Central Business District in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia — Oceania
Odd Fellows
| | Historic Little Lon | |
Photographed by Dean Barton-Ancliffe, June 3, 2026
1. Odd Fellows Marker
In 1853, at the height of the gold rush accommodation shortage, he built a 15 room hotel with a cellar and a stable. It opened in September that year as the Odd Fellows Hotel, with Frederick Pearce as licensee.
Hotels were not just places for drinking and temporary lodging but important venues for public meetings. This hotel was almost certainly affiliated with the Brotherhood of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a friendly society that provided welfare services to its members in times of need. Fellows were generally men of trades and small businesses, and their presence in Little Lon would seem to challenge the long-held notion that people here were marginal slum-dwellers.
The hotel closed in 1912 and the building was sold to Chinese Merchant Cheok Hong Cheong. This part of Little Lonsdale Street was the hub of Melbourne's Chinese cabinet-making industry from 1900 to 1930
Artefacts recovered from all phases of the building's history include meat hooks from the cellar, silver-plated cutlery, clay pipes,
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Fraternal or Sororal Organizations • Industry & Commerce • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 1848.
Location. 37° 48.536′ S, 144° 58.237′ E. Marker is in Melbourne, Victoria. It is in the Central Business District. It can be reached from Little Lonsdale Street 0.1 kilometers west of Gorman Alley. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 33 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia. Touch for directions.
Regionally, it is in Oceania, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, the Pacific Rim, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: River Red Gum (a few steps from this marker); The Things They Left Behind (a few steps from this marker); Little Lon People and Professions (within shouting
Photographed by Dean Barton-Ancliffe, June 3, 2026
2. Odd Fellows Marker in the Alley Way
Also see . . . Former Oddfellows Hotel. Victorian Heritage Database
The former Oddfellows Hotel is a two storey building constructed in stages between c1848 and 1853. A carpenter, Henry Charles Wills, built a single storey cottage with a carpenter's yard for himself on the eastern end of the site after purchasing the land in 1848, and in 1850 built a similar two-room cottage next to it, which he leased out. In 1852 Wills added a second storey to each of the houses, and in 1853 he constructed on the western part of the site a 'large house stucco, cellar, 15 rooms, bar and stable in yard', known as the Odd Fellows Hotel. The second house became part of the hotel, but the house at the eastern end was always separate and operated at one time as a boarding house and from the late 1890s was leased to Chinese cabinet makers. The hotel lost its license along with many others in the city with the Licenses Reduction laws of 1906 and closed in 1912. After the hotel closed the whole building became a furniture manufacturing workshop and in 1914 the property was bought by the well-known merchant Cheok Hong Cheong, a missionary and social reformer in the Chinese quarter of Melbourne. The building was occupied by Chinese cabinet makers until 1948 when it was acquired by the Commonwealth Government. The elevations on Little Lonsdale Street and the former Little Leichardt Street have remained largely intact but a number of alterations were made to the interior and the rear during its use both as a hotel and factory. The building was restored externally in the 1990s with the interior rearranged for commercial use. In 2005-06 an extension was added at the rear and the interiors were largely gutted as part of its conversion to a bar and restaurant. The city block on which the building is located has been redeveloped, and the former hotel is now almost surrounded by high-rise buildings: the Telstra national headquarters, the Casselden Place office tower and The Urban Workshop.(Submitted on June 11, 2026, by Dean Barton-Ancliffe of Rowville, Victoria.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 12, 2026. It was originally submitted on June 11, 2026, by Dean Barton-Ancliffe of Rowville, Victoria. This page has been viewed 8 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 11, 2026, by Dean Barton-Ancliffe of Rowville, Victoria. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
