When twenty-three Brethren gathered at the home of RW Bro George Barclay P DepGM on 4 July 1909, almost everything about their proposed Lodge still had to be decided. A committee of nine was appointed to deal with the practical work ahead, including finding a temporary meeting place, selecting a site for a permanent lodge room and considering a suitable name. For that last task the committee was directed to consult W Bro George Edgecumbe PGP, a Past Master of The Beta-Waikato Lodge No. 450 (IC) and former Mayor of Hamilton, about Māori names associated with Frankton Junction.
The Brethren met again at Barclay’s home on Sunday 18 July. It was there that Bro Bell proposed the name Tawhiri.
Tawhiri’s own historical record preserves two associations behind the choice. It describes Tawhiri as the name of a tree whose branches were waved in welcome to visitors approaching a marae, and also records it as an abbreviated name for a creek near the Frankton cemetery. The same idea of welcome appeared in the Lodge crest used on early notice papers and Installation programmes, which depicted a figure waving a branch.
Modern Māori-language sources provide useful context for the first of those traditions. Te Aka Māori Dictionary gives tāwhiri as “to bid welcome, wave to, beckon”, and also records the word as a name associated with kōhūhū or rautāhiri, Pittosporum tenuifolium, whose branches could be waved in welcome to approaching visitors. We cannot know precisely how the Brethren around Barclay’s table understood the word in 1909, but the association with welcome recorded in Tawhiri’s history is well founded.
The second explanation, connecting Tawhiri with a local creek near the Frankton cemetery, is more difficult to establish independently. It remains part of the account handed down in the Lodge’s own records and provides another possible connection between the name and the district in which Tawhiri was being formed.
Naming the Lodge was only part of the business that afternoon. The Brethren were told that £250 had already been raised towards the new Lodge. The Presbyterian Church in King Street was considered suitable for regular meetings, the Oddfellows’ Hall in Hamilton could be used for Installations, and there was unanimous agreement that the site in Kent Street immediately opposite Frankton Junction railway station would be the most suitable place for a future lodge room.
Two weeks later, on 1 August, twenty-one Brethren again gathered at Barclay’s home. The name Tawhiri was formally confirmed. Frank Jolly offered to donate the section for the new building, the Kent Street site was approved, and RW Bro George Barclay P DepGM, Bro C N Flyger and Bro George Watts were selected as the first Master, Senior Warden and Junior Warden. The eligible Brethren then signed the petition for a Charter. Even the rhythm of future Lodge life was taking shape, with regular meetings to be held on the Tuesday evening immediately following the full moon.
What had begun on 4 July as a proposal for a new Lodge at Frankton Junction now had a name, a place and an identity of its own. The name proposed by Bro Bell on 18 July 1909 has remained with us ever since.