebels. The Lodge of Fiji immediately offered its premises in Suva for the Lodge of Polynesia to hold meetings and since the loss of their temple Lodge Polynesia has continued to meet in this Lodge. This I think exemplifies the brotherly love and affection and the strong bonds between English and Scottish brethren throughout Fiji.
THE LODGE OF FIJI 1931EC
By 1877, the new capital already had a Masonic Lodge in the making. On July 12, 1881 the United Grand Lodge of England had issued a warrant for the establishment of the Lodge of Fiji 1931 at “Suva Na Viti Levu in the colony of Fiji”
The Warrant was signed and sealed by the Grand Master, MW Bro Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward the VII, You can see the warrant proudly hanging on the wall of the Lodge on my left. (Point to the Warrant).
The new Lodge met for the first time on May 2 1882. In all twenty brethren attended that first meeting, representing eleven different English, Scottish and Irish Constitutions.
At the initial meeting, in addition to the Warrant from Grand Lodge, two dispensations, now framed and hanging in the Lodge refectory were read.
One reduced to seven days the obligatory lapse of time between the conferment of successive degrees on a candidate.
It is interesting to note that possibly with this authority “In the first three years of existence the Lodge conferred 113 degrees” such it seems was the enthusiasm of candidates to join. The level of fees charged is also interesting to note. The initiation fee was fixed at ten guineas ($21.00 in decimal currency). Residents paid six shillings a month and country members nine shillings a quarter. From these subscriptions, one shilling a month for each member went to Grand Lodge in London.
The second permitted the wearing of Masonic clothing at Divine Service, at the funeral of a brother who had expressed a wish for Masonic burial, and at the laying of the foundation stone of a public building erected for “pious or charitable purposes”.
The brethren interpreted this dispensation somewhat liberally and that night appeared in full regalia at a ball to celebrate the birth of the new Lodge. For a considerable time the brethren of the Lodge of Fiji continued to appear in public in Masonic clothing, particularly at Masonic Balls, at special funeral services and at funerals of distinguished brethren. The last such occasion appears to have been in 1938.
OTHER ENGLISH LODGES IN FIJI
Following the establishment of the Lodge of Fiji four more English constitution lodges were established during the next 35 years, bringing the number of working English Constitution Lodges to five by 2014. Unfortunately with changing social patterns this number has now reduced to 2, operative English Constitution Lodges now working in Fiji.
The Rewa Lodge of Viti 2238 EC quickly followed and it held its first meeting on 21 July 1888 in the presence of 24 members and 3 visitors. It was based at Nausori, some 20k from Suva where the Nausori (Suva) airport is now located. Its initial membership was targeted at the settlers in that area and was later strongly supported by employees of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, as sugar became the main stay of the Fiji economy. Indeed the sugar industry played a big part in the spread of Freemasonry in Fiji to the main cane growing district in the Westren Districts of Viti Levu in the early 1900s.
The Rewa Lodge received strong initial support but with the decline of sugar cane farming in the area and closing of the sugar mill, and with a subsequent decline in membership, it with the approval of the Lodge of Fiji, held all meetings in the Lodge of Fiji premises from 13 January 1951.
Its membership continued to decline following the 1987 Coup, and further coups in 2000 and 2006 that saw many local citizens and expatriates across the public and private sectors leave Fiji, and unfortunately this included some Lodge members.
With this background the few remaining members and with the support of the Grand Inspector decided that the Lodge should be closed (rather than have it struck off) and the last meeting of the Lodge was held on 3 November 2007 with a total of 19 brethren, being four members and 15 visitors. The last meeting was a celebration of the Masonic love and affection brethren had enjoyed with the Lautoka Lodge brethren, both present and past, over many years.
