A chronology of events in the early history of Freemasonry in Australia and the South West Pacific region from 1770 to 1848.
(The year 1848 has been chosen in this chronology as it marked the conclusion of sixty years since the first British settlements at Sydney and Norfolk Island in 1788.)
1770 - the British ship HMS "Endeavour", commanded by James Cook, RN, made the first European exploration of the east coast of Australia. Cook named the land "New South Wales" and took possession in the name of King George III of Great Britain.
Joseph Banks, a passenger aboard the ship, is thought to have been the first Freemason to set foot in the continent. At some date prior to 1768 he had become a member of the Somerset House Lodge which, led by Thomas Dunckerley, subsequently amalgamated with The Old Horn Lodge (one of the four founding lodges of the Grand Lodge of England, now known as Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge No.4 English Constitution). In 1778 Joseph Banks became President of the Royal Society (of London). He was noted for his work on the natural history of the new land and was awarded a knighthood in 1781.
Prior to 1770 the majority of European explorations of the Australian coast were around the arid western third of the continent (known as "New Holland") and the southern tip of Tasmania (known as "Van Diemen's Land"). Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) advocated the British settlement of the more fertile eastern part of Australia. He became the acknowledged authority on matters relating to New South Wales and had great influence on the study of natural history in both Australia and Britain.
1776 - July 4 - American Declaration of Independence. The successful establishment of the United States of America created the need for a new destination for the prisoners of England. As a result the British Government eventually decided to create a penal settlement in the Botany Bay region of New South Wales.
1788 - January - the First Fleet arrives from England, carrying just over 1000 people, many of whom were convicts, to establish a penal colony. The first settlement commenced at the site of Sydney on 26 January as Botany Bay was found unsuitable. The First Fleet probably contained some Freemasons.
1778 - 6 March - first settlers land on Norfolk Island, SW Pacific, from New South Wales
1789 - 14 July 1789 - the Storming of the Bastille in Paris (French Revolution).
1789 - George Washington is elected first President of the United States.
1792 - Europeans begin to settle in New Zealand
1797 - James Larra (who arrived per "Scarborough", 1790), a Jewish emancipist and merchant, was granted one of the Colony's first liquor licences and built the Freemason's Arms in Parramatta. He was pardoned in 1800 and became the most successful businessman in Parramatta. After 1814 his fortunes declined and by 1822 he was in debtors' prison [ www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/colsec/ ].
1797 - 6 July - a minute of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, meeting in Dublin, records a petition for a warrant to hold a Lodge in the New South Wales Corps (102nd Regiment), serving at Port Jackson (Sydney). The petition was signed by three privates in the NSW Corps, George Kerr, Peter Farrell and George Black. Decision deferred by the Grand Lodge; nothing further heard.
1799 - 12 July - introduced as a result of major concerns about the activities of secret societies in Britain following the French Revolution and the later war between Britain and France, the Unlawful Societies Act receives Royal Assent after passage through the British Parliament. This Act became the mainstay of the relationship between Freemasonry and the State in Britain for nearly two hundred years, until its repeal by the Criminal Justice Act of 1967. Considerable efforts were made to ensure that the 1799 Act did not in effect ban Freemasonry in Britain and Ireland, but the effect was that only those Masonic lodges which existed prior to 12 July 1799 were permitted (and protected) by the legislation. As a result the Grand Lodges enabled formation of new lodges by permitting them to use warrants of extinct lodges.
Further legislation against subversive clubs was passed in 1817; subsequently the restrictions on the formation of new Masonic lodges were relaxed. From 1817 Masonic lodges were able to to be formed, not only in Britain, but in the Australian and other colonies.
1800 - 27 April - on Norfolk Island (a penal settlement to the east of Australia) one half of an acre of land at the east end of the town at Sydney Bay which was originally leased to William Sherwen on 15 October 1795 for a period of 14 years (at an annual rental of sixpence) was made over by power of attorney by the lessee to Aaron Davis and sold by him for £55.12s.0d to Thomas Restel Crowder and the Masonic Lodge of St. John, No.1, on 27 April 1800. This Lodge was holding meetings without a Warrant and seems to have been situated at Norfolk Island from 1800 to 1807, perhaps until 1814. [ see www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/colsec/ ]
1800 - 17 November - a despatch of this date to Gov King, Sydney, gives notice of impending proclamation of union between Britain and Ireland to be effective January 1801
1800 - After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, during the subsequent years ending in Decmber 1800, 43 convict ships were despatched to Sydney, including the wrecked HMS "Guardian" and the hijacked "Lady Shore".
