Next meeting - Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be held at Adelaide Masonic Centre, 254 North Terrace, Adelaide, on Thursday 30 August, commencing at 6pm.

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Agenda :
Open and Welcome
President’s report
Declare positions vacant.
Invite Patron (or his representative) to announce appointment and make further comment.
President conduct elections
Adoption of Constitution and By-Laws
Closure

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John McDouall Stuart, explorer and Freemason

Next meeting - Monday 25 June 2007 at 6pm - at Freemasons' Hall, Adelaide -

Guest Speaker from John McDouall Stuart Society ...

John McDouall Stuart (1815-1866)
Explorer and Freemason

Initiated in Lodge of Truth No.933 E.C. North Adelaide on 1 Aug 1859
(when the Lodge met in the present day "Belmont House")

~~~

"In April 1860, during the second of his heroic attempts to cross Australia from south to north, John McDouall Stuart reached the almost waterless center of the continent... A thousand miles from anywhere, the spot was the very 'climax of desolation,' as Stuart's fellow explorer Ernest Giles once nicely put it, and Stuart and his men went through hell to get there. They were sick and ragged and half starved, and it had taken months, but at least they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had become the first outsiders to penetrate to the brutal heart of the continent.

... So you may imagine Stuart's surprise when, in the middle of this baking nowhere, he and his party encountered three Aboriginal men who greeted them by making a secret sign of the Freemasons. Stuart didn't say in his journal what the sign was, but it was clear from his amazed description that it was unlikely to have been coincidental."

(from Bill Bryson's book 'In a sunburned country' p.240)

Also see entry from McDouall Stuart's journal for Sat 23 June 1860 ...

~~~

The Stuart Highway, the main south-north highway of Australia is 2,834 kilometres or 1,761 miles long.

• John McDouall Stuart's biography is included in ADB online ...
• "McDouall Stuart a Mason" - article in the Register newspaper, Thursday 20 May 1920 (page 6h) and 21 May 1920 (page 6i).
• "Aborigines and Freemasonry: Where McDouall Stuart was Initiated" - article in The Mail (Adelaide, SA), Saturday 23 October 1915 (page 11i)
• McDouall Stuart Lodge No.219 in Alice Springs is named in his honour.

John McDouall Stuart is one of several Freemasons commemorated by statues in Adelaide:

statue in Victoria Square, Adelaide

Stuart has been the subject of several Australian postage stamps (1962 and 2012): 

Freemasons & pubs - Sun May 27

Members and friends are invited to assemble on Sunday 27 May at 12 noon at the Queen's Head Hotel, 117 Kermode Street, North Adelaide. Erected 1838, this hotel is perhaps the oldest in SA using part of the original building. In its early years the Queen's Head had connections with Freemasonry.

There will be a presentation about Freemasons and pubs in the City of Adelaide.

Afterwards consider a meal at the bar or in the dining room, and perhaps take a short walk to Palmer Place and Brougham Place to see Belmont House, originally built for Masonic purposes, opened in 1858 and sold in 1863.

Links: Queen's Head menu etc

The Grand Library

On Monday 30 April members visited the J.R. Robertson Masonic Memorial Library in the Adelaide Masonic Centre for a talk by George Woolmer, OAM, Grand Librarian. The talk covered the history of the Grand Library and its activities. Afterwards we were able to view some of the treasures of the Library collection.

Field trip - Port Adelaide Sunday 25 March

Ladies, friends and brethren are invited to attend on March Sun 25.

12noon - meet for lunch at Newmarket Hotel across the road from the Port Adelaide Masonic Centre - wide range of dishes including Sunday Roast - prices $15 - $19

1-2pm - Port Adelaide Masonic Centre (pictured, erected in late 1920's; architect Charles Walter Rutt) - "An Illustrated History of Port Adelaide with a Masonic bias" - presentation by T Molde. The building is listed on the Australian Heritage Register - the exterior is "a unique example of the Egyptian revival style of architecture in South Australia".

Other optional activities include:

• Port Princess Dolphin Cruise on the MV Port Princess. Departs at 3.15pm from Fisherman's Wharf. Duration 1 hour. Cost $2.50 per head

• visit the Maritime Museum, 12 Lipson Street, Open 10am - 5pm. Admission - concession $6.50

• visit the Port Markets - at Queens Wharf at end of Commercial Road.
  

Meeting Programme for 2007

The following programme is subject to alteration. Any changes will be notified on this site.

• February Mon 26 at 6pm - Adelaide Masonic Centre - Guest Speaker: Rob Casson
• March Sun 25 - Port Adelaide Masonic Centre - T Molde - An Illustrated History of Port Adelaide with a Masonic bias. Lunch at Newmarket Hotel and cruise the Port River
• April Mon 30 at 6pm - Adelaide Masonic Centre - Guest Speaker: G Woolmer
• May Sun 27 - Adelaide TBA - Masonic Pub Crawl
• June Mon 25 at 6pm - Adelaide Masonic Centre - Guest Speaker from John McDouall Stuart Society
• August 3-5 - State History Conference, Barossa Valley
• August Thur 30 at 6pm - Adelaide Masonic Centre - AGM

The past revisited - 1856 - 1906 - 1956

1856

14 January 1856 - The Warrant of the Lodge of Truth was delivered

4 March 1856 - first meeting of the Duke of Leinster Lodge No.363 IC

June 1856 - the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales was formed. Dr BA Kent of Kent Town, Adelaide participated in this meeting.

27 December 1856 - there was a combined Installation of the Masters of the Lodge of Harmony, United Tradesmen's Lodge and Lodge of Truth.

30 December 1856 - a Banquet was held at Bro. Baldwin's Prince of Wales Hotel to celebrate the Festival of St John the Evangelist, RW Bro. John Lazar presiding.
Tickets 7/6 (75 cents)

1906


March 1906 - Pirie Mark Lodge formed.

14 May 1906 - formation of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of South Australia

1956

February 1956 - Foundation Stone laid for Enfield Lodge No.145

3 May - the Governor of South Australia, Sir Robert George, was installed as Grand Master

The War Memorial Pipe Organ was installed in the Way Room at 254 North Terrace, Adelaide

Five hundred pounds was donated to the Lord Mayor's River Murray Flood Relief Appeal

Millicent Masonic building dedicated.

Lodge Thespian No.195 formed.