It is probably reasonable to assume that the first working of the
Mark Degree in Victoria occurred in a Scottish Constitution Craft Lodge. However, records
to confirm such a premise are not available. The first official working took place on
September 8, 1858, in Geelong when 16 candidates received the degree under a provisional
warrant from the Grand Chapter of Scotland preparatory to the founding of St. Andrews in
the South Chapter in that town under that constitution.
Within two years Mark Lodges had been consecrated under the Grand Mark Lodges of
England and Wales, under Scottish constitution and by the Grand Chapter of Ireland (as
part of a Grand Chapter). Thus, by 1860 there were four separate and distinct avenues in
which to obtain the degree in Victoria: or five if the probability of the degree being
worked in the Scottish Craft lodges is admitted. In the middle of the 1880’s a
further path became available as a number of Royal Arch Chapters under the Canadian
Constitution were opened.
The fortunes of these options ebbed and flowed with the fortunes of Victoria itself and
it is but fair to state that, at times prior to 183, the degree barely managed to remain
in existence. Also, when it was given to a candidate in the Scottish chapters it was, at
times, communicated in a very abbreviated form rather than worked in full. In March 1889,
Grand bodies in the Craft and the Royal Arch were formed in Victoria, but the Mark
brethren could not identify a need to follow suit. The Grand Chapter of Victoria, being
formed overwhelmingly by members of the English Constitution, did not take control of the
Mark Degree. By the mid 1890’s (and the transfer of the allegiance of the Canadian
Chapters to the Grand Chapter of Victoria) the Mark was being under but two obediences;
the Grand Mark Lodge of England and the Grand Chapter of Scotland (but as autonomous Mark
Lodges, not as part of a Chapter).
Following a number of meetings, and a somewhat drawn out debate, all 10 Scottish Mark
Lodges and five of the seven working (an eighth was briefly in abeyance) English Mark
Lodges agreed to form a local Grand Mark Lodge and the United Grand Lodge of Mark Master
Masons of Victoria was inaugurated on May 30, 1899, with 15 constituent lodges and 340
members. The three English lodges continued to work and the Grand Mark Lodge of England
and Wales maintained a district Grand Lodge in Victoria until 1936.
The first Grand Master, Edward Coulson, continued to be elected every year until his
death in 1936. In 1899, at the formation of the Grand Mark Lodge, there were two Royal Ark
Mariner Lodges in work. One was attached to a Mark Lodge which stayed under the English
Constitution. Only one came under jurisdiction of the local Grand Mark. It is interesting
that the Grand Master, Edward Coulson was not a member of the Degree. In a curious twist
he became a Royal Ark Mariner Mason in the remaining English Lodge two days after he
became the Grand Commander of Royal Ark Mariners of Victoria.
At its inauguration the Grand Mark Lodge adopted the English practice of requiring an
Ark Mariner Lodge to be attached to a parent Mark Lodge. The degree had first been worked
in Victoria in St Andrews in the South Chapter in Geelong in 1864, but this was a one-off
effort and the Grand Chapter of Scotland has recorded it as the first working of the
degree in any of its chapters. There is no record of any further working in the Scottish
Chapters in Victoria. Under the English Constitution the first lodge was opened in
November 1883, in South Melbourne with that name. It has since changed both its name and
its meeting place.