1801 - 16 August - George Hales dies aged 47 years on Norfolk Island after being brought ashore sick. He was commander of the whaling ship "General Boyd" which was in Sydney Harbour in June 1801. Bro. Hales was made a Mason on 24 December 1789 in the Dundee Arms Lodge No. 9 which met in Wapping, London for many years. His gravestone on Norfolk Island bears various Masonic symbols including an open book below square and compasses which lie between two pillars surmounted by an arch.
1802 - 17 September - a French scientific expedition comprising the two ships "Le Naturaliste" and "Le Geographe" is in Sydney, under the command of Capt. Nicolas Baudin. A meeting termed a "Triangle" was held on board "Le Naturaliste", attended by Jacques St Cricq and Surgeon Jerome Bellefin of that ship, together with George Bridges Bellasis, in charge of the gun battery at Dawes Point, Sydney (Bro. Bellasis had been transported following a fatal duel in Bombay in 1801 where he had been an officer in the army of the English East India Company, the duel being over the slur Bellassis felt his opponent had given to a sister of Bellasis' wife by withdrawing a marriage proposal).
At the meeting Capt. Anthony Fenn Kemp of the NSW Corps took part in a ceremony and was issued with a certificate. This, the first recorded Masonic document issued in Australia, is now held in the Mitchell Library in Sydney.
Kemp later moved to Tasmania and lived to an advanced age, but there are no records of him having attended a lodge after the ceremony of 1802.
Bellasis was pardoned after several years and left Australia.
1802 - reports of Masonic meetings held on board the ships HMS "Glatton" and HMS "Buffalo" at anchor in Sydney Harbour.
1803 - 14 May - a meeting of Masonic brethren is held in Sydney town, attended by sailors and some settlers and the Irish convict Sir Henry Browne Hayes. The meeting was interrupted by the military who arrested those in attendance. Earlier on 6th May Sir Henry had written a letter to the British Colonial Secretary complaining that he had been forbidden to hold a Lodge and preside at initiations therein, although he was in possession of a Warrant. Later, on 22nd May a Government and General Order was published in the 'Sydney Gazette' forbidding Masonic meetings without the express permission of the Governor (who on 21 August 1804 reported "every soldier and other person would have been made a Freemason, had not the most decided means been taken to prevent it").
1803 - June 9 - Matthew Flinders arrives back in Sydney after the cirumnavigation of Australia in HMS "Investigator", completing 23 months of exploration and mapping of the Australian coastline. Earlier on 8 April 1802 Flinders had met the French explorer Nicolas Baudin in Encounter Bay, South Australia.
1803 - Lieutenant John Bowen, a British soldier, chose Risdon Cove on the eastern shore of the River Derwent in the south-east for the first settlement of Europeans in Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania). In 1804 Lieutenant-Governor David Collins moved the settlement across the river and Hobart was founded.
1804 - 9 September - an obituary is published recording the death and funeral of a young Mason named Charles Wood. His funeral was followed by "a numerous procession of the fraternity."
1805 - 21 October - The battle of Trafalgar (west of Gibraltar) is won by the British Royal Navy, putting to an end Napoleon´s dream to control the world by having command of the seas. Trafalgar can be considered the most decisive naval battle, both tactically and strategically, in history. It not only eliminated Napoleon's plans to invade England, but had also destroyed French naval power. Trafalgar, moreover, established Britain´s supremacy at sea for nearly a century and a half, during which time the Royal Navy remained the bedrock on which control of the far-flung British Empire rested through the age of steam and into the 20th century. The English commander was Admiral Lord Nelson who died of injuries near the end of the Battle.
1807 - 18 December - Captain John Piper, Commandant of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island, is recipient of a letter expressing thanks "for the patronage and generous protection which we in our collective capacity as Free and Accepted Masons have experienced under your authority. Jas Mitchell, Master Thos Lucas, P.M. W Atkins, S.W. For the Brethren".
