Cooroora Masonic Temple, Former Masonic temple in Pomona, Queensland, Australia
Cooroora Masonic Temple is a rectangular timber-framed hall at 9 Station Street, Pomona, clad in hardwood chamferboard on low metal stumps, with a gabled corrugated-iron roof and a small gabled timber porch. The front verandah has been built in, and the side and front windows are blocked. Inside, the lodge room has vertical board lining, a coved ceiling painted light blue, and trompe l'oeil murals on all four walls.
Freemasonry reached Pomona in 1913, when Lodge Cooroora No. 1128 was consecrated under the Grand Lodge of Scotland. After ten years at the Noosa Showgrounds, the lodge bought land opposite the railway station on 22 May 1923 and built the temple with volunteer labour for £800; the first meeting was held on 23 June 1923. Membership peaked at 55 in 1965, and the building was sold in 2005.
The lodge room's walls carry trompe l'oeil murals painted by William (Bill) Hodge, a local fruiterer and restaurateur who joined the lodge in 1920 and was Master in 1924–25. From 1925 he copied scenes from small black-and-white photographs in a 1921 English Masonic magazine, working by kerosene light. The walls show the Temple of Demeter and Dionysus at Eleusis, the temple of Theseus at Corinth, the Choragic monument of Lysicrates at Athens and the building of the Temple of Solomon.
The temple sits on Station Street in central Pomona and is identifiable by its distinctive wooden structure with gabled roof. Access to the interior may be limited, so checking ahead about viewing opportunities is recommended.
The interior murals were created by a local artist drawing inspiration from international design sources and have survived largely unchanged since their completion. These painted walls represent a rare example of hand-executed decorative work from the early 20th century in regional Queensland.
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