The AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF FREEMASONRY IN NEW ZEALAND
VWBro Colin Heyward, PGLec, Hawke’s Bay Research Lodge No 305 (NZ)
They have given us what we have,
They have made us what we are.
The Lodge of Research No CC, Dublin (1929)
Preface:
Much has been written about the origins of Freemasonry in New Zealand, but in reading through the many books and papers I have found that they were mostly written from the view of the respective author’s constitutional affiliation. We have the English, the Irish and, to a lesser extent, the Scottish versions that do not give an overall history of from whence New Zealand gained its infant Masonic nurture. Certainly all three constitutions played a vital part in the establishment of Freemasonry in this new British colony leading up to the formation of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand in 1890.
Two of the published histories of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand (authored by A B Croker in 1940 and F G Northern in 1970) both briefly make mention of the establishment of the first lodges under each of the constitutions and some of the brethren involved. But, their main theme was to chronicle the establishment of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand and the development of New Zealand Freemasonry, post 1890.
My paper will cover those early years in the settlement by the Pakeha (Europeans and others of non-Maori descent) of this island country at the bottom of the world. It will outline especially the part Freemasons in Australia played in the formation of lodges in the new colony.
The Arrival of the Pakeha:
After the discovery and charting of the “Land of the Long White Cloud” (Aotearoa to the Maori) by European explorers – Abel Tasman in the 1600’s and James Cook in the 1700’s – sealers and whalers came from many parts of the world in the early 1800’s to hunt the waters and the shoreline of Nieuw Zeeland (the Dutch East India Company’s naming - Tasman’s employer) or New Zealand (the anglicised version). Traders for timber and flax, who came mainly from Sydney Town, followed them. These sailors came ashore to replenish water and food stocks and at the same time fraternised and traded with the local Maori. Some formed close relationships with the wahine (women) of the tribe with some “marriages”, especially when the sailor left (deserted) his ship, lasting for life. A number of mokopuna (children) were born to mixed Maori / Pakeha parentage during these early years. Some, like the whaler, John (Jacky) Guard (an ex-convict), married in Sydney and brought their European bride with them to established whaling stations at strategic coastal settlements. Mrs Elizabeth (Betty) Guard gave birth to the first Pakeha child born in New Zealand, a son, in 1831.
In 1814, the Reverend Samuel Marsden, who was the “Chaplain to the Colony” and had been based in Sydney from 1794, travelled to New Zealand and established an Anglican Mission in the Bay of Islands (then the main pakeha settlement). This brought Christianity to the Maori.
In 1838 the New Zealand Company had been formed in London with Mr E G Wakefield as one of the directors. Edward Gibbon Wakefield was the driving force behind much of the early colonisation of South Australia, and later New Zealand (Wikipedia.org). The company began recruiting settlers for the new colony and the first emigrant ship from England, the Tory, arrived at Port Nicholson (now known as Wellington) in January 1840. Several days later Capt Hobson landed at Kororareka (Bay of Islands) and on the following day he declared that New South Wales had been empowered to annex New Zealand as a part of its territory (Croker, p5).
In February 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British and representatives of most of the Maori tribes. This gave sovereignty to the British Crown and protection to the Maori, and although the wording of the English and Maori translation versions appear to differ in import of meaning and is the subject of dispute up to this day, the Treaty is the binding document for New Zealand. In 1841 Governor Hobson moved the capital from Kororareka to Auckland and proclaimed New Zealand as a colony in its own right, no longer under the control of New South Wales.
The Settling of Australia:
Terra Australis Incognito (the unknown south land) is the largest island on the planet and has been inhabited by the indigenous aborigines for over fifty thousand years. It is known that Indonesian’s traded with the inhabitants of the northern shores in the sixteenth century. During the seventeenth century Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and French explorers sighted and charted various parts of the coastline. The Dutch named the country Nova Hollandia (New Holland) but in 1829 Britain formally named it Australia. The British became involved, first with William Dampier landing and reporting back “unfavourably” in the late 1600’s, and then in 1770, James Cook, after landing in several places (notably Botany Bay), charted the Eastern seaboard until in June of that year he proclaimed for England, the whole East Coast as New South Wales. This took place on an island at the northern tip of Cape York, now known as Possession Island. Joseph Banks, the botanist on Cook’s 1770 voyage, was the first known freemason to set foot ashore in Australia.
The first fleet of prison wardens, soldiers and convicts along with some settlers arrived at Sydney Cove in January 1788 and so began the colonisation of this vast land in the southern ocean. The transportation of convicts to Norfolk Island, New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) continued for many years (regimental garrisons stayed until 1870), along with the attendant military and the prison administrators. As convicts finished their term of sentence, or were pardoned, many remained as residents. The same applied to the soldiers who took a discharge whilst in Australia. Planned emigration from the United Kingdom came a little later with schemes for all parts of the island continent, notably Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s involvement in South Australia.
The Wakefield’s:
Before we continue the Australian connection with early New Zealand, a brief thumbnail sketch of Edward Gibbon Wakefield is required. He was born in London in 1796 and at the age of eighteen was employed as a King’s Messenger carrying diplomatic mail about Europe (Wikipedia.org). In 1816 he eloped with a wealthy ward of the state, married her in Scotland and took her to Turin where he was the secretary to the British envoy. Four years later, his wife, Eliza, died soon after the birth of their second child. Unfortunately for Edward this was before her twenty-first birthday when she would have received the family inheritance. His contesting of his late father-in-law’s will, in a failed attempt to gain the inheritance, put him offside with many influential people in London society. This was exacerbated a few years later when he, aided by his brother, William, abducted a fifteen-year-old heiress from her school and married her in a Gretna Green ceremony before fleeing to France to wait out the turmoil, in the hope that her family would not wish to invite public scandal and would accede to the marriage. But he was wrong, the family pursued him to Calais where they convinced the girl to return home and they then had the marriage annulled. The two Wakefield brothers were arrested, tried and convicted in England for abduction and both were jailed for three years.