James Mitchell, an Irishman, was born about 1754. He came to Sydney as a missionary in 1800, subsequently moving to Norfolk Island and later Hobart where he was postmaster until 1822. He died in Hobart in 1849.
Thomas Lucas is said to have been a member of the Lodge of Temperance in London. He arrived in Sydney in the First Fleet as a marine in the vessel "Scarborough", later joining the NSW Corps. In August 1797 he was given a grant of 60 acres of land on Norfolk Island. He left for Hobart in September 1808 and settled in the Sandy Bay area where he was accorded a burial with Masonic honours after his death in August 1815.
William Atkins was convicted at Peterboro in 1790, sentenced to transportation for 14 years, and arrived in New South Wales on the "Neptune" 11 November 1791 as a convict. He is listed in the Norfolk Island records as a settler with the occupation of constable. As part of the evacuation of Norfolk Island he boarded the "Estramina" on 15 May 1808 bound for Van Diemen's Land where he obtained a grant of land at Clarence Plains.
Also evacuated on the "Estramina" was Michael Lee of whom the shipping manifest recorded that one half an acre of land shown against his name "belonged to the society of freemasons of which he is a member". Lee was sentenced to seven years transportation in London in 1790, arriving in the "Gorgon" at Port Jackson 11 November 1791. In February 1805 the official Norfolk Island records listed him as a labourer whose sentence had expired. It is thought that Bro. Lee may have been the lodge secretary.
1808 - the fourth Governor, Capt. William Bligh (remembered for the earlier mutiny on the ship HMS "Bounty"), is deposed by his deputy. Anthony Fenn Kemp was said to have been among those involved in this controversy.
1810 - 1 January - Lachlan Macquarie takes up post as fifth Governor of New South Wales after serving in the British Army in North America, Jamaica, Egypt and India. Major General Macquarie was accompanied by the 73rd Regiment of Foot, which he commanded. Bro. Macquarie became a Freemason in January 1793 at Bombay, India, in Lodge No. 1 (No. 139 on the register of the English "Moderns" Grand Lodge). He was a notable Governor and served in this position until 1821, becoming known as "the father of Australia".
1814 - Lands Department survey of Norfolk Island shows a Masonic building. The settlement was abandoned in February 1814.
1814 - 7 February - the 46th Regiment of Foot arrives in colony, replacing the 73rd Foot. Attached to the new regiment and holding a travelling warrant from the Grand Lodge of Ireland is the Lodge of No. 227 I.C. holding a Warrant dated 4 March 1752 (since 1847 this widely travelled Lodge has been situated in Montreal, Canada. In 1855 it surrendered its Irish Warrant to join the Grand Lodge of Canada, from 1857 being known as the Lodge of Antiquity. Once again transferring allegiance, since 1874 it has been the Lodge of Antiquity No.1 on the register of the Grand Lodge of Quebec).
1814 - 19 August - diary entry by the Reverend Robert Knopwood of Hobart: "The Governor laid the first stone for the officers barrack on the hill; the masons attended him."
1815 - 1 September - diary entry by the Reverend Robert Knopwood in Tasmania: 'At 3.00pm I buried Mr. Lucas from Browns River. He has been a marine that came out when the settlement at Port Jackson was formed, then became a settler and went to Norfolk Island. There he remained till the island was evacuated; most of the settlers came to this colony. He was a Mason, and buried by the Brothers in masonic form.'
1816 - 2 November - the corner stone of Bro. John Piper's house at Eliza Point (now Point Piper), Sydney, is laid with Masonic ceremonial by Lodge 227. The Lodge was constituted in a glade, following which the members processed to the scene of the ceremony. Corn was scattered, wine and oil poured. The Master struck the foundation stone three strokes of his mallet, and the sum of £6.14s.0d. was collected and laid upon the stone for the poor and needy. There were initial difficulties prior to the day as the demand for aprons and scarves had outrun the ability of the Colony to provide them; it is said that Francis Greenway, the convict architect, having some knowledge of Masonic symbols and lore, painted the Masonic aprons. The thirty two brethren taking part in the ceremony included personnel of the 46th and 39th Regiments, and a number of local brethren listed as members of Lodge No.227.
