Broad Arrow Cemetery – Kurawah
August 12, 2018 By moya sharp
For some weeks I have been working on my database of burials at Broad Arrow. My final total is 188 with 18 headstones. Every cemetery provide a snapshot of the community at the time, accident and illness in remote places does not show and favor. The town was reasonably close to Kalgoorlie and there was […]
This story above in the “Grave Tales” series by Moya Sharp, and the above photograph of the grave of George POWELL, a Freemason, prompted me to add to her research by identifying which of those buried in the Broad Arrow Cemetery were actually Freemasons. There were only two.
That George Powell was a Freemason is readily explained by the Square & Compass Masonic ‘logo’ displayed at the top of the headstone. The other Freemason was Charles Stewart Ross MANSON. The records also identify two wives and four children of Freemasons who were members of Lodge Golden Arrow No. 895 of the Scottish Constitution of Freemasonry.
Not just a Rabble
The hordes of gold seekers that followed the gold rushes of the 1890’s were not just a rabble, although some of them undoubtedly were. They came from all over the world and a lot of them were educated and well connected. Many of them came from the established cities of Europe and America which were, at that time, suffering from economic depression and they had migrated to try to survive or even make their fortune. Many of these immigrants had been members of ‘Freemasonry’ back home, wherever that was.
This is readily revealed when you study the ‘mother’, or original, lodges of the foundation members of our early Goldfields lodges. They came from just about every then civilised country around the world.
It is clear from general historical records that, aside from the ‘rush’ that followed close on the heels of each new discovery, life in these early mining camps wasn’t all work. Once things settled down the pioneers eagerly created reminders of life in the more established towns and cities back ‘home’. Thus, for instance, horse racing clubs and competitive cycle clubs were established. They set up mechanics Institutes (an early form of public library), choral societies, brass bands, debating societies and, Freemason’s lodges.
A study has revealed that there was usually a gap of about 4 or 5 years from the date of a new gold discovery leading to the establishment of a new town and, in turn, to the creation of a Masonic lodge. This was usually initiated by an advertisement in a local newspaper or news sheet, or a handwritten notice put on the notice board of one of the local hotels inviting Freemasons interested in establishing a new lodge to assemble there at certain time and date. There was no problem with obtaining a Charter – apart from the time delay in writing back to England or Scotland – as there was no sovereign Grand Lodge then established in the new Colony that might have otherwise objected.
Broad Arrow is now a ghost-town located 38 km north of Kalgoorlie
Initially called Kurawah, gold was first discovered there in 1893 and this triggered a gold rush into the region north of Kalgoorlie. The Broad Arrow Goldfield was gazetted on 11 November 1896, and the Municipality was declared in 1897.
The town derives its name from the markers, in the shape of a broad arrow, left on the ground by a miner, Reison, who left them to direct his friends who were following him to a gold discovery he had made. His mine was named the Golden Arrow.
The population of the town was 337 (218 males and 119 females) in 1898 but, at its peak, the town is said to have had 15,000 residents, eight hotels and two breweries as well as a stock exchange. Other facilities included a hospital, three churches, Salvation Army Hall, a chemist, two banks, police station with resident magistrate, a mining registrar, a post office, a cordial factory, six grocery stores and two draperies, blacksmith and bakers’ shops and a Masonic Hall.
The Broad Arrow Masonic Hall was located at the corner of Macdonald and Todd Streets and is shown shaded in pink on the adjacent plan. The new Goldfields Highway has been constructed straight through the original Kurawah Townsite and narrowly missed wiping out the site of Masonic Hall.
This site is now marked with a concrete obelisk erected by local Freemasons in 2016.
The Freemason’s lodges at Broad Arrow
There were two Freemasons lodges established at Broad Arrow. Lodge Golden Arrow No. 895 belonging to the Scottish Constitution was the first, being Consecrated in November 1899. By the 1920s the economic deposits of gold had begun to run out and the town was being abandoned.
The Scottish Grand Lodge records indicate the lodge was declared Dormant in 1927.
An application to reopen the Lodge was refused by the Grand Secretary in 1947.
The lodge originally met in a room at the Broad Arrow School but moves to build their own Masonic Hall commenced with a Motion at the Regular meeting held on 12th December, 1900.
“It was decided on the motion of Bro. Sec. and Bro. S.D. that a sub Committee be appointed to take into consideration the advisability of building a Masonic Hall in Broad Arrow.”
The lodge then moved for a short time to meetings at the Wesleyan Church before holding their first meeting in the new Masonic Hall on the first day of July 1901. The shortness of time – 6 months – between deciding to talk about building a hall to moving in can be accounted for by the fact that the building was only a timber frame covered with corrugated iron on the outside, and hessian lining on the inside.