Whilst in the notorious Newgate Prison, Edward Wakefield reflected upon the conditions of his fellow prisoners, especially those who were to be deported to the colonies, and formulated ideas on how planned colonisation could be the answer to England’s dreadful overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions of the time. On his release he spoke out about prison reforms and promoted schemes for social improvements. He also, anonymously, published a paper entitled Sketch of a Proposal for Colonising Australasia, of which excerpts were printed in Sydney newspapers a few months later. This caused a stir amongst the colonists in New South Wales because Wakefield had contended in his paper that the colony was suffering from chaotic granting of free land, shortage of labour and consequent dependence on convicts (Pretty). He argued that a well-planned scheme of sale of land to capitalists would provide funds for the “crown” to bring, as emigrants, a combination of skilled artisans and labourers, with their families, to populate the new towns. An assured labour pool would attract more investment and lead to the growth of the colony.
The British Government reacted to this debate by issuing regulations regarding the sale of land in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, but Wakefield was not satisfied with what he regarded as a token gesture, so he turned his attention to various other emigration causes. One of these was a South Australian proposal promoted by his brother Daniel. Together with Robert Torrens and others, Daniel Wakefield successfully petitioned parliament to have South Australia declared a British Province and to provide funds for its colonisation. As Edward Wakefield had been active in the promotion of the scheme he had hoped to play a prominent part in leading of it, but instead the Government appointed Torrens as the chairman of the South Australian Association in 1835. Edward Wakefield lost interest in South Australia and after a brief involvement with West Australian colonising joined his friend Lord Durham in Canada. Durham had been appointed by the British Government to sort out problems between the French and British settlers and, within a period of six months, they succeeded to defuse the situation and bring harmony to local government in the colony. Much praise was bestowed upon the negotiating skills of Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
Back in England in 1838, Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his son Edward Jerningham Wakefield became involved with the New Zealand Company and actively recruited settlers to sail on their ship, the Tory, for the ninety-six day voyage to the new settlements at Port Nicholson and Nelson. His brother William was to sail on this first voyage and, following on from this success, another eight sailings, using chartered ships, brought emigrants to New Zealand. His brother Arthur and his sister’s son, Charles Torlese, led the expeditions to settle the Nelson district in the South Island whilst William managed the North Island settlement. Several other members of the Wakefield family eventually settled in New Zealand. In 1847 the British Government bought out the interests and land holdings of the New Zealand Company and transferred them to colonial government control. Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his son then teamed up with Robert Godley in promoting a new Church of England sponsored settlement in Canterbury and in 1850 Edward’s son sailed with the first settlers, with the father joining him in 1852. But Edward Gibbon Wakefield was disillusioned with the Canterbury settlement and after one month shifted to Wellington (as it was now called) where he remained until his death in 1862. He was elected to the General Assembly as an opposition member for Hutt Valley in a parliament led by Sir George Grey. Wakefield clashed with Grey (a Freemason) over land sales policies and in one instance, he unsuccessfully petitioned the Crown Commissioner to grant an injunction to prevent a sale of crown land. The Crown Commissioner was no other than his cousin, Francis Dillon Bell, who later, as Sir Fr888 it was given the new number ‘1’ under its new name. After reaching its centenary in 1920 its name changed again to Lodge of Antiquity No 1.
Freemasonry Down Under (The French):
In September 1802 two French naval vessels, Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste, were anchored in Port Jackson and whilst there held a “lodge” meeting at which a “colonist”, Anthony Fenn Kemp, was initiated. A certificate issued to “Bro” Kemp, now held in Sydney’s Mitchell Library, states in hand written French that the lodge was not regularly constituted, but properly assembled with the presiding brother being a member of the Metropolitan Chapter of Paris which was then the ruling body for the Rite of Perfection (25 degrees) which included the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason degrees.
It is interesting to note that, as stated by MWBro Clarke in his Blaikie Lecture, Anthony Kemp was a Captain attached to the New South Wales Corps stationed at Port Jackson and that the Artillery Officer (and therefore a senior officer) of the Port Jackson battery was Bro George Bridges Bellasis. The war between France and England had ended only months before with the signing of the Treaty of Amiens on 21 March 1802 but these two French ships, on a scientific expedition under the control of Commodore Nicholas Baudin of the Le Geographe, had been sailing in Australian waters for nearly a year before they came into Sydney in June for replenishment stores. They did not sail again until November, so the crews had five months to fraternise with the settlers and the military personnel ashore.
Captain Kemp was heavily involved in a trade bringing spirits into the colony much to Governor King’s disgust. When the Atlas arrived with a cargo of brandy in September 1802, King forbade it being landed ashore but he did allow eight hundred gallons of the shipment to be sold to Baudin to replenish his ships. Kemp was furious and accused some of the French officers of on-selling the brandy to settlers. King ordered an investigation and, finding the complaint unfounded, directed Kemp to officially apologise to the French officers concerned.
Kemp’s subsequent “raising” as a Master Mason on board one of the French ships, with Bro Bellasis acting as Tyler, on the 17th September shows that the apology had been accepted. RWBro Linford contends that Governor King knew of the Masonic meeting but was probably well satisfied that the Freemasons involved posed no threat to his administration, a different story than that with Bro Hayes, as reported above.
It is also recorded that Lodge Rameau d’Or d’Eleus (The Legend of the Golden Acacia) was formed by French gold miners at Ballarat (Victoria) in 1856 and that it had applied for recognition by the English Constitution lodge already in existence in the same town. Recently (1992) a French language lodge was constituted in Sydney.