Captain Sanderson was the Master of the Lodge, and Colonel Molle, Deputy to the Governor, a member. Local brethren included John Drummond (customs officer at Hobart), Jeffrey Bent, John Horsley, David Allan, John Oxley, Alexander Riley, JR O'Connor, WH Moore and Surgeon John Harris.
A report read "the Brethren embarked in boats prepared for the purpose, from the brother's house, and were saluted by seven guns from the merchant vessel "Wellesley" commanded by Brother Crosset, a Masonic ensign having been displayed at the main Top-Mast head."
1817 - 15 February - Jeffrey Hart Bent, first judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, was made a Royal Arch Mason in Mount Olive Royal Arch chapter (attached to the 46th Foot), the first recorded Royal Arch ceremony in Australia.
1817 - 22 February - the Hobart Town Gazette reports: "after a performance by the Chaplain, the Rev. Robt. Knopwood, a neat and appropriate Masonic oration was delivered by a member of the society" on the occasion of the consecration of the land intended for St David's Church, after which "they partook of a very handsome cold collation, all anticipating prosperity and happiness of Van Diemen's Land".
1817 - 8 August - the 48th Regiment of Foot arrives to replace the 46th Foot. Lodge No.218 I.C. was attached to the new Regiment, holding a Warrant dated 27 December 1750. Unlike Lodge 227 this Lodge welcomed local settlers who wished to join. Up to 1820 No.218 had initiated twenty eight candidates, half of whom were civilian residents of Sydney
1817 - Governor Lachlan Macquarie formally adopts the name Australia for the continent, the name earlier proposed by the first circummnavigator of Australia, Matthew Flinders.
1819 - June 12 - the Hobart Town Gazette records a list of subscribers to the Auxiliary Branch Bible Society of Van Diemen's Land at the Derwent which names twelve members of "the free and accepted Masons belonging to the Lodge of St. John, Hobart T."
1819 - 16 October - the Hobart Town Gazette reports that Michael Lee (formerly of the lodge at Norfolk Island) had been granted a licence for the tavern, the Freemason's Arms, in Hobart.
1820 - 1 January - the Hobart Town Gazette reports that 'On Monday last, the Freemasons resident in this Settlement assembled and went in procession to lay the foundation stone of a new lodge intended to be erected in Melville Street on the plot of ground which they have occupied in exchange for that originally held by the lodge at Norfolk Island.'
1820 - 4 January - eight local settlers were entered into the register of members of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Their names were James Stewart, Alexander Winchester, James Brackenrig, Thomas Boulton, George Woodford, Joseph Allan, Matthew Bacon and Thomas Shaughnessy.
1820 - 6 January - Grand Lodge of Ireland issues warrant for a lodge to be established at Sydney, known as the Australian Social Lodge No. 260 I.C. This is the first warranted lodge resident in Australia. The brethren listed immediately above were among the first members. Lodge 218 acted as the sponsoring lodge.
1820 - 5 August - the warrant arrives in Sydney
1820 - 12 August - the new Lodge meets for the first time, for dedication and installation of the first Master, Bro Matthew Bacon. He served as Master for the first three and a half years following the lodge's foundation.
1821 - 29 October - Governor Macquarie lays the foundation stone of St Mary's Catholic Church, adjacent to the site of the present Cathedral. Father Therry read an address of welcome to the Governor who said in reply: "You must know, Mr. Therry, that, although I never laid the first stone of a Catholic Church before, I am a very old Mason: and I shall keep this trowel as long as I live in remembrance of this day, and I wish you and your flock every success in your pious undertaking"
1821 - 12 November - a memorial is forwarded to the Grand Lodge of Ireland by Lodge 260 praying for a Charter whereby it could grant dispensations to form other lodges in the Colonies, and under which the brethren of such lodges could work until a regular warrant should be issued. The memorial stated that the inhabitants of New South Wales were considerable, there being four towns - Sydney, Parramatta, Windsor and Liverpool - and that in Van Diemen's Land there were two chief settlements - Port Dalrymple and Hobart Town. The memorial mentioned that an application had been made to them "by Some very respectable Brethren at Van Diemen's Land (as well as those we have reported to you who are an unlawful assembly) for a Dispensation" but that they could not accord their request without authority. The memorial went on to say that by granting such a Charter it will unite "in one strong chain the poor man and the rich man; as well keep all party distinctions from the Masonic walls in this infant Colony. It will prevent irregularities and disputes, and rights of precedency, and will at once combine the new Masonic World into one Focus".
