Charters Towers Masonic Lodge, Masonic temple in Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia

Charters Towers Masonic Lodge is a two-storey masonry and timber building at 20 Ryan Street, facing north, with a hipped corrugated iron roof. Its rendered brick core is scored as ashlar coursing, with timber verandahs on three sides and a two-storey rendered entry portico with archways, pediment and balustrade. The ground-floor hall has a 4.5-metre boarded ceiling.

The structure was built between 1887 and 1897, expanding from a single-story hall into a complete two-story building during Charters Towers' period of economic growth. This expansion reflected the town's prosperity and the community's growing investment in Masonic activities.

Five lodges still meet in the Ryan Street building, continuing a Freemasonry tradition in Charters Towers that began in 1872. The upper hall holds lodge furniture including pews, thrones, a podium, certificates and decrees, with the Grand Master placed to the east in line with Masonic practice. Scottish, Irish and English lodges had all formed in the town by 1896, set up mainly to support miners and townspeople in times of crisis.

The building sits on the flat, grassed property of two allotments at 20 Ryan Street, one block from Gill Street, with a shrub and hedge garden in front. Five lodges still meet in the Ryan Street temple, so the halls are in active use; visitors should arrange any viewing with the lodge beforehand rather than expect walk-in entry.

The first lodge in Charters Towers met on 23 March 1875 at Hishon's Hotel, with fourteen people present; Mr Brodziack of Townsville installed WSEM Charters as the first Worshipful Master, and Charters served two terms. The lodge's Gill Street shops funded a yearly £25 bursary for a member's child.