The Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, a Friendly Society, was was established in Victoria in 1840, thirty years after the Order had started in England (1). The origin of the 'odd' term Oddfellow has been explained thus - Mutual help Societies originally stemmed from the old trade guilds, and whereas the Masonic Order maintained intact the traditions of the Mason's craft guild, the Oddfellows comprised a collection from all the other guilds which were not individually strong enough in themselves to carry on a distinctive club; hence the name Oddfellows (2).
In 1953, Manchester Unity established the Winslow Memorial Cottages at Rosebud, which we will look at later. Most Victorians, when they think about the Manchester Unity Order, immediately think of their iconic building on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets. The Order purchased the land on which the building sits, in 1929 for £250,000 and the adjoining block for just over £93,166. This gave them a frontage of 119 feet, 10¾ inches to Swanston Street and 64 feet to Collins Street, in the heart of the City. This prime location gave the Order to opportunity to erect a building which was both their headquarters and revenue producing. The architect for the new building was Marcus Barlow and the builders were W.E. Cooper Pty Ltd. The work started on January 1, 1932 with the demolition of the existing buildings and the excavations for the basement (3).
The Order received much valuable publicity for their enterprise in purchasing the site, and for the erection thereon of what was considered to be one of the City's most magnificent buildings, at a time when the whole of the Commonwealth was experiencing the very worst phases of the depression (4). The Contractor was supplied with a list of the 600 Manchester Unity members who were unemployed due to the Depression and encouraged to employ them as required (5).
Manchester Unity building corner Swanston and Collins Streets Melbourne, 1936.
Harold Paynting Collection, State Library of Victoria.
The building has a sub-basement, basement, ground floor and eleven upper floors, the top floor occupied by the Order. There were shops on the ground and first floor, which could be reached by an escalator, the first to be installed in Melbourne and the other floors were leased as office space. It was fully air conditioned with all floors serviced by lifts, and letter and rubbish chutes. There was a back-up diesel generator in the basement which could be used in the case of a power failure to supply power to the entire building (6).
At the time of construction the height limit in Melbourne was 132 feet, and the building was that height, but the distinctive tower of 78 feet, took the total height to 210 feet (7). Internally the building is finished with decorative plaster, marble and tiles - About 100 tons of Australian marble, from Orange (N.S.W.), Buchan (Gippsland) and Angaston (S.A.), were used in walls, lift fronts, stairways, stair treads, borders and dado effects. Its quality and appearance have evoked commendation, and in places pleasing effects have been obtained by mechanical carving and sculpture symbolical of the achievements of the Manchester Unity. There were 1,900,000 tiles used in the Mosaic in the building. The whole of these tiles, including the ceramics for the prism lights, were manufactured and laid by the Australian Tesselated Tile Co. Pty Ltd (8). Externally the building is covered by terra-cotta faience, glazed to an egg-shell finish with a mother-of-pearl tint, which sparkles in the sunshine (9). The building was officially opened by the Premier of Victoria, Sir Stanley Argyle, on December 12, 1932.
Less known and much less grand were the Manchester Unity Winslow Memorial Cottages at Rosebud, which I only discovered because I came across the following image at the State Library of Victoria.
Winslow Memorial Cottages at Rosebud.
Manchester Unity 'Winslow Memorial Cottages', Rosebud. Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co.
State Library of Victoria Image H32492/1717
It was in February 1950 that the Order made the decision to establish a seaside home for the benefit of the members and their families (9). They purchased a property on the Nepean Highway at Rosebud which consisted of nine cottages, each comprising two bedrooms, combined kitchen-dining room and toilet facilities, and four maisonettes each containing one bedroom, a combined kitchen-dining room, and toilet facilities, all completely furnished, together with a modern brick veneer home (10) which was used as the managers residence. The land size was 140 feet facing the Nepean highway, with a depth of 666 feet (11).
The Order took possession on February 1,1953 and they were called the Manchester Unity Winslow Memorial Cottages, after the late Past Grand Master of the Order, Brother Frederick Daniel Winslow (12). Brother Winslow had died November 24, 1951 at the age of 74 (13). His obituary tells us that - Mr. Winslow was grand master of the Manchester Unity I.O.O.F. in 1917, and since then served continuously as senior trustee, trustee of the Convalescent Home and Greeves' Scholarship, and as a member of the building committee responsible for the planning and management of Manchester Unity Building. For over 40 years he was district secretary of South Melbourne district, and was since its inception in 1926, chairman of directors of the Manchester Unity Fire Insurance Co. Ltd.(14). Mr Winslow, born in 1877 in New Zealand, had been initiated into the Loyal Minerva Lodge, South Melbourne District in 1899 (15).