1822 - 15 July - following an approach by Lodge 260 the Grand Lodge of Ireland issues a ruling which reads: "That an individual becoming free by pardon or by expiration of sentence, possessing a good character, may and would be eligible to become a member of a Masonic Lodge." This ruling enabled former convicts to be considered for membership. On the same date the Grand Lodge decided "that a warrant shall be issued by the Grand Master and the Grand Lodge to the master, wardens, secretary and treasurer of Lodge No. 260, to empower them to grant dispensations to constitute lodges in the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land." As a result the Leinster Masonic Committee was formed for the purpose of issuing dispensations.
1824 - 26 January - dispensation issued to three members of Lodge 260 to form a new lodge in Sydney, subsequently named the Leinster Marine Lodge of Australia No.266 I.C.
1824 - 1829 - 40th Foot Regiment stationed in Van Diemen's Land with Lodge No. 284 I.C. attached. The original Warrant issued to this Regiment was from the Grand Lodge of the Antients, No. 42 (c.1759); it then held warrant No.204 I.C. from 1810 to 1813, and was re-issued with Warrant No.284 I.C. in 1821. During a second tour of duty in Australia between 1852 to 1860 the 40th Foot was stationed mainly in Victoria. The Lodge Warrant was returned from Victoria to Grand Lodge in Dublin in 1858.
1828 - formation of Tasmanian Lodge No. 313 in Hobart by dispensation from Lodge 284. The Warrant was issued in Dublin 3 September 1829 but did not reach Hobart until April 1831 - ceased work 1847
1828 - 1834 63rd Foot Regiment stationed in Van Diemen's Land with Lodge 512 I.C. attached
1828 - 21 June - Warrant issued by the UGL of England for the Lodge of Australia No. 820, to meet in Sydney. First meeting held 6 April 1829. Later renumbered to No. 548 and subsequently No. 390 EC. The foundation Master was John Stephen Jnr. who was initiated in the Lodge of Regularity No. 259 EC in London in March 1824, and became a Grand Steward in 1826, in which year he left for Australia.
1829 - settlement at Swan River (later Perth), Western Australia
1831 - 20 March - members of Lodge 260 are granted a Warrant to form a Royal Arch Chapter by the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland
1832 - July - Brotherly Union Lodge No. 326 I.C. formed in Hobart (worked until 1860)
1832 - 27 July - seven members of Tasmanian Lodge No. 313 who had become Royal Arch Masons in military Lodge 284 are granted a Warrant to form a Chapter by the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland. The Warrant did not reach its destination until September 1835.
1834 - 26 Feb - Tasmanian Operative Lodge No 345 I.C. meets under dispensation.
1834 - 1838 - the 21st Foot (Royal North British Fusiliers) is stationed in Van Diemen's Land with Lodge No. 33 I.C. attached, holding Warrant originally granted in 1734 After several years in Van Diemen's Land the members requested that the Warrant remain in Hobart as a majority had decided to settle, the departing Fusiliers having insufficient members to carry the Warrant to India.
In support of their request Bro Robert Murray (described as the Father of Freemasonry in Van Diemen's Land) wrote to Grand Lodge of Ireland on 12 April 1837: "Deaths and the other exigencies of War and Military Affairs had so reduced their Masonic Numbers, that they were forced to seek the assistance of a civil Brother to enable them to open, with the proper numbers, their Lodge, their Chapter and their Encampment, all of which had existed in the Regiment almost from time immemorial ... I found that they had for upwards of Fifty years, in various parts of the world: Ireland, England, Scotland, Sicily, Malta, West Indies, Gibraltar, America &c. &c. worked in all the Orders, and on more than one occasion granted Dispensation Warrants in Foreign Countries, in the Blue, the Red, and the Black Orders. I found their Regalia, though old, complete, in short I found that in every respect they were 'Just and regular', and only wanted numbers to become 'perfect'." The request to change to a Civil Lodge was approved by Grand Lodge, and Lodge 33 continued to work in Hobart until 1854. In March 1838 Lodge No.33 granted a Dispensation to certain brethren in Hobart to hold an Encampment of Knights Templar and Knights of Malta; this was confirmed by grant of a Warrant from the Supreme Grand Encampment on 17 July 1839
1834 - 22 October - Consecration of the South Australian Lodge of Friendship No. 613 in London
1835 - John Batman arrives at the site of Melbourne. In 1837 the site was surveyed by Robert Hoddle and officially named for the British Prime Minister of the day, Lord Melbourne.
