GRAND LODGE
OF ANTIENT, FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF
SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND NORTHERN TERRITORY

 Freemasonry in South Australia and Northern Territory


 
Adelaide streets named for Freemasons

adelaide 1837Introduction

After arrival of the first British settlers in South Australia in 1836 the new settlement of Adelaide was laid out by surveyor Colonel William Light in early 1837.  A committee was established to decide the names of the streets, the squares and the river of the new settlement of Adelaide.  The committee met on 23 May 1837 and selected names for 63 streets and features of Adelaide and North Adelaide.

With few exceptions, the original names have been retained, although a large number of streets (mainly running north-south) have since been added, particularly in the CBD. Brown Street and Hanson Street have been subsumed into Morphett Street and Pulteney Street respectively. Roberts Place has been renamed Sir Edwin Smith Avenue. 

For the most part the names are of prominent pioneers or people who otherwise made some notable contribution to the founding of South Australia, some exceptions being due to Governor Hindmarsh and Judge Jeffcott wishing to name streets after their friends. 

Strangways Terrace was named for Thomas Strangways, prospective son-in-law to the Governor and a member of the Street Naming Committee.  Archer Street was named for someone who had given the Governor some sheep.  O'Connell Street was named after Daniel O'Connell, who had defended Jeffcott over a duel, and Kermode Street for the father of Jeffcott's fiancee. 


Some streets were named for persons who had connections with Freemasonry:

Gouger, Gilbert, Hanson, Morphett and Daniel Wakefield were members of South Australian Lodge of Friendship No.613, initiated into Freemasonry at its first meeting which was held in 1834 at the headquarters of the South Australian Association in London.  GS Kingston was first Senior Warden of the Lodge.  Charles Mann was initiated by the Lodge of Friendship when it met in Adelaide during 1838.  All except Daniel Wakefield emigrated to South Australia in the late 1830's; each had a street named for him.

The southern portion of present day Pulteney Street, between Wakefield Street and South Terrace, was originally named Hanson Street, after Richard Davies Hanson (later Sir Richard), a London solicitor and journalist, founding member of the South Australian Literary Society in August 1834, and initiate of the Lodge of Friendship in 1834.  In 1846, nearly a decade after the naming, Hanson moved to South Australia, where he served as Premier (1857-1860), as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (from 1861) and as acting Governor (1872-1873).  Hanson Street was subsumed into the expanded Pulteney Street in August 1967. The Hanson Street Memorial in Hurtle Square maintains the commemoration of Sir Richard.

Thomas Gilbert was an intiate of the Lodge of Friendship in 1834.  Gilbert arrived in the colony on the Cygnet in September 1836, to become the General Storekeeper, and shortly after became the Post Master. Appointed by Governor Hindmarsh for a salary of 30 pounds per annum, his location was a temporary hut on the banks of the River Torrens. Mail was received, sorted and delivered from his residence. Postage stamps at this time were unknown, but each letter irrespective of size or weight was charged at a one penny rate. The money received was handed as a gratuity to the captains of the vessels delivering the mail bags. Thomas Gilbert managed the affairs of the Post Office for 18 months, until the postal business increased to such an extent that he found it impossible to continue both his General Store and the Post Office satisfactorily. He resigned from this position in 1838 and retired as Colonial Storekeeper in 1851. He died aged 86 in May 1873 and was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery. Gilbert Street in Adelaide and the River Gilbert were named after him.

Tynte Street was named for Col. Kemeys-Tynte, a British MP and prominent Freemason in Wales and the West Country of England.  O'Connell Street was named for Daniel O'Connell, the famous Irish lawyer who was apparently at one time Grand Registrar of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.  He left Freemasonry in the 1820's. Wellington Square was named for the Duke of Wellington, initiated into Freemasonry in an Irish lodge in the 1790's.

King William Street was named for William IV, third son of George III.  In late life he succeeded his brother George IV to become King William IV.  Born in 1765, he was sent to sea at the age of 13 to become a Midshipman.  In 1786 he was the first of six sons of George III to be made a Mason, joining Prince George Lodge No.86 in Plymouth. This Lodge, which was comprised of naval and army officers, was erased in 1828. As with his brothers, he was made a Past Grand Master. He took a keen interest in Freemasonry, joining the Prince of Wales's Lodge, of which he became Master in 1827.   His wife was Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen whom he married in 1818.   William gave up Freemasonry when he became king in 1830. Prince of Wales's Lodge members were given permission to line their aprons with garter blue to mark his accession, and his brother Augustus Frederick succeeded him as Master of the Lodge.  He died in 1837.

