The Magdalene Laundries were despicable & I was reminded of them when reading about Ballarat Female Refuge & Ballarat Asylum in Victoria. This history is very intriguing & reveals how 'philanthropy' began to take advantage of the disadvantaged & was tied to Masonic Interests.

The Magdalene Laundries Ireland, aka Magdalene asylums, were institutions usually run by Roman Catholic orders, which operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. They were run ostensibly to house "fallen women", an estimated 30,000 of whom were confined in Ireland.

In 1993, a mass grave containing 155 corpses were uncovered in the convent grounds of one of the laundries.This led to media revelations about the operations of the secretive institutions. A formal state apology in 2013, led to a £50 million compensation scheme for survivors.

In Ireland only Protestant women were accepted to the laundries, founded in 1765 by Lady Arabella Denny. Ireland's Catholic run Magdalene asylums lasted longest. Ireland's laundries were quietly supported by the state, and operated by religious groups for more than 200 years.

Andrea Parrot and Nina Cummings wrote, "The cost of violence, oppression, and brutalization of women is enormous" and in their struggle to survive, the inmates suffered not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally.

The Protestant Magdalen Hospital London (1758) was a model for both Carlton Refuge (1856) & Geelong Refuge (1865), as well as *Ballarat Female Refuge* (1867). Catholic/French refuges were precursors for Abbotsford, Melb (1863).

Freemasonry in Ballarat
*French lodge 'Rameau Or Elensis' was meeting at Ballinguly Hotel @ Black Hill around 1853, this lodge was not recognised by English Freemasons who built a foundation Vic Lodge, Ballarat, 28/09/1855.

A second branch, Yarowee Lodge, Ballarat East met for the first time on the 22nd April, 1857.
Present were-
•Richard O’Cock-solicitor
•Alexander Dimant
•James Stewart (Doctor)
Other doctors & solicitors were also in attendance.

Yarrowee Lodge members moved quickly to establish a Board of Benevolence. Freemasons dominated ALL early ‘charitable’ committees in Ballarat & from there they began to control councils, building ops & grant funding within Ballarat. Freemasons paraded their ‘regality’ publicly.

Amongst the philanthropy was the laying of a ‘foundation stone’ at the Ballarat Benevolent Asylum. Many high brow women contributed to the development of goings on at both the Asylum & the Female Refuge in Ballarat. Matthew Burnett, Royal Arch Mason, influenced 'rescue' work.

Power at the refuge was reinforced through symbolic meaning & seperate municipalities existed separating the moral ‘high ground’ from those of different class & ethnic structures. Brothels, sewers & Chinese camps co existed.

The female refuge was moved to its current location when James Oddie obtained a grant to fund the building of a double storey facility. Isolation was used as a deliberate form of social control within the design. ie cell-like cubicles.

The laundry was the most important element of the Refuge, here was the symbolic link-penance was done here, women were cleansing themselves of their moral sins & doing productive work at the same time.