1835 - 2 March - a meeting of the South Australian Lodge of Friendship in London initiates 5 new members - Bros Morphett, Hanson, Gilbert, Gouger and Wakefield.
1835 - meeting of brethren at Parramatta, 27km west of Sydney and the second settlement in Australia. They decided to petition the Lodge of Australia for a dispensation to form a lodge. This was held over until 1839.
1836 - free settlers begin to arrive in South Australia. Proclamation of the new Province 28 December 1837
1836 - meeting called by Jean François Langlois, captain of the French whaling vessel Cachalot, of Freemasons from the crews of ships present at Port Levy, New Zealand.
1838 - 2 March - first meeting of South Australian Lodge of Friendship in Adelaide
1839 - 28 May - Bro. George Robert Nicholls appointed by UGL of England to be Provincial Grand Master of the lodges of NSW, SA and Van Diemen's Land. His father, an ex-convict, was Isaac Nicholls, who was an entrepreneur and became Australia's first postmaster. George Robert Nicholls (1809-1857) was born in Australia, educated in England 1819-23 and was admitted as a Solicitor in NSW in 1833, later a member of the Parramatta District Council. During the 1830's he purchased and edited the "Australian" newspaper, He was a political associate of WC Wentworth. Bankrupted 1842. Elected to the first Legislative Council of NSW in 1843 as member for the Northumberland Boroughs. In 1844 a petition stating that "a sufficient cause was given" was sent to England seeking his replacement as Provincial Grand Master. He was still officiating as such in February 1847. The Provincial Grand Lodge for NSW was inaugurated 10 May 1849 with Captain Joseph Long-Innes, a Sydney magistrate and former officer of the 39th Regiment as Provinvial Grand Master.
1839 - inaugural meeting of St John's Lodge Parramatta No. 668 EC, in Parramatta NSW.
1840 - New Zealand becomes a British colony.
1840 - Dispensation issued for Lodge of Australia Felix No. 697 EC to meet at Melbourne. The Lodge first met on 25 March. The dispensation was delivered by Bro George Brunswick Smythe who rode a horse on an overland journey of more than 1000km from Sydney.
1840 - Inaugural meeting of Maitland Lodge of Unity No. 804 EC in Maitland NSW, first Australian country Lodge.
1841 - Dispensation issued for Windsor Social Lodge No. 275 I.C. to meet at Windsor, NSW
1841 - 13 April - a theatrical benefit is held in Adelaide by members of the Lodge of Friendship in aid of the hospital. This was probably at the Queen's Theatre in Gilles Arcade, which had opened 11 January 1841 with John Lazar (1801-1879) as actor-manager in the opening role of Othello.
1841 - 31 July - the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette reports the laying of the foundation stone of St Paul's Church on 24 July, when "the Gentlemen of Auckland who are Freemasons appeared with the decorations and insignia of their Order."
1841 - August - Governor George Grey is admitted as a joining member by South Australian Lodge of Friendship
1841 - 1 September - a meeting is held at Government House in Perth, Western Australia, to consider the formation of a Lodge, with the support of Governor Bro. John Hutt. The meeting decides to submit a Petition directly to UGL of England, rather than through any Masonic intermediary in the eastern part of Australia.
1841 - 23 November - 39 brethren sign a petition to form a lodge in Melbourne under the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Rehearsals were conducted until the warrant arrived from Scotland in 1844.