The Lodge of Lautoka 3354EC was consecrated in 1908 and had strong membership through until the early 1970s as it received excellent support from employees of the then Colonial Sugar Refining Co (that I mentioned earlier) and expatriates in general. With the withdrawal from Fiji of CSR in the mid1970s support for the Lodge collapsed and it went into decline. By the mid1980s it was failing to meet and the last known Installation was held in 1987, the year of Fiji’s first Coup.
The Lodge then failed to meet for some years although attempts were made to hold meetings, when enthusiastic brethren moved to revive the Lodge. Advertisements were placed in newspapers advertising for brethren interested in reviving the Lodge and soon a mix of expatriate and local brethren were found to support a proposal to Grand Lodge to revive the Lautoka Lodge. Fortunately the Lodge had not been struck off and with Grand Lodge support and the issue of a new warrant the first meetings were held in 1996 with an Installation that year when W Bro Ian Simpson was installed.
In 2008 an application was made to Grand Lodge for a Centenary Warrant which Grand Lodge declined to issue as they were not satisfied that Lautoka Lodge had met continuously for 100 years. Unfortunately during the years it had not met regularly all Lodge records were lost and the only surviving record is the Attendance Register that is incomplete.
Representations to Grand Lodge continued for several years but it would not change its stand, and much to the disappointment of brethren the Lodge does not have a Centenary Warrant which would have been a significant moral boost to brethren as we continue to strive to keep Freemasonry alive in this isolated part of the world.
The old Lodge building in Lautoka had become derelict and in reviving Lodge Lautoka a key requirement of the brethren was that the Lodge should transfer its meeting place from Lautoka to Nadi (where the international airport is) as this was where the large majority of brethren lived. Because of Nadi’s central location in Tourism, Fiji’s largest industry, it was seen Nadi would be where it could draw most support, from both the local community and tourists who were seen as an excellent source of visitors. With this decision to move to Nadi the Lodge’s premises in Lautoka were no longer required.
Discussions were held with the Methodist Church in Lautoka and the vacant property was sold to the Church in 2003 for $44,250 that at the time was seen as a good price. The old wooden building was donated to the Western Crippled Children Society
The other feature of the revival of Lautoka Lodge was the mode of dress and time for meetings.
It was decided to do away with tradition, and formal dress would no longer be required and brethren could dress in work clothes, ie smartly dressed in long trousers and collared shirt and no tie (short or long sleeved) as it was thought this mode of dress would attract more visitors and brethren. Bula shirts, knitted golf shirts, T shirts and sandals being expressly prohibited. Grand Lodge approved the change.
Worth recording during the 2008 Coup, a meeting of Lodge Lautoka was being held on Denarau Island. It was interrupted and closed down by the Nadi police who had received reports from villagers that blood was being drunk at the meeting. The brethren, some 18 in all, were taken to the Nadi Police Station where they were held until the early hours of the morning, when a call to the Attorney General resulted in the immediate release of all brethren. Brethren are sincerely grateful to the Attorney General for his intervention.
An aside to this story is that the “prisoners” were probably the envy of all other prison inmates in Fiji when they were fed Big Macs and Coke as one of the brethren W Bro Marc McElrath (who is here with us tonight) whose family is the owner of McDonalds Restaurants in Fiji. A phone call through to his partner provided the nourishment brethren required. The incident was reported on BBC World News, although it is hardly the publicity Fiji and the Craft desires.
Lautoka Lodge has since purchased a ¼ acre lot of land at a cost of $175,000 and with financial support from Lodge of Fiji is now in the final stages of planning their new Lodge premises that it is planned to have completed and dedicated in 2018 as part of the Tercentenary celebrations.
Details of the decline of the Ba Lodge of Fiji 4883 EC are sketchy.
Like Lautoka Lodge it relied almost entirely on CSR employees for its membership base and this suffered for the same reasons as Lautoka Lodge into the 1970s.
Brethren from the Lodge of Fiji visited the Lodge around 1975. The building was derelict being open to the elements. It had been stripped of all furniture and Masonic ornamentation except for the tracing boards which had rotted and were brought back to Suva and eventually burnt as they were of no further use because of their poor condition.