In New Zealand the French are also credited with holding the first Masonic meeting in the new colony. RWBro George Barclay, PDepGM, and the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand (1921 – 1932) quotes in his paper Freemasonry on Banks Peninsula as printed in The Extinct Lodges of New Zealand, that in a letter VWBro A H Julius, PGC, wrote to him he states In 1837 (month not known) four whalers anchored in Port Levy. They were “full” ships and called in to fill their water casks for the home voyage. I cannot ascertain the names of the ships but the captain of one of them was named L’Anglais. He was a Frenchman and a Freemason under the Grand Orient of France. There were other Freemasons aboard the ships and while at anchor in Port Levy, Capt L’Anglais got the Freemasons together on his own ship and a meeting was held on board. The tyler at this meeting was the father of WBro E X LeLiever, now residing in Akaroa and at one time a member of Lodge Akaroa No 1666 (EC). What took place at the meeting we do not know? Capt L’Anglais and Mr LeLiever Senior returned to New Zealand later in the French emigrant ship “Comte de Paris” and settled in Akaroa.
In an article published in the New Zealand Masonic Journal of 1st September 1888 it is stated that three persons were initiated at this meeting held on board the whaler, but the authority for verifying this statement is not mentioned. Also, in a slightly contradictory report given by RWBro F G Northern, PDepGM and Grand Secretary, GLNZ (1952 – 1967) in his History of Grand Lodge of A, F & A Masons of New Zealand 1890 –1970 he states the captain of a whaling ship, Captain L’Anglois (note different spelling), a Freemason under the Grand Orient of France, gathered together all the Freemasons on the ships then in port, and held a meeting on the vessel “Comte de Paris”.
From the ancestry.com website we learn that the Comte de Paris was a 550 ton ship chartered by the Nant-Bordelaise Company (with L’Anglois as captain) to bring the first French settlers from Bordeaux to Akaroa. They limped into the shelter of Banks Peninsula on the 9th August 1840 under a jury-set mast and sail in the middle of a severe winter and after a difficult five-month journey. The hopes of establishing a French colony on New Zealand soil were soon dashed, when they arrived to find the British flag flying at Akaroa. None-the-less they disembarked and got stuck into building the settlement and so successful were they that even today Akaroa promotes itself as a French village with many of the inhabitants being descendents of those first settlers. Of the sixty-three settlers who embarked in France, two died during the voyage and one baby was born. Amongst the settlers was Francois Lelievre, listed as a “sailor” on the passenger list. Was he the Mr Le Liever Senior mentioned in the “Julius letter”? A son was born to Emeri and Rose Malmanchie two months after landing in New Zealand. He was the second pakeha child born in the South Island.
Captain L’Anglois also came ashore and settled in Akaroa on the land he had purchased from the Maori owners on an earlier voyage. Capt J Langlois of the ship “Cachelot”, whose purchase in August that year (1838) of land from the Maoris led to the attempt to found a French colony in Akaroa … was one of three members of the Craft who played an important part in the French colonising project (Hewland).
The New Zealand Pacific Lodge No 517 (EC) passed a resolution at its May 1843 meeting to elect Messieurs de la Perrotierre, Danger and Guyon (all crew on the warship L’Rhin that may have been in Port Nicholson at that time) as honorary members. In return de la Perrotierre stated that he would arrange for the new French Lodge in Akaroa to elect three members of New Zealand Pacific Lodge as honorary members (refer Barclay). The short-lived Lodge Francaise Primitive Antipodienne (or Primitive Antipodienne Francaise Loge d’Akaroa No 86 – warrant dated 19 August 1843 from the Supreme Council of the Antient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Paris)did not include L’Anglois nor Lelievre amongst its list of members.
Viscount de la Perrotierre, the surgeon on board one of the two French frigates, L’Rhin and L’Aube, which had arrived at Akaroa before or soon after the Comte de Paris, was named as principal officer along with four other ship’s officers (Danger, Guyon, Tonerre and Chevin), two French “colonists” (Gendron and Francois), the resident British “sheriff” (Charles Robinson) and the Collector of Customs (Cooper). Robinson was a lawyer sent by Governor Hobson on HMS Britomart to raise the flag and proclaim the South Island as a British possession. He was fluent in French and remained as the Akaroa Magistrate until he returned to England in 1846. Cooper later transferred to Timaru as Collector of Customs at that settlement.
Although it gained support from the new English Constitution lodge in Wellington, it did not survive. It appears that with the departure of the frigates, membership lapsed and the lodge ceased to operate.
An attempt to establish a French lodge in Wellington in 1890 also failed. Up until the Grand Lodge of New Zealand was formed in 1890, New Zealand was Masonically a no-mans-land – any Constitution could consecrate a lodge in the territory. Two previous attempts to form a Grand Lodge of New Zealand had failed and a third attempt was mounted after both South Australia and New South Wales had successfully established themselves as Grand Lodges in 1884. One of the most vociferous opponents of the formation was the English Constitution’s VWBro Sir Robert Stout, PAsstGDC, Deputy District Grand Master (Otago and Southland) and Past Master of Lodge Dunedin No 931, as well as being a Member of Parliament. Sometime between 1887 and 1889, he (Sir Robert Stout) had applied for and been granted a Commission from the Grand Orient of France for a lodge to meet in Wellington (Vialoux). Stout announced the formation of Lodge L’Armour de la Verite (Love and Truth) and held its first meeting in Wellington on Sunday, 30th June 1890. After the Grand Orient of France had removed all reference to a Supreme Being from its ritual in 1877, it was not recognised by the three “home” Grand Lodges, hence Stout’s lodge was not received favourably by the English, Irish and Scottish lodges. A complaint from English Constitution brethren to the United Grand Lodge of England about VWBro Stout’s actions was upheld and his Grand Lodge ranking as PAsstGDC was removed, but he was allowed to remain as DepDistGM and a member of Lodge Dunedin. Stout then resigned as DepDistGM and from his lodge and nothing more heard from him or the French lodge.
