IOOF Building (Adelaide)

Last updated April 08, 2019

IOOF Building may refer to two buildings in the centre of the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The first was built in the late 19th century and was demolished in the early-mid 1960s. As a result of this, the second was built as a "replacement" in the mid 1960s.

Adelaide city centre is the innermost locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "The City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Adelaide. The locality is split into two key geographical distinctions: the city "square mile", bordered by North, East, South and West Terraces; and the section of the parklands south of the River Torrens which separates the built up part of the city from the surrounding suburbs and North Adelaide.

South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres (379,725 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, and fifth largest by population. It has a total of 1.7 million people, and its population is the second most highly centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital, Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second largest centre, has a population of 28,684.

11-13 Flinders Street

The first "Headquarters" of the Grand Lodge of South Australia of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF)^[1] was located in Flinders Street, just east of Victoria Square, in the Adelaide city centre.

Flinders Street is a main street in the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia. It was the location of Flinders St School of Music, a campus of TAFE, but has been closed in the last decade. It is named after the navigator and cartographer Captain Matthew Flinders.

Victoria Square, also known as Tarntanyangga or Tarndanyangga, is a public square in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. The area was named "Victoria Square" by the Street Naming Committee on 23 May 1837, after Princess Victoria, then heir presumptive of the British throne. Less than a month later the King died and Victoria became Queen. The Kaurna people know the area as Tarndanyangga, "The Dreaming Place of the Red Kangaroo". In line with the Adelaide City Council's recognition of Kaurna country, the area is officially referred to as Victoria Square/Tarndanyangga. The square was upgraded in 2014, new lighting was added and the fountain was moved from the northern end to the southern tip of the square. During the Christmas period, it is traditional for a 24.5 m high Christmas tree to be erected in the northern part of the square.

It was a narrow 2 storey building of unremarkable external appearance. Upstairs was the Grand Lodge's meeting room, with an impressive polished jarrah floor, and was accessed by an imposing jarrah staircase. Downstairs were the offices of the Grand Lodge.

At the time, the Grand Lodge of South Australia ran a number of businesses supporting the aims of a fraternal organisation and friendly society providing services for its members:

The major business was a non-profit voluntary health insurance fund for Lodge members and their families; this was before the days of the Australian version of Medicare when there was no compulsory universal health insurance. The Grand Lodge ran NHSA Branch No.2 (National Health Services Association).
Sick and Funeral Fund - an insurance fund which paid benefits to contributors (or their beneficiaries) on production of evidence of sickness or death.
Funeral Benefit Fund
Endowment Assurance Fund - a type of maturing investment popular at the time.
The Lodge was also associated with the FSMA (Friendly Societies' Medical Association, now trading as "National Pharmacies"^[2]) which ran (and still does run) a chain of Chemist shops (pharmacies), mainly in the Adelaide metropolitan area, but also in a number of South Australia's regional centres, and recently, interstate.

Medicare is the publicly funded universal health care system in Australia. Operated by the Department of Human Services, Medicare is the primary funder of health care in Australia, funding primary health care for Australian citizens and permanent residents including Norfolk Island. Residents are entitled to a rebate for treatment from medical practitioners, eligible midwives, nurse practitioners and allied health professionals who have been issued a Medicare provider number, and can also obtain free treatment in public hospitals. The plan was introduced in 1975 by the Whitlam Government as Medibank, and was limited to paying customers only in 1976 by the Fraser Government. Hawke reintroduced universal health care in 1984 as Medicare.

In the 1960s, the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to build a new South Australian office on the corner of Flinders Street and Victoria Square, on land occupied by the buildings at 1-9 Flinders Street, and also on the lane between 9 & 11 Flinders Street. The IOOF Building was acquired by the Reserve Bank, the building was demolished, and the site turned into a lane.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is the country's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had that role since 14 January 1960, when the Reserve Bank Act 1959 removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank.

The Grand Lodge moved to the basement of "Bowmans Building" in King William Street, purchased land at 47 Gawler Place, and commenced construction of a new office building. The new building was not to contain a Lodge meeting room; a much larger ex-Freemasons' meeting room in Castle Street, Parkside was purchased, renovated, and became the new meeting room of the Grand Lodge of South Australia.

King William Street is the part of a major arterial road that traverses the CBD and centre of Adelaide. It was named by the Street Naming Committee on 23 May 1837 after King William IV, the then reigning monarch, who died within a month. King William Street is approximately 40 metres (130 ft) wide, and is the widest main street of all the Australian State capital cities, which are significantly narrower by comparison. It is historically considered one of Adelaide's high streets, for its focal point of businesses, shops and other prominent establishments.

Gawler Place is a major laneway in the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It extends from North Terrace to Wakefield Street, approximately midway between King William Street and Pulteney Street.

Parkside, South Australia Suburb of Adelaide, South Australia

Parkside is an inner southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Unley.

47 Gawler Place

As a result of the demolition of 11-13 Flinders Street, the Grand Lodge of South Australia of the IOOF^[1] purchased 47 Gawler Place in the 1960s, and built a six storey office building with a basement and a caretaker's flat on the seventh level. The Grand Lodge's various businesses were located on the ground, first and fifth (top) floors (levels 1, 2 and 6), and the other space was let, providing the Grand Lodge with income.

The building was opened by SA Premier Sir Thomas Playford in 1963.

In 1975, the Whitlam government introduced Medicare (then named "Medibank"), and the roles of voluntary health insurance funds changed dramatically. As in Britain with the introduction of universal health insurance in the 1940s, voluntary health insurance fund membership dropped to a fraction of former numbers, and the friendly societies had to reduce the size of their businesses and concentrate on other forms of services for their members. As in Britain, these were generally investment services, insurance services, and provision of aged care facilities (colloquially known as "Old Folks Homes").

When the Grand Lodge of Victoria registered "IOOF" as its trading name, the Grand Lodge of South Australia changed its trading name to IOOF(SA).

Subsequently, with the increasing focus on investment services, on 29 May 2007, IOOF(SA) demutualized and changed its trading name to "KeyInvest".^[1]

50th Anniversary

In 2013 the Grand Lodge and KeyInvest celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of the building. In recent years there have been many changes to the building. The lifts have been refurbished and now also serve the 7th level of the building. A Lodge meeting room has been constructed at the rear of the ground floor. (And less interesting, but no less expensive additions like toilets for the disabled, have been added.)

"Claridge House", the head office of the FSMA Adelaide-FSMA-Sep08.jpg — "Claridge House", the head office of the FSMA

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References

Digance, R. History of the Grand Lodge of South Australia Independent Order of Odd Fellows

1 2 3 IOOF(SA), home page.
↑ About Us, National Pharmacies / FSMA.
↑ Prior to IOOF(SA) renaming to "KeyInvest", the four square signs next to the windows of the 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd floors displayed the letters I O O F in a black sans-serif font on a white background.
↑ Claridge House is located almost opposite the IOOF Building in Gawler Place

Coordinates: 34°55′24″S138°36′07″E / 34.92329°S 138.60189°E / -34.92329; 138.60189

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[IOOFSA-1] 1 2 3 IOOF(SA), home page.

[FSMA-2] About Us, National Pharmacies / FSMA.

[3] Prior to IOOF(SA) renaming to "KeyInvest", the four square signs next to the windows of the 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd floors displayed the letters I O O F in a black sans-serif font on a white background.

[4] Claridge House is located almost opposite the IOOF Building in Gawler Place