It is understood the Lodge was struck off in the 1970s.
Lodge Navua 3739 EC was established in Navua near Pacific Harbour (where you drove through on Monday in coming to Suva) and held its first meeting on 19 August 1914. Navua was then a sugar-growing and milling centre, access being by ship. Again the Lodges support came from the sugar industry in that area, and with the collapse of the industry and the closure of the sugar mill, the Lodge held its last meeting on 27 November 1920, when there were 15 subscribing members.
There are two non-surviving Lodges in Fiji that were granted warrants, but the lodges were never consecrated. These are the:
Lodge Vanua Levu 2713EC named after the second largest island of the Fiji Group that was to have met in Labasa. The Lodge was never consecrated.
In 1902, 9 brethren petitioned to form Lodge Thiele No 2953 EC that was to meet in Lautoka and was named after the “outstanding Freemason in Fiji at the turn of the century”. The Lodge was never consecrated.
I now turn to Vanuatu where the Lodge of Discovery 8737 EC was dedicated in 1977 and has met in Port Vila since, although not without incident. And I am pleased to see Lodge of Discovery brethren are here with us this evening.
The Lodge has around 30/35 members with up to 20 members regularly attending meetings. Numbers over the years have remained at about this same level. The Lodge recruits well and receives a steady flow of candidates from both the local and expatriate communities.
Its rented building in Port Vila had served the Lodge well until sadly it was destroyed by fire following the deranged work of an arsonist in April 2002, who had a private grudge against one of the Lodge brethren that had nothing to do with Freemasonry. Unfortunately he decided to take his anger out on the Lodge rather than the brother involved and so the Lodge suffered.
A worthy Past Master W Bro George Vasiliev came to the Lodge’s rescue and generously donated land for a new Lodge and a new Lodge building was built with generous assistance from many brethren.
The new Lodge was dedicated on 12 March 2005 by The Grand Inspector with some 50 brethren present including visitors from New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
From its beginnings the Lodge has become noted for the sumptuous repast it offers in the South with a three course meal and fine French wines which is the envy of other Lodges in the South West Pacific Group.
The Lodge is now very well established with a 41 year history and looks forward with confidence to its future. VW Bro McDonald our Grand Inspector is a past master of the Lodge being its 7th master.
This address is about Freemasonry in the South West Pacific, and not just about English Lodges.
In this respect Scottish Freemasonry has played a strong part.
I have already mentioned the establishment of the Scottish Constitution Lodge of Polynesia in 1871 as the first Masonic lodge in Fiji.
There has been an existing Scottish Constitution Royal Arch chapter in Fiji since 1899, the Loloma Royal Arch Chapter NO 261 SC that meets in Suva.
This Scottish Chapter was formed in 1899 and whilst it appears from the sparse records available that it had reasonable attendance through until the late 1960s it has since then struggled for survival with numbers at meetings being as low as 5 and up to the occasional 8 or 9, with Dispensations from the Grand Superintendant of Workings being a regular necessity. This position remains unchanged and its longer term future must be in doubt.
Thus with a Scottish Chapter in Fiji most Royal Arch Masons in Fiji are Scottish Royal Arch masons. There are no records or know reasons why we have a Scottish Chapter and not an English Chapter.
The Lautoka Royal Arch Chapter 463 SC was constituted on 20 November 1919 under the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It struggled for attendance from its early days and is thought to have continued to meet until the late 1970s and it is understood to have collapsed in the early 1980s.
Brethren, that completes my brief summary of Freemasonry in the South West Pacific. There could be more about Samoa, American Samoa, the Solomon Islands and PNG, but that I think should be the subject of another paper.
Thank you brethren, I trust you have found this paper interesting and it has given you a brief insight into the beginnings of Freemasonry in Fiji and Vanuatu.
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Delivered by: W Bro Andrew Naigulevu
Prepared by: VW Bro Ross McDonald
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