The Warrions St. John Lodge 5923 - Hesse Street, Colac

            Built by local architect Gilbert Marshall Pell (1896 - 19??) in 1923, the Warrions St. John Lodge, No. 5923 May be found in the leafy, tree lined avenue of Hesse Street, in the provincial city of Colac.

Still used as the meeting place of the Warrions St. John Lodge, the Colac Masonic Temple has been designed with a facade that reflects the building's use; classical, well proportioned and not unlike a temple.  The building is very Arts and Crafts in its style with classical interpretations.  The red brick from which it is built is the traditional building material of Arts and Crafts buildings and the excellent stone masonry is a tribute to the artisan who created the detailing to the facade.  The Masonic Temple is symmetrical and the facade is broken into three bays, a large central one dominated by a fine gable, and two smaller ones.  The larger bay also features a beautiful stained glass window which proudly shows the building's purpose not only in its Art Nouveau font cobalt lettering, but in the square and compass which appears in a cartouche above the words.  This traditional symbol of the Masons is repeated not only in the stained glass window, but also in a bass relief in the apex of the gable and in cast iron on the two gates that lead into the temple building.

The square in Masonic terms symbolises virtue whist the compass represents a member's moral compass or wisdom of conduct.  When the two Masonic tools are placed together with God as their focal point then the Masons believe that peace and harmony will result.

Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac.  The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray.  A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains.  The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches.  The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name.  The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it.  Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city.  Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people.  Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets.  Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Colac (show map)

Taken on: April 22, 2014

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/4.0, 1/200 sec, 11.6mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	11.6mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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