To help fund the construction of their hall the Broad Arrow lodges held many functions and took out debentures to the sum of ₤120 in 1901. Their Masonic Balls were a special feature from the beginning as can be seen from the news story above – taken from the Western Argus of October 1900.
Decline in Population and Masonic Membership
The fortunes of Broad Arrow were well and truly in decline by 1910 and lodge records show that a decision was made at a Special meeting on 22nd June, 1910 to consider the lodge to be in recess. Their lodge hall obviously sat unattended for several years as, at a meeting of the Broad Arrow Hospital Committee held in February 1916, tenders were considered for the erection of a casualty ward at Comet Vale. As the tenders were considered to be too high, it was decided to purchase the Masonic Hall at Broad Arrow and erect one half of it for the ward.
A month later at the March meeting of the Hospital Board, the secretary reported that Mr. J. Sallow’s tender had been accepted for dismantling the Masonic Hall at Broad Arrow and re-erecting it at Comet Vale for use as a casualty ward. The work, it was reported, was proceeding satisfactorily, and it would be completed in about a fortnight’s time.
Interesting Visitors
The Golden Arrow Lodge always had an interesting content on their invitations to and the programs for their Annual Installations. Potential visitors from Boulder and Kalgoorlie were advised that a special train would depart from the Kalgoorlie railway station for Broad Arrow at a set time AND would return after the Installation at the convenience of the members. This, of course, prompted the question of how this could be so? How could a humble lodge arrange for a train to bring members to lodge meetings?
The answer lies in the details contained in the lodge members registration book. The overwhelming number of senior offices of the lodge were occupied by employees of the government rail system. The Broad Arrow station master William J. Norris was a member as was a later Station Master Samuel Woods. Railway employees Carl August Hennig, Alfred George Matthews were members along with others described as engine drivers although not all of these would have worked on the railway. Thus, when they needed a train to bring members of lodges in other nearby towns to their meeting, it seems they simply organised one although there is no record of how it was approved or paid for.
There was another lodge at Broad Arrow called the Paddington Lodge No. 47 of the Western Australian Constitution which existed from its Consecration in 1900 until closure in 1913. It was named for the Paddington township and mine which is about five kms south of Broad Arrow.
And those Freemasons in the Broad Arrow Cemetery?
The first Freemason buried in the Broad Arrow cemetery was Brother Charles Stewart Ross MANSON, aged 23 years, a carpenter and single when interred in December 1899. Sadly he had only been admitted to membership of Lodge Golden Arrow on 22nd November about one month before he died. He was the 17th member admitted into the lodge.
The second Freemason was Brother George POWELL, a cook, who was aged 69 years when he died in May 1906. George was member number 12 of the 13 listed original Foundation lodge members. Foundation lodge members were those who, already being Freemasons somewhere else, joined together to petition a Grand Lodge for a Charter to start up a new lodge. He had been pre-deceased by his daughter Lucy who was aged only 19 years when she Passed in April 1898 and by his wife – also named Lucy – who had passed in January 1900. All three are buried together in the Broad Arrow cemetery. George resigned from the lodge on 31st March 1901.
Others in the cemetery with what might be called, a Masonic connection, includes:
CONEN, Maggie Reid. She was married to Brother Frank Conen who had joined Lodge Golden Arrow in March 1905
NORRIS, Amy. Amy was an infant who died at 5 weeks. Her father, Brother William J. Norris was the Railway Station master mentioned above. He was already a member of the Northam Lodge when he arrived at Broad Arrow and Affiliated to Lodge Golden Arrow on November 19th 1902.
RENWICK, Hannah Lillian was only 1 month old when she Died in November 1901 and her brother,
RENWICK, John was only a little older at 6 months when he died in December 1906. Their father was John William
RENWICK who is described in the lodge records as mine foreman. He was admitted to Lodge Golden Arrow on July 23rd 1902.
A Final Surprise and Reminder of Kurawah (or Kurawa)
When plans were originally made to establish a Freemason’s lodge at Kurawah – later Broad Arrow – some enterprising soul obviously sent off to England for a Masonic Bible. It duly arrived proudly inscribed with the name of the new lodge – Lodge Kurawa – the E.C referring to the English Constitution.
Unfortunately that name was never adopted for a lodge at Broad Arrow, or anywhere else for that matter, and the Bible long lay neglected until acquired by Lodge Sir William Wallace No. 868 of the Scottish Constitution. This lodge still meets at Kalgoorlie and uses the ‘Kurawa’ Bible as its Volume of the Sacred Law – the VSL – at every monthly meeting.
Bro. Douglas C. Daws OAM, JP
Past RWDGM Western Australian Goldfields D.G.L.
May 2019
Moya Sharp
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