This attempt by the French had a direct bearing on NSW’s recognition of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand in 1890. RWBro Remington, PGW, speaking to the motion before the Grand Lodge of New South Wales to formally recognise the new Grand Lodge of New Zealand, stated … if any argument was needed to prove that the establishment of a supreme governing body had become absolutely necessary it would be found in the news cabled from New Zealand that a warrant for the opening of a Lodge under the Grand Orient of France had been received in the capital city of Wellington. If … a British Colony was liable to be also invaded by a foreign Grand Orient in this way, it was high time that Supreme Jurisdiction … should be claimed (Vialoux).
Freemasonry Down Under (New Zealand):
The first documentary proof of the presence of Freemasons amongst the early colonists in New Zealand was in the 31st July 1841 issue of the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette within which was reported the following: The Gentlemen of Auckland, who are Freemasons, appeared with the decorations and insignia of their order… for the laying of the foundation stone for St Paul’s Presbyterian Church in the centre of Auckland.
As Bro G A Gribbin, the Grand Secretary for the Provincial Grand Lodge of New Zealand, Irish Constitution, stated in his 1909 publication of “The History of the Ara Lodges”, In those days, Freemasons in the colonies desirous of forming a lodge, could either petition a Grand Lodge for a Warrant, or apply to the nearest craft lodge for a Dispensation. So it was that Auckland Freemasons petitioned the Australian Social Lodge No 260 (IC) for a Dispensation to form a lodge in Auckland.
This petition was successful and a Dispensation dated 5th September 1842 duly arrived in Auckland in time for the Auckland Social Lodge (as it was first known) to hold their first meeting in February 1843. At this meeting, Bro Frederick Whitaker was appointed by vote to act as Worshipful Master until the arrival of such as those who had applied for the Dispensation, and were qualified by rank, to fulfil the offices of the Lodge (Croker). Bro’s William Leech, William Mason and William Turner had been the three who signed the petition, but none were present for this first meeting. Of the three brethren who signed the petition for Dispensation in 1842 only Bro Leech subsequently joined the new lodge.
The Lodge was opened in the First Degree and Bro Moses then presented to the officers and members of the Lodge a Dispensation granted by Lodge No 260 in Sydney, also five jewels and a printed code of bylaws, being a loan from the aforementioned Lodge to their Brethren in Auckland (Hulse). The Dispensation stated that it was valid for two years or until the pleasure of the Grand Lodge be made known (Gribbin). An emergency meeting was held two days later, with Whitaker as Master, where a decision was made to accept a list of implements and furniture that the lodge would need and to authorise Bro Joseph, who was about to travel to Sydney, to obtain them whilst there.
During the two years working under the Dispensation and without Bro Leech turning up to assume his Mastership, the lodge met twenty-six times, initiated twenty brethren and affiliated six joining members. They had purchased a section of land in Princes Street and had erected the Masonic Hotel on it with provision for a lodge room upstairs. Meetings continued without any degree work until July 1847 when they were to have the Lodge No 348 Charter, dated 12 June 1844 that had at last arrived from Ireland presented to the lodge. Bro Leech still had not appeared and as the Charter was consigned to him the lodge was unable to officially receive it. He did not appear until a meeting in January 1849 when the Charter was formally presented and WBro Leech installed as Master.
Later that same year Bro McDonald of the Australian Social Lodge paid a visit to the lodge from Sydney and enquired after the jewels loaned in 1843. The Master stated that a search of the written records showed that, although he himself was unaware that the jewels were on loan, they were indeed the property of Australian Social Lodge. He agreed to hand them back to Bro McDonald with the grateful thanks of the brethren. An arrangement was then made to order new jewels to be made at a cost of nine shillings per ounce.
The name Ara was first recorded in Minutes of the October 1850 meeting. During the first seven years of the lodge’s existence, the records of all meetings are headed “Minutes of the Proceedings of a Masonic Lodge held in Auckland on …”, but on two occasions … it was referred to as “Auckland Social Lodge” (Gribbin). Unfortunately there is no written record whatever as to why the name “Ara” was adopted or as to the meaning of the word. There are three possible meanings:
- The Constellation known as ARA consisting of twenty stars seen about 400 from the South Pole and therefore visible from New Zealand.
- The Latin word for an altar.
- A Maori word meaning, as a verb, “to arise” or “to awake”, and as a noun, “a pathway or road”
The consensus of opinion is that it was the Constellation’s name chosen for the lodge, as most of the original members had an association with ships and seafaring. But Ara Lodge No 348 brethren are not certain of that.
The following advert appeared in “The Colonist and Port Nicholson Advisor” on 9 August 1842: Brethren of the Order are requested to attend a meeting of the fraternity at The Southern Cross Hotel, this evening, Tuesday August 9 at half past eight o’clock to consider the propriety of applying for a warrant to hold a lodge in Port Nicholson. As a result, WBro George Smith, a Past Master of the Royal Perseverance Lodge in London left immediately for Sydney (Goodall)with a petition for permission to form a lodge in their settlement. With support from the Lodge of Australia No 548 (EC), a Dispensation was granted by the recently appointed (1839) Deputy Provincial Grand Master for Australasia, RWBro George Nichols, which was dated the 9th September 1842 (Note: Four days later than the Auckland Dispensation). George Smith was then installed as Master of the new lodge, New Zealand Pacific, in the Lodge of Australia before he sailed back to Wellington with the Provincial Warrant. He held his first meeting to invest his officers on 23rd November 1842. The Warrant for New Zealand Pacific No 758 (EC) arrived from England in 1846.
