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General History A Full History of Freemasonry History of South Australian Freemasonry History of Northern Territory Freemasonry The First SA Lodge Masonic Heritage Moonta Masonic Hall
The plans of the South Australian Company to found a colony on the other side of the planet can be praised forsight and innovation. Amongst those planning to sail to the Southern Hemisphere were a few Freemaons who, keen to continue to practice the 'craft,' petitioned the United Grand Lodge of England for a new lodge which they could take to the new colony. Thus, the South Australian Lodge of Friendship No. 613 was founded under a Warrant or Charter of Constitution issued by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1834, a full two years before the first colonists arrived in South Australia. The Lodge held its first meeting at 7 John Street, Adelphi, London on 22 October 1834. After the Lodge had been opened by Bro WH White, VW Grand Secretary (acting as WM), the usual petition for forming a new Lodge was read, to which the seven following brethren promised obedience: JF Taylor - Old King's Arms Lodge No.30, G.Master's Lodge No.1 and Hereford Lodge No. 578 GS Kingston, Irish Lodge No 81 Capt. W Meriton - Phoenix Lodge, Portsmouth, No.375, & Lodge 227 of the 46th Regiment, RA and KM Col. L Walker, CA CB and KH, of Bombay Lodge EG Hancock - Lodge 259 Romford Lieut. Jackson - Renford Lodge, Sutta, also of the 94th Regiment Lodge, and R Doig - Lodge 24, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Bro. Joseph Francis Taylor was installed as first Master, and he appointed and invested Bro. GS Kingston as first Senior Warden, and Bro. Col. Leslie Walker as first Junior Warden. The following were then elected and initiated into Masonry at this meeting: John Morphett, RD Hanson, Thomas Gilbert, Robert Gouger, and Daniel Wakefield. ThesecondmeetingoftheLodgewasheldatthesameplaceinLondonon2March1835.Bro.AHardywasappointed Inner Guard and Bros. Morphett, Hanson and Gilbert were passed to the Second Degree. The Lodge Warrant or Charter was brought to South Australia by Bro. GS Kingston, who presented the Warrant at the firstmeetingheldinSouthAustralia,thethirdmeetingoftheLodge.ThismeetingtookplaceinAdelaideon11August 1838attheAssemblyRooms,Black'sHotel,FranklinStreet(laterthesiteofRosettaTerrace).BroHMildredPM presided, and the nine other brethren present were PMs EB Gleeson, Gordon, Allen and J Gleeson, the SW Bro. GS Kingston,andBros.Beare,Morphett,GilbertandSolomon.Bro.MorphettwasraisedtothedegreeofMMandBroGS Kingston was nominated for the office of Master. Three days later a Lodge of Emergency was called, when Bro. Kingston was installed as Master. ThefifthmeetingoftheLodgewasinNovember1838.It seems this meeting was held at the Turf Hotel in Waymouth Street.MrChas.Mann(lawyer)andMrChas.Berkeley(gentleman)wereelectedandinitiated.Capt.Finniswaselected and initiated at the following meeting. For the first few years Bros. Kingston and Mildred alternated as Master of the Lodge. Severalnotableeventsoccurredin1841.First,anoticeappearedinthenewspaperthe"SouthAustralianRegister"of31 March 1841 as follows: The Free and Accepted Masons of the SA Lodge of Friendship No.613 are about to bespeak an evening's entertainment at theTheatreforthebenefitoftheHospital.TheMasonswillappearintheirMasoniccostumes,andtheladiesoftheir families will wear light blue ribands and aprons, so that the house will have a very novel and imposing appearance, and it is hoped that it may prove a benefit, to enable the members to present a very handsome donation to that very valuable institution. The evening of entertainment took place on Tuesday 13 April 1841. There was a crowded house. The handsome sum of 30/3/0 was raised for the benefit of the Adelaide Hospital (which would represent a donation of around $37,000 in todays money). Thesecondnotableeventof1841occurredinAugust.HisExcellencytheGovernor,Bro.GeorgeGrey,amemberofIrish Military Lodge No.83, was elected a joining member of the Lodge of Friendship. 1844provedabusyyearfortheLodge.On31JanuarytheLodgemetattherearoftheFreemason'sTaverninPirie Street.Bro.ESolomongenerouslyofferedtheLodgeaquarterofanacreoflandforMasonicpurposesand10,000 brickswithwhichtobuildaLodgeroom(itisnotknownwhetheraroomwasbuiltornot).Atthismeetingitwas reported that seven Scottish Masons had attempted to form a Lodge (to be called the Adelaide St John's Lodge) in a mannerwhichitwasstatedwascontrarytotheusagesoftheCraft,andhadinitiatedtwentynewmembers.TheLodge of Friendship proposed a way out of a difficult situation by accepting a petition from the seven members of the new Lodge, and the following day, 1 February 1844, met again, this time at the Port Lincoln Hotel in Adelaide, to consecrate thenewLodgewhichlaterobtainedaWarrantfromtheGrandLodgeofScotland.On3FebruarythetwoLodges together laid the foundation stone of a Scottish Church in Grenfell Street.
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Several days later, on 6 February 1844, several brethren petitioned the Lodge of Friendship for a Dispensation to form a newLodgeundertheEnglishConstitution,tobecalledtheLodgeofHarmony.ThenewLodgewasconsecratedon9 February, eight days after the Adelaide St John's Lodge. It can be seen that in the first ten years of its existence the South Australian Lodge of Friendship No. 613 had some notableachievementstoitscredit.AfteritsfoundationinLondon,theLodgehadremovedtoasmallfledglingsettlement on the opposite side of the globe, attracted new members, and contributed to the new society by promoting charity and assisting in the formation of two new Lodges. History of South Australian Freemasonry Freemasons Boardroom Official Opening 1 week 3 days ago August Grand Lodge Freemasonry NowOur History 3 weeks 4 days ago Available Home About Newsletter Grand Lodge Subscribe to the new Grand Lodge newsletter. 3 weeks 6 days ago Freemason Winter Journal Now Available 5 weeks 4 days ago Appointment of Receptionist/Admin. Assistant 7 weeks 2 days ago Freemasons Foundation July Newsletter 7 weeks 3 days ago Movember 2012 - The Preparation Begins 7 weeks 6 days ago First Edition of the Grand Lodge eNewsletter now available 8 weeks 6 days ago Grand Masters Order of Service Awarded 10 weeks 3 days ago Community Freemasons Hall Become a Freemason Contact Us up History of Northern Territory Freemasonry
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