The Rosebud Cottages proved so popular with the Manchester Unity Lodge members that in August 1965 they purchased seven flats at Lakes Entrance to give more of their members an opportunity for a seaside holiday (16). At Rosebud, the next year 1966, they also built another thirteen flats of motel-type construction and amenities (17) on land next to existing cottages. They were designed by Architects, H. & F. Norris (18).
The new motel-type units at Rosebud, constructed in 1966.
Manchester Unity Holiday Flats, Rosebud, 1966. Photographer: Wolfgang Sievers.
State Library of Victoria Image H2003.100/775
Manchester Unity Holiday Flats, Rosebud, 1966. Photographer: Wolfgang Sievers.
State Library of Victoria Image H2003.100/777
The Rosebud and Lakes Entrance flats provided comfortable and reasonably priced holiday accommodation for members and families (19). However, on March 25, 1989 the entire property, 771 Nepean Highway, was offered for auction - 2 acres right on the beach, with two road frontages (the Nepean Highway and Rosemore Street) was a very desirable piece of real estate. It was sold for $1.125 million (20). It appears from Google Street View that the 13 motel-type units constructed in 1966 are still there, but the original units have been replaced by eleven villa units.
Advertisement for the auction of the Rosebud property on March 25, 1989.
The Age March 1, 1989, p. 39
Report of the successful sale of the property.
The Age, March 27, 1989, p. 19
Two weeks later, the Lakes Entrance complex was put up for auction, April 8, 1989. It was advertised as the Manchester Unity Lakes Haven Holiday Complex (21). I don't have any information as to whether it was sold on the day.
Advertisement for the auction of the Lakes Entrance property on April 8, 1989.
The Age, April 1, 1989, p. 101.
The Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows amalgamated with Australian Natives Association Friendly Society in 1993 to form Australian Unity (22).
Acknowledgments
Much of the information in this post comes from the book A history of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows in Victoria Friendly Society, 1840-1971 by C.I. Watt and W.L. Walmsley (Published by the Grand Master and Board of Directors, 1972). I discovered this book because I had googled Winslow Memorial Cottages and the listing for the book appeared on the Prahran Mechanics' Institute catalogue. They have very detailed cataloguing records with extensive content notes and the Winslow Memorial Cottages was one of the topics itemised. Good work, PMI. It's a great book, full of detail and statistics and has short biographies of some past members as well as a full list of Grand Masters 1851 to 1971, plus a table of numbers of members and their average age.
Footnotes
(1) Watt, C.I and Walmsley, W.L., A history of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows in Victoria Friendly Society, 1840-1971 (Published by the Grand Master and Board of Directors, 1972), p. 3 & 4.
(2) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 3. The quote on the origins of the term Oddfellows was taken from Brother Moffrey, the author of A Century of Oddfellowship, published in 1910.
(3) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 52. The book is full of detailed statistics such as the ones I quoted in this paragraph.
(4) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 52
(5) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 52
(6) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., pp, 52-54.
(7) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 52
(8) The Age, September 1, 1932, see here.
(9) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 52
(10) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 85
(11) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 85
(12) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 85
(13) Death notice, The Argus, November 26, 1951, see here.
(14) The Age, November 26, 1951, see here.
(15) New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search
and Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 79.
(16) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 88. The Lakes Entrance flats were of two or three bedrooms, a combined living room and kitchen, and a bathroom. They provided comfortable accommodation in an excellent seaside area, Messrs Watt & Walmsley said.
(17) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 85
(18) Architects mentioned in the catalogue record of Wolfgang Siever's photographs of the Rosebud Holiday flats, http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/288239
(19) Watt & Walmsley., op. cit., p. 85
(20) Advertisements in The Age of the sale in March 1989 and the sale report in The Age on March 27, 1989. Accessed through Newspapers.com, an Ancestry product.
(21) Advertisements in The Age of the sale in March and April 1989. Accessed through Newspapers.com, an Ancestry product.