By 1842 Port Nicholson, due to the settlement programme of the New Zealand Company and the Wakefield’s had a population approaching four thousand. Shops, hotels, banks, trade and professional businesses were operating along with two newspapers. There was no hospital but several doctors were in practice and a private school had started. If the founders (of New Zealand Pacific Lodge) were driven purely by social desires, these would have easily been satisfied by joining one of the two gentleman’s clubs (Chapman), but they chose to join a Masonic Lodge.
The first settlers arrived in Canterbury in 1850. A meeting of Freemasons was held on the upper floor of Bro Alport’s store in Port Cooper (now Lyttleton) on 23rd October 1851. A Dispensation was applied for from New Zealand Pacific Lodge to work a Lodge of Instruction until a warrant arrived for the Lodge of Unanimity No 879 in May 1853. A second Charter arrived for St Augustine Lodge No 855 (EC) and the first meeting of this lodge was held in Christchurch in October the same year.
A meeting was held in Auckland on 24th August 1861 where a motion, that it is advisable that such a Scottish Lodge of Freemasons be established in Auckland (Hulse), was passed. They also chose the “42nd Rob Roy” tartan for the lodge brethren. A Dispensation was obtained from NSW and the first meeting was held on 9th December 1861, with Ara (IC) and Waitemata (EC) brethren taking a prominent part in the ceremony. Meanwhile the Scottish brethren in Dunedin had applied direct to the Grand Lodge of Scotland for a Charter that was issued to Otago Kilwinning Lodge No 417 on 4th November 1861 and arrived for their first meeting on 7th April 1862. The Warrant for The St Andrew Lodge No 418 (SC) was dated 2nd December 1861, thus Lodge 417 is the first Scottish Lodge to be Warranted in New Zealand but Lodge 418 is the oldest having had a meeting four months earlier than 417.
The Growth of District and Provincial Grand Lodges:
Lodge Ara granted a Dispensation to a petition from Bro William Leech to form a lodge in New Plymouth in 1853, but a Charter from England arrived first and the intended lodge became Mount Egmont Lodge No 670 (EC) instead of under the Irish Constitution.
In 1854 New Zealand Pacific Lodge formed Lodge Waitemata No 659 in Auckland and Lodge Southern Star No 735 in Nelson both under the English Constitution. This was followed by the consecration of Lodge Tongariro No 755 in Wanganui in 1857. New Zealand Pacific then petitioned to form a Provincial Grand Lodge for New Zealand, but with Canterbury about to form their third lodge in Kaiapoi they withdrew their support for the petition and decided to petition for their own Provincial Grand Lodge of Canterbury. This was granted in 1859.
Scinde Lodge No 419 (IC) in Napier 1858, Southern Cross Lodge No 760 (EC) in Kaiapoi 1859 and Lodge Otago 844 (EC) in Dunedin 1860, soon followed. Bro George Smith, the first Master of New Zealand Pacific was also the first Master of Lodge Otago.
With only two lodges constituted by 1858, none-the-less Ara petitioned the Grand Lodge of Ireland to approve the formation a Provincial Grand Lodge for the whole of New Zealand. This was granted in June 1859 with RWBro Cormack O’Rafferty as ProvGM, but he could not be invested as he had departed for Melbourne before the Patent of Office arrived. Bro Henry deBurgh Adams acted as his Deputy until O’Rafferty resigned in October 1864 and deBurgh Adams was appointed Provincial Grand Master.
As Deputy ProvGM, deBurgh Adams issued a Dispensation for Lodge Onehunga No 420 (with himself as Master) in 1863 followed by United Service Lodge No 421 in 1864. He was also the only Freemason to have a lodge named after him in his lifetime, Lodge DeBurgh Adams No 446 in New Plymouth that is still very active today (2007).
Provincial Grand Lodges were established under the English Constitution in Otago in 1864, Westland in 1870, Wellington in 1876 and Auckland in 1877.
The Scottish Constitution established a Provincial Grand Lodge for New Zealand in 1871 (based in Dunedin) with Bro Vincent Pyke as Provincial Grand Master, but in 1877 it was split between the South and North Islands creating two Provincial Grand Lodges. After some delay caused by the death of the Brother chosen to take office as Provincial Grand Master for the North Island, Bro Frederick Whitaker was persuaded to affiliate with the Scottish Constitution and accept the office. He was installed in November 1877. Bro John Hislop, who had succeeded Vincent Pyke as Provincial Grand Master New Zealand in 1874, continued as the ProvGM for New Zealand South. In 1882 the Grand Lodge of Scotland decreed that Provincial Grand Lodges would be in Scotland only and that all their overseas bodies would henceforth be known as “District Grand Lodges”.
The Formation of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand:
The three “home” Grand Lodges had over one hundred and fifty lodges chartered between them in New Zealand in 1889 operating under a total of nine Provincial or District Grand Lodges. It had been previously reported that the proliferation of District Grand Lodges was not universally approved. In some quarters there was strong dissatisfaction with their working and it was suggested that they should be disbanded (Northern). There was similar discontent with the number of Provinces administrating governance within New Zealand and in 1876 an Act of Parliament abolished the ten Provincial Councils and replaced them with central Government. Two prominent Freemasons led the movement for this abolition – Vincent Pyke, a Member of Parliament, and Edward Gillon, a Wellington journalist who wrote extensively advocating the abolition of the Provinces. Also in 1876, these two brethren were instrumental in a proposal for the lodges to form a Grand Lodge of New Zealand. The timing was not right and the proposal failed to gain support.
