Cairns Masonic Temple

Cairns Masonic Temple is a heritage-listed masonic temple at 8 Minnie Street, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1934 to 1935. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 August 1998.HistoryCompleted in 1935, this two-storeyed concrete structure was the third building to be used as a Masonic Temple in Cairns.The first recorded gathering of Freemasons in Cairns was held in December 1885, at Hides Hotel. The first Masonic Lodge in Cairns, Gregory Lodge No. 50 was constituted in April 1886. By the mid 1920s, there were six Lodges that met in Cairns, in a building in Lake Street. Prior to the destruction of this building by a cyclone in 1927, the Lodges moved to a building adjoining the site of the present Temple.In 1921, at a meeting held in the Cairns Masonic Hall, it was resolved that the representatives of the Gregory Lodge would communicate with the Grand Lodge regarding the establishment of a District Grand Lodge (DGL) of Carpentaria, with headquarters at Cairns. The creation of the DGL of Carpentaria was approved by the Grand Lodge in December 1923, and was subsequently formed in 1924; the Carpentaria district spread from Cardwell to Cape York, and west to Normanton.In 1928, it was recommended that the DGL erect a suitable memorial to the craftsman who sacrificed so much in World War I, and to the peace which followed. The following year, the DGL organised an appeal for individual donations towards the erection of the Memorial Temple. In 1934 it was decided to proceed with the erection of a Memorial Temple adjoining the present Hall at a cost not exceeding £12 000.