I’d heard the rumours of the Egyptian Room inside the Petersham Masonic Centre on New Canterbury Road, a room lavishly decorated with images from Egyptian mythology. I think of it every time I pass by and try to imagine it but the exterior gives away no clues. It is brick office building, a neat box that attracts no attention.
One night a year, on the second Friday in November, the Egyptian Room is open to the public. On my way there I wonder if there will be queues, but the building looks as quiet and forbidding as any other day. I half expect the door to be locked, but it yields when I push against it. There is no one to be seen inside, but I can hear the clink of teacups from a far room and I tentatively head up the stairs following the sign to the Egyptian Room.