WBro Gillon, assisted this time by WBro Robert Hamerton, the first Master of Leinster Lodge No 44 (IC), who was a lawyer and the Public Trustee in Wellington, made another attempt in 1883 to get a Grand Lodge formed. This too did not gain enough support to proceed.
Following the formation of Grand Lodges in South Australia and in New South Wales, WBro Gillon, in February 1889, chaired a meeting in Wellington of brethren from nineteen lodges that passed a motion by 18:1 to proceed with the formation of a Grand Lodge of New Zealand. Every lodge in the colony was invited to send a representative to a meeting to be held in Wellington in September 1889. Of the one hundred and fifty-one lodges invited, sixty-five agreed at that meeting to join the proposed new Grand Lodge. By February 1890, ninety-two lodges were in favour, twenty-one declined, thirty-four were undecided and four were in dormancy prior to handing in their Charter. The Grand Lodge of New Zealand was constituted in Christchurch on 29th April 1890 when MWBro Henry Thompson was installed as Grand Master. One of his first actions as Grand Master was to invest RWBro E T Gillon as Past Deputy Grand Master in recognition of his efforts in getting the Grand Lodge formed.
Due to opposition, mainly from the English Provincial and the Scottish District Grand Masters, the three “home” Grand Lodges withheld recognition of the new Grand Lodge.
It was our Australian brethren that started the flow of reciprocal recognition with the Grand Lodge of New South Wales leading the way, followed closely by Victoria and Tasmania. But by the end of 1890 only one other Grand Lodge, the Grand Orient of Italy had given formal recognition. But by the time of the installation of the second Grand Master, MWBro Malcolm Nichol, was held in 1892, all of the Australian and most of the European and American Grand Lodges had formally recognised the Grand Lodge of New Zealand.
RWBro Gillon was able to report to the new Grand Master that regularity has been admitted by a very large number of other Supreme Bodies, amongst which are the Grand Lodges of Australia, which are best informed of our position and doings, and best qualified to judge us. For their prompt and generous recognition we can never be too grateful (Northern).
The United Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Lodge of Ireland gave recognition in 1898, with the Grand Lodge of Scotland acceding in 1899.
Personalities (in Alphabetical Order):
Henry deBurgh Adams, Provincial Grand Master for New Zealand (IC) 1864/1868, was initiated in Dublin in 1851. He served as a purveyor (procurer of supplies) with the British Army in the Crimea campaign before shifting to New Zealand in 1857 as the “ Chief Purveyor to the Army” and promptly joined Ara Lodge No 348, becoming their Master in 1861. During his eleven years in New Zealand he was instrumental in founding seven lodges under the Irish Constitution in Hawke’s Bay, Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki and Dunedin. When the regiment was recalled to England in 1868, deBurgh Adams went with it, but sadly he died in London the following year from complications caused by a ruptured stomach ulcer at the age of thirty-nine years, leaving a widow and six children.
George Bridges Bellasis, the Tyler at the meeting when Anthony Fenn Kemp was “raised” by the French in Sydney in 1802, was a Lieutenant in the employ of the East India Company’s security force, who, after killing a fellow officer in a duel, was sentenced to transportation. Within days of his arrival in Port Jackson, Governor King pardoned him and appointed him as his artillery officer in charge of the munitions in the New South Wales Corps.
Captain George Thomas Clayton, who led the procession to the laying of the Foundation Stone at St Paul’s church, was a Master Mariner and storeowner in Kororareka, arriving from Sydney in 1829. He is reputedly the son of Bro Samuel Clayton (Australian Social Lodge No 260). His brother William was the first Postmaster in Kororareka and both were in Auckland for the foundation stone procession but it is not certain whether they were residents there. George Clayton’s Bay of Islands store was sacked and razed to the ground in a protest by Maori dissidents in 1844 and at that date he returned to a seafaring career captaining many ships on the UK-Australasia run. He was the Captain of the Elizabeth when it was shipwrecked off the Tasmanian coast in 1847. The records of both the 48th Foot and its Military Lodge list a William Clayton – was he the same man as George Clayton’s brother and were they the sons of Samuel Clayton?
Sir Henry Browne Hayes, the convict who arranged for the letter to be written by British naval officers to Governor King in 1803 requesting permission to hold a lodge meeting in Port Jackson. A request that was declined. Sir Henry Browne Hayes was born in 1762, and served as one of the Sheriffs of the City of Cork in the year 1790, when he was knighted. He desired to marry a Miss Mary Pike, a considerable heiress, but instead of paying his court in the normal way, he enticed her from her home by a bogus message, and forcibly conveyed her to his house, where a man dressed as a priest was to conduct a marriage service. Miss Pike refused to be married by this or any other means, and was eventually released. For this, Sir Henry was declared an outlaw, and forced to flee with a reward of one thousand pounds offered for his apprehension. He remained at liberty for more than two years - living in public in Cork for most of the time - but on 13th April, 1801, he was placed on trial, found guilty and sentenced to death, even though there was a recommendation to mercy with the guilty verdict. He was a member of Lodge 71, Cork, and, on 9th July, 1801, the Lodge adopted a resolution, authorising the Master and Wardens to act for the Lodge in signing a Memorial (or Petition) addressed to the Provincial Grand Master of Munster, or to the Earl of Donoughmore, Grand Master of Ireland, in favour of our esteemed but unfortunate Brother, Sir Henry Browne Hayes (Lepper & Crossle). The sentence was commuted to transportation for life, and Sir Henry sent to Botany Bay. After some time he openly fraternised with officers of the two British ships in harbour (the Glatton and the Buffalo) and managed to get them to write the letter to Governor King. The request was refused mainly because Governor King was fearful of Hayes fraternisation, not with the naval officers, but with Maurice Margarot, a Scots convict transported for sedition against the Crown. King suspected that he might have an insurrection on his hands when the “Scottish Martyr” and the “incendiary” (as King had referred to Margarot and Hayes in his despatches to the Colonial Office) got together and had ordered that they both be carefully watched. Hayes case was not helped with his personality dispute with the Corps surgeon, Thomas Jamison, with whom he had clashed whilst both were sailing to Port Jackson, Hayes as a prisoner and Jamison as a passenger returning from leave in England. It was Jamison who reported to the Governor about Hayes. Notwithstanding the refusal, it is reputed that Sir Henry did hold a meeting, at which he presided. He was arrested and ordered to Van Diemen's Land but somehow or other he escaped this fate. In 1805, Captain William Bligh (of Bounty fame) was appointed Governor of New South Wales; Sir Henry and he became great friends, and finally, through the Governor's good offices, he was pardoned. After his pardon he purchased land, which happened to be infested with snakes but, like a true son of St. Patrick, he imported five hundred bags of turf from Ireland (Lepper & Crossle) Needless to say, the snakes vanished. He left Sydney in December 1812, was wrecked on the Falkland Islands, and finally reached Dublin in July 1814. He died in Cork in May 1832, aged 70 years, and his remains lie in the family vault in the Crypt of Christ Church, Cork, but a few yards from the Masonic Hall.