1842 - 5 September - a Dispensation is issued by the Leinster Masonic Committee for the Auckland Social Lodge (later Lodge Ara) No. 348 I.C. to meet at Auckland, New Zealand. The Lodge first met 9 February 1843. The Warrant was signed in Dublin 12 June 1844 but did not reach Auckland until some three years later
1842 - John Stephen, a solicitor, and now resident in Melbourne, was appointed to the office of Provincial Grand Master for the Southern portion of Australasia under the Grand Lodge of England.
1842 - 23 November - first meeting of New Zealand Pacific Lodge at Port Nicholson, Wellington, under dispensation from Bro George Nicholls, the Provincial Grand Master in Australia.
1843 - 19 Jan - first lodge meeting at Launceston - St John's Lodge No 346 IC under dispensation from Tasmanian Operative Lodge No. 345 I.C.
1843 - dispensation issued for Lodge Fidelity No. 267 I.C. to meet at Sydney
1843 - 4 April - first meeting of the Lodge of St John No. 712 E.C. in Perth, Western Australia
1843 - 25 April - meeting held in Melbourne, of brethren interested in forming an Irish lodge.
1843 - 24 June - the Australian Felix Lodge of Hiram No. 349 meets for the first time in Melbourne. John Thomas Smith was installed as first Master by John Stephen. The warrant of this lodge did not arrive from Ireland until mid 1847.
1843 - April - first meeting of Loge Francaise Primitif Antipodienne at the French settlement of Akaroa, New Zealand, under warrant from the Grand Orient of France. Six of the nine members were officers of the French warship Le Rhin. This Lodge ceased meeting in 1846. The French had settled at Akaroa in August 1840
1843 - application made to GL of Scotland to form a Lodge in Adelaide by Bros. James Bennett, Robert McEwin and Andrew Birrell
1844 - 27 January - a lodge employing Scottish ceremonies is held without Dispensation in Adelaide, with James Bennett acting as Master, claiming that the laws of the GL of Scotland permitted five Masons to meet, form a Lodge and make Masons.
1844 - 1 February - following discussion a Dispensation is issued by the Lodge of Friendship and at a new meeting Bro. Bennett is duly installed as Master of the new Lodge (later the Adelaide Lodge No. 341 S.C.). 19 candidates renew their obligations.
1844 - 6 February - procession of brethren of the Lodge of Friendship and Adelaide St John's Lodge from the Freemasons' Tavern in Pirie Street to Grenfell Street for the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone of the proposed new "Scotch Church".
1844 - 9 February - first meeting of the Lodge of Harmony No. 743 E.C. at the Freemasons' Tavern, Pirie Street, Adelaide, under dispensation from the Lodge of Friendship.
1844 - 13 May - inaugural meeting of the Australasian Kilwinning Lodge No. 337 SC in Melbourne. This was the first Australian lodge to receive a warrant from Scotland.
1844 - 14 August - first meeting under dispensation for Tasmanian Union Lodge No. 781 E.C. (comprised mainly of members of the Union Lodge No. 326 I.C.)
1845 - 17 September - Bro Henry Mildred receives notice of appointment as first Provincial Grand Master of South Australia of the English Constitution
1847 - 26 November - notification is received in Adelaide that the Grand Lodge of Scotland had appointed Bro. Allan McFarlane Provincial Grand Master of South Australia under the Scottish Constitution. A letter dated 6 April 1848 noted "as Bro. McFarlane's health will prevent his visiting Adelaide, propose opening a Lodge of Emergency at Mount Barker [S.A.], at Bro. Gloag's Hotel, on Saturday, 8th instant, at 'High Twelve'." Bro. McFarlane was duly installed 8 April 1848 as first Provincial Grand Master of the Scottish Constitution in South Australia, but he did not take delivery of his Commission from the Grand Lodge of Scotland, leaving it in the custody of the Adelaide Lodge No. 341 S.C.
1848 - January - Bro Mildred's Patent of Office arrives in Adelaide, three years after issue on London (!) Bro Mildred was duly installed as Provincial Grand Master of South Australia, E.C. on 12 April 1848.
1848 - 12 December - first meeting held under dispensation from Bro. Mildred, PGM, of the United Tradesmen's Lodge No. 853 E.C. at the Temple Tavern, Gilles Arcade, Adelaide. Bro. John Lazar, installed as the first Master. A former tailor and actor, he was involved with the theatre, and served as Mayor of Adelaide 1855-1858.