Victoria Square is named for Queen Victoria, who is said to have adopted the title of Patroness of Freemasonry in honour of her father, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent.  As last Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge he was credited with effecting its union with the Moderns' Grand Lodge in 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England.

No doubt others in the list of streets named in 1837 were Freemasons and, like Daniel Wakefield, never resided in South Australia.  A number of streets in the 1837 list were named for British MPs and members of the House of Lords who had sponsored the Parliamentary Bill to found South Australia; some in addition to the Duke of Wellington and Col. Kemeys-Tynte may have been made Freemasons at some time.

Flinders Street was named for the navigator and explorer Matthew Flinders RN.  It is not certain whether Flinders was a Freemason; during his captivity of six and a half years on Mauritius Flinders made reference to Freemasons celebrating St John's Day (mid summer) on three occasions in his private journal, entries dated 18 July 1807, 30 July 1808 and 29 July 1809.


Subsequent street names connected with Freemasons and Freemasonry include:

Gray Street in the West End of Adelaide, named for William Henry Gray who arrived in 1836 on the Renwick.  He was first police officer, an early land owner and farmer, involved in local government, and in 1859 a founder of the Reedbeds Mounted Rifle Company.  Gray accumulated a large area of land west of Adelaide, a considerable part of which is now the Adelaide Airport.  In the 1880's he entered into dispute with the government over plans to resume land to build a fort at Glenelg North.  In 1889 WH Gray, "an old colonist and freemason", gave the land to the Grand Lodge of South Australia for Masonic Homes.  These were not built, the land being purchased by the Government about 1906 for the Glenelg Sewerage Treatment Works, but the capital sum was preserved and formed the foundation sum of the present day Masonic Homes.  Gray also owned land ealsewhere in South Australia and in the Darwin NT region where a suburb is named for him. 

Mildred Road in North Adelaide was named for Henry Richard Mildred (1795-1877).  A lawyer, he arrived in South Australia in 1836 as agent for the South Australian Company, and acted as Master when the Lodge of Friendship met in Adelaide for the first time in August 1838.  For the next few years he alternated with George Strickland Kingston as Master of the Lodge.  He was appointed as Provincial Grand Master of English Lodges in South Australia in 1845, being replaced by Dr Benjamin Archer Kent in 1854.  In 1851 he presided as Provincial Grand Master at the stone laying of the German-British Hospital in Carrington Street. Henry Mildred was member of the House of Assembly 1857-1865 and a Legislative Councillor 1866-1873, and served as a special magistrate.

Sir Lewis Cohen Avenue, named for Sir Lewis Cohen, many times Mayor and Lord Mayor, also a member of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, South Australian Ancient Order of Foresters' Friendly Society, the Freemasons, Australian Natives' Association, and the United Ancient Order of Druids (of which he became grand president).

Glover Avenue, named for Charles Richmond John Glover, Grand Secretary in the early 1900s, Mayor and first Lord Mayor of Adelaide, owner of the Richmond Hotel in Rundle Mall, philanthropist and book collector; he gave money for three playgrounds named for him; his son was Lord Mayor in 1960.

Sir Edwin Smith Avenue, named for Sir Edwin Thomas Smith  KCMG, initiated into Freemasonry in the East Torrens Lodge of Faith No.408 I.C. (later the Lodge of Faith No.9), brewer, mayor of Kensington and Norwood in 1867-70 and 1871-73, member of each house of Parliament, philanthropist.

Freemasons Lane running south from Pirie Street adjoins the site of the former Freemasons Tavern, on Town Acre 207 at 85 Pirie Street, where lodges met in the late 1800's.  The tavern operated from 1841 to 1978, being rebuilt in 1880 and renovated in 1940.


Please email webmaster with information about other street names of Adelaide & North Adelaide.
References:

Websites:

Obituary of H. Mildred, SM, in the Register, 24 March 1877, page 5b.  State Library photographic collection: B18517
04.2008
www.freemasonrysaust.org.au/adelaidestreets.html