John Hislop, a schoolteacher and the first Provincial Grand Master for New Zealand South (SC) in 1877, had never served as Master of a lodge when he was chosen to succeed Vincent Pyke as ProvGM for New Zealand in 1874 but was “instructed” in the ceremony of an Installed Master in the manner as was the custom in Scottish lodges prior to the Grand Lodge adopting the degree in 1872.
William Leech, named as Master Elect in the petition to Australian Social Lodge No 260 for a Dispensation to form a lodge in Auckland, was a member of the 48th Foot Regiment in India and NSW. He was initiated in the Military Lodge No 218 in India, joined Australian Social Lodge No 260 in 1820 and was still a member when the petition from Auckland was signed. It is not known how and why he came to Auckland but he was the brother who carried the trowel in the procession to the stone laying ceremony for St Paul’s church. Soon after he had finally been installed as Master of Ara Lodge No 348 (IC) in 1849 he moved to New Plymouth as the Collector of Customs, the Harbour Master and the Deputy Postmaster and was named in the petition for an Irish lodge in that town in 1854. When the Charter arrived from the United Grand Lodge of England (instead of the Irish), Bro Leech was appointed to install the first Master. He died in New Plymouth in 1860 aged sixty-two years.
William Mason, co-petitioner for the first lodge in New Zealand, was an architect who migrated to Sydney from England in 1838 to take up an architectural position for the Government from where Governor Hobson appointed him to sail with him as the Superintendent of Works in the Bay of Islands. William Mason was born in Ipswich, Suffolk in 1810 and studied under the renowned architect, Edward Blore. He assisted Blore in the rebuilding of both Lambeth and Buckingham Palaces in 1831 and worked with him on the designs of several churches, among which was St Botolph’s in Colchester. The foundation stone for this church was laid by local freemasons in May 1836 and within a month William Mason had been initiated in the British Union Lodge No 114 in Colchester. When Hobson shifted the capital from Kororareka to Auckland in 1841 Mason went with him. In Auckland he set up in partnership with Thomas Paton as Auctioneers, Architects and Shipping Agents (Wyatt) and was a founder and part owner of the “New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette” newspaper. It was in this paper that the advertisement calling for the Freemasons of Auckland to lay the foundation stone for St Paul’s church appeared under his name. Mason had designed the church and was the architect who supervised its building. He also designed and built Government House in 1848 that is still standing in Auckland. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1861, shifted to Dunedin to supervise the building of the first Bank of New Zealand in 1862 and remained there for the rest of his life building several iconic Otago buildings. He was elected as the first Mayor of Dunedin in 1865. He died in 1897.
Sir Frederick Whitaker, the first Master (albeit acting in the absence of the Charter Master) of Ara Lodge No 348 (IC) and an initiate of Alfred Lodge in Oxford, England (23 July 1839), arrived in the Bay of Islands from England, via New South Wales, in 1840 where he set up practice as a lawyer and solicitor. He also became involved with a partner, John Kelly, in land purchases in Kororareka and, after shifting in 1841, in Auckland. He was elected a Member of the Legislative Council in 1845 and remained in politics for over forty-five years, retiring shortly before his death in 1891. During this time he spent seven terms as the country’s Attorney General amongst many other posts, including a brief term as Premier of New Zealand in 1863/1864. In Auckland he set up a partnership with lawyer Thomas Russell and they were involved with legal administrative business regarding miners on the Thames goldfields. Sir Frederick Whitaker has been badly treated by modern “sociologically aware” historians. He undoubtedly made a lot of money from his (business) dealings, but when he died, he was found to be in very modest financial circumstances. He neither drank nor gambled – he had simply given his money away to deserving causes and nobody knew about it (Montgomery).
Fraternal Ties and Other Anecdotes (in Chronological Order):
The furniture, regalia and equipment used by the military lodges were stored in a wooden chest that became a recognised chattel of the regiment known as the “Masonic Chest”. It would have the lodge number with the Masonic symbol engraved on it. Often these chests were lost or captured in battle. The Lodge of Social and Military Virtues No 227 (IC)’s chest was captured on two occasions – first in the American War and later in a battle with the French on the island of Dominica. In America, General Washington ordered the immediate return of the chest to the regiment under an escort to ensure safe passage. The French shipped the chest back to France where it remained for three years before a French officer recognised what it was and arranged for its return to the regiment.
