By the middle of the 1960s, Hamilton Freemasonry looked very different from the small Masonic community into which Lodge Tawhiri had been constituted in 1909. The city had grown rapidly, and five Craft Lodges were already operating locally: The Beta-Waikato Lodge, Lodge Hamilton, Lodge Tawhiri, Lodge Hillcrest and Lodge Alexandra under the English Constitution.
Yet there was another group of Freemasons in Hamilton who did not belong to any of them.
The man who brought many of them together was W Bro C. W. “Wally” Parrish. During 1964 and 1965, Parrish spent more than a year locating and contacting Freemasons living in Hamilton who were unattached to a local Lodge. His work eventually brought 46 brethren together at the Commercial Union Insurance offices on 17 June 1965.
That meeting began the story of Lodge Hamutana No. 437.
Bringing a new Lodge together
The brethren who assembled that evening came from four Masonic constitutions and shared an interest in establishing a new Lodge in Hamilton. A steering committee was formed under Parrish’s chairmanship and began working through the practical questions involved in creating a Lodge of their own.
Even the name required considerable discussion. Suggestions included Kirikiriroa, Waikato Centennial, Hamilton Centennial, Whitiora, United Friends, Campbell McDiarmid, Unity, United Brothers, Huimai, Rukuhia, Landmark and Morning Star.
Hamutana won decisively.
The proposed Lodge still needed the support of an established Lodge, and Parrish secured the sponsorship of Lodge Tawhiri No. 166.
Tawhiri’s own records first note the project at the meeting of 4 August 1965. W Bro D. J. Forrester reported on progress towards forming the new Lodge, including discussions between representatives of the petitioners and a subcommittee of Tawhiri’s Standing Committee. Tawhiri then agreed that the prospective Lodge could use its Kent Street premises for instruction and committee meetings while preparations continued.
Hamutana’s own records make the importance of that support even clearer.
At the Lodge’s first regular meeting in January 1966, its founders deliberately placed the story of their formation into the minutes. They recorded Parrish’s year of work identifying unattached brethren and acknowledged Tawhiri’s sponsorship of the new Lodge.
They referred to Lodge Tawhiri simply as “our mother Lodge.”
Particular gratitude was recorded to W Bro G. Purves and W Bro W. Barrett of Tawhiri, who attended Hamutana’s early meetings and gave the founders the benefit of their advice and experience.
The relationship therefore went considerably further than the signing of a petition. Tawhiri provided sponsorship, a place in which the new Lodge could prepare, and experienced brethren who helped its founders through the process.
Hamutana is constituted at Kent Street
The months between the first gathering in June and the formal constitution of the Lodge were busy. Hamutana later recorded two general meetings, eight steering committee meetings and ten meetings of instruction during that period.
The work culminated on Wednesday, 15 December 1965.
The Consecration, Dedication and Installation of Lodge Hamutana No. 437 took place in Lodge Tawhiri’s rooms in Kent Street, Frankton, under the direction of the Grand Master, MW Bro John Hawker.
Sixty brethren became foundation members. Eleven were Past Masters, while the remainder were Master Masons drawn from a remarkably broad Masonic background. Some came from English Constitution Lodges, others from Scottish Lodges, and one from a Victorian Constitution Lodge. Only a small number were already members of Craft Lodges operating in Hamilton.
W Bro W. R. “Bill” Miller was installed as Hamutana’s first Master.
The composition of the new Lodge reflected the purpose behind Parrish’s work. Hamutana was not simply created by dividing the membership of an existing Hamilton Lodge. It brought together men who, although already Freemasons, had not found a local Masonic home.
For its first years, that home remained with Tawhiri.
Hamutana became a tenant Lodge at Kent Street and steadily established itself there. Its foundation membership of 60 had grown to 88 by 1976.
For Tawhiri, this was a particularly close relationship. Hamutana had been sponsored by the Lodge, prepared for its formation in Tawhiri’s rooms, been constituted there and then continued to meet there as a tenant.
The description “mother Lodge” was well earned.
Almost a permanent partnership
As Hamutana became established, the relationship with Tawhiri came close to becoming permanent in another way.
During the 1970s, negotiations began over the possibility of Hamutana taking a share in the Kent Street land and buildings. Had an agreement been reached, the two Lodges might have become joint owners of the Masonic complex in which Hamutana had spent its entire existence.
The discussions ultimately came to nothing. On 5 February 1980, Tawhiri was informed that Hamutana was unable to proceed with the proposed arrangement.
Hamutana nevertheless remained at Kent Street for several more years before beginning another chapter of its history.
On 27 August 1989, Lodge Hamutana held its first meeting at the Hamilton East Masonic Centre in Grey Street. Soon afterwards, it entered negotiations to become a joint owner of the property. Those discussions succeeded, and by 1998 the trustees of Lodge Hamilton, Lodge Hillcrest and Lodge Hamutana each held a one-third share of the centre.
When Lodge Hamilton relinquished its Charter in 2004, Hillcrest and Hamutana became the two owner Lodges.
The Lodge that had begun as a tenant at Tawhiri had become, in its own right, a custodian of one of Hamilton’s oldest Masonic homes.
From Hamutana to Lodge Waikato
By the 2010s, membership changes were creating new pressures for several Waikato Lodges. Hamutana, Lodge Hillcrest and Lodge Te Marama eventually began considering a new future together.
Rather than retain one of the existing Lodge identities, their members chose to establish an entirely new Lodge.
Lodge Waikato No. 475 was constituted at the Hamilton East Masonic Centre on 14 October 2017, bringing together members of Lodge Hamutana, Lodge Hillcrest and Lodge Te Marama in a new Lodge.
Hamutana then held its final meeting on 27 November 2017. After almost 52 years, the Lodge formally returned its Charter to Grand Lodge and brought its independent existence to a close.
The ending was not simply a closure. Most of Hamutana’s members had already chosen to continue their Masonic lives in Lodge Waikato, carrying friendships, experience and traditions from the old Lodge into the new one.
On that final evening, VW Bro John Evered GSupt, Hamutana’s last Secretary, looked back to the Lodge’s beginnings. Part of the record he read had first been entered into Hamutana’s minutes at its first regular meeting in January 1966.
It remembered Parrish’s work, the meetings that brought the founders together and the brethren who helped guide the new Lodge into existence.
And it remembered Tawhiri.
Lodge Tawhiri did not simply witness Hamutana’s beginning. It sponsored the Lodge, gave its founders somewhere to organise and learn, provided experienced brethren to assist them, hosted its constitution and remained Hamutana’s home for more than two decades.
Hamutana eventually left Kent Street, became an owner of the Hamilton East Masonic Centre and, in 2017, carried its members and traditions into Lodge Waikato No. 475.
But its own recorded history always led back to Tawhiri.
Only weeks after Hamutana had been constituted, its founders chose to place their gratitude permanently in the minutes.
They called Lodge Tawhiri No. 166 their mother Lodge.