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Compiler's Note: The year 1848 was chosen to end the above chronology as it marks the conclusion of sixty years since the first British settlements at Sydney and Norfolk Island in 1788.
Some three years later in 1851 the discovery of gold in New South Wales and Victoria heralded large increases in population. Gold seekers flocked to Australia from all over the world, including Europe, the Americas and China. The various Australian colonies achieved self government from the 1850's onwards.
By 1884 South Australian Freemasons felt confident to manage their own affairs, forming the first sovereign Grand Lodge less than fifty years after the settlement of Adelaide. The United Grand Lodge of New South Wales was formed in 1888, one hundred years after the landing at Sydney Cove. The United Grand Lodge of Victoria was formed in 1889, the Grand Lodge of Tasmania in 1890, and the Grand Lodge of Western Australia in 1900. The United Grand Lodge of Queensland was established in 1921.
As citizens Freemasons played their part in public discussions and debates about nationhood in the last part of the nineteenth century. In 1901 the six Australian colonies federated to form the nation of Australia.
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Useful resources and further reading
"Freemasonry, the Royal Society, and the Age of Discovery" by Alex Davidson, Ph.D - online at
< http://www.transitofvenus.co.nz/explorations/fmrs_aod.html >
"The Unlawful Societies Act of 1799" - by Andrew Prescott - online at
< http://freemasonry.dept.shef.ac.uk/index.php?lang=4&type=page&level0=243&level1=387&level2=393&op=262 >
Also see article "Secrecy and Suppression" in Freemasonry Today magazine, Issue 44 (Spring 2008), p.9 - online at < www.freemasonrytoday.com/44/p09.php >
"The Foundations of Freemasonry in Australia", Cumming, Grahame H (1992) ISBN 0 646 11502 2 available from Office of United Grand Lodge of New South Wales and ACT
Article - "The first Australian stationary Masonic Lodge? - Norfolk Is. and New South Wales (Australia)", Linford, R (1994), published in Transactions of the Victorian Lodge of Research for 1994, 'Examining
Freemasonry' - also see < www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/6779/linford1.html >
Article - "The Irish Connection: the First Regimental Lodges in the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, Australia, their members and the Stationary Lodges they formed.", Cook, Ron A. (1995), published in Transactions of the Victorian Lodge of Research for 1995, 'Freemasonry Uncovered' - also see < www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/6779/irish.html >
Paper - ""Irish Masonry in Tasmania", Pope, Tony (1994) [paper presented to Faith and Lewis Lodge No 9 SAC on 9/3/94], published online at 'Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry' (2003) < www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/pope2.html >
"168 years of the Order of The Temple in Tasmania : 1833 - 2001", Woodman, SK (2001): booklet published by Preceptory of St Andrew No.55 S.C., Launceston Tasmania.
"Freemasonry in Australia and New Zealand", Martin, AW, Potter GW and Atkinson LJ (1999) ISBN 0959645926
available from Office of Grand Lodge of South Australia and Northern Territory
"History of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland" Vol II, Parkinson, RE (1957), Lodge of Research CC, Dublin
Compact Disc - "Irish Masonic Records", Cochrane, K. (2000) [revised version of the book - " Irish Masonic Records", Crossle, P (1973), Dublin]
"Lachlan Macquarie - His Life, Adventures and Times", Ellis, MH (1952, second edition, revised), Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
See published histories of the various Grand Lodges of Australia and New Zealand.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography is useful for researching details of some early Australians. An online version of the 1949 edition may be found at < www.gutenberg.net.au/ > while the current edition is also available at < www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/ >
"History of the first fifty years of the South Australian Lodge of Friendship from 1834 to 1884", Sansom P (1886): Adelaide
State Records, New South Wales: online Index to the Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1825: [a useful resource for records of individuals] - see < www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/colsec/ >
Parliament of New South Wales - see biographies of former members at < www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ >
"French Akaroa: an attempt to colonise southern New Zealand", Tremewan, Peter (1990), University of Canterbury Press, Christchurch, New Zealand: ISBN 0908812051. Also see < www.teara.govt.nz/ >
"Langlois, Jean François 1808 - ?", Maling, Peter B. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 16 December 2003
< www.dnzb.govt.nz >