Soon after the formation of the Leinster Marine Lodge No 266 (IC) in 1824 a dispute arose over the passing of the By-laws that contained a rule excluding former convicts from joining or being initiated. The Grand Lodge of Ireland intervened and had the clause removed. It is reported that several of the foundation members resigned and the remaining brethren struggled for some years to get the lodge working harmoniously (Burne).
At the time of the union of the Antients and the Moderns to form the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813 there were 116 Antient, 25 Modern, 190 Irish and 21 Scottish military lodges chartered to operate throughout the world, although not all were active at that time. The end of the Napoleonic wars had seen regiments being disbanded along with their lodges. Scotland erased her last military lodge in 1860 and by 1889 there were only six Irish and two English lodges with travelling (or peripatetic) warrants. Some like the Lodge of Social and Military Virtues No 227 (IC) transferred their Warrant into a stationary lodge. In 1834 the 48th Foot Regiment was in Canada and the brethren petitioned the Grand Lodge of Ireland to allow them to become a stationary lodge in Montreal. This was granted, the Lodge changed its name and is now known as the Lodge of Antiquity No 1 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of Quebec.
Was there a lodge in the Bay of Islands? A dispute between brethren of Leinster Marine Lodge No 266 (IC) and Australian Social Lodge No 260 (IC) led to a written complaint being forwarded to the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1843. The letter outlined ten complaints about the attitude and actions of key members of 260 towards brethren in 266 that were upheld by the Grand Lodge and in a letter, dated 16 March 1843, the Master, Wardens, Treasurer and Secretary of Australian Social Lodge were suspended from all privileges of Freemasonry during the pleasure of Grand Lodge (Barclay). The letter also stated that the power of the lodge to issue dispensations was withdrawn. The brethren named were effectively the members of the Leinster Masonic Committee, the body authorised to administer the issuing of dispensations. As a result, a copy of this letter was sent to Lodge Bay of Islands, New Zealand (Barclay). Except for Leinster Marine’s files recording that the letter was sent, no other source can verify that a lodge was contemplated in the Bay of Islands at that time.
By March 1843 the brethren of New Zealand Pacific Lodge No 758 (EC) felt that they were suffering considerable inconvenience at banquets without the services of a regular tyler (Chapman). Even though an offer of free banquets and a small retainer fee had been made, none “volunteered”, so a decision was made to “invite” a person to set up and dismantle the lodge at each meeting, deliver summonses, care for the lodge’s furniture and wait on tables at lodge banquets. They found a gardener labourer willing to do those duties and in July he was proposed for membership, elected and initiated at the August meeting and appointed as permanent Tyler. He was the first member from the non-business or professional class to be so elected in the lodge.
The Minutes of Ara Lodge No 348 (IC) for December 1844 record that a brother was accused of being an escaped prisoner of the Crown who had disappeared from Parramatta Gaol in 1834. He denied this but failed to appear before a Board of his Brethren to answer the charge. He never attended that lodge again.
Further to the duel held between Bro’s Featherston and Wakefield in Wellington in 1847, it is reported that Dr Featherston fired first and missed, then William Wakefield fired into the air. Featherston’s request for another shot was declined by the two respective seconds, Bro’s Dr John Dorset and Francis Bell. Honour had been avenged. The dispute arose over animosity between the two when Wakefield did not invite his doctor (Featherston) to his daughter’s wedding. Featherston, as editor of the “Wellington Independent” newspaper, wrote a scathing article on the New Zealand Company’s land policy and accused William Wakefield of reneging on contracts. After the duel, Wakefield stated that he could not have shot a man who had seven daughters. Featherston, who went on father two more children, said in a letter to his eldest daughter that they had both benefited by our morning encounter and are now as good as friends as ever (Kerr). William Wakefield died of a heart attack the following year.
The first ten years of organised settlement in New Zealand were difficult indeed. Most necessities had to be imported and with funds running low the new settler soon learned that prosperity depended upon exports. The discovery of gold in Australia and California created a demand for farm produce and sheep meat and wool became the main earners that kept the New Zealand economy afloat. Then gold was discovered in New Zealand and the export of this valuable metal continued the prosperity cycle.
When Waitemata Lodge No 659 (EC) was constituted in 1854, the first Master, Bro Sir Samuel Gibbes, was also a member of the Ara Lodge No 348 (IC) as were twenty-seven of the thirty-five brethren present. The Master of Ara Lodge No 348 (IC), WBro James Buchanan, acted as the Installing Master on behalf of the Deputy Provincial Grand Master (EC) in Sydney. Sir Samuel Gibbes, who was a Past Master of Lodge 199 in Weymouth, England, and a Past Provincial GSW for Dorset (EC), soon after retired to live in Sydney and became the Provincial Grand Master for NSW in 1856.
In November 1865, Bro Frederick Whitaker as Superintendent of the Auckland Provincial Council representing the Government and Bro Henry deBurgh Adams as Provincial Grand Master (IC) representing the Freemasons, laid the foundation stone for the Supreme Court building in Auckland.
When the Charter for the Prince of Wales Lodge No 1338 (EC) arrived in Auckland by ship from England in September 1871, it was found to be damaged having been eaten by rats during the voyage. Fortunately the signatures of the Grand Master and the Grand Secretary were unaffected, so Bro Charles Heaphy, VC, a member of Ara Lodge No 348 (IC) and an artist of some esteem, offered to restore it. The restored Charter is still in use and on display in the Lodge.
A joint ceremony between the District Grand Lodge of Auckland (EC) and the Provincial Grand Lodge for New Zealand, North (SC) was held in Auckland on 30th November 1877. Bro F Whitaker having received his patent from the MW Grand Master of Scotland as Provincial Grand Master for the North Island of New Zealand, it was thought that it would tend to Masonic advancement if the erection of both District Grand Lodges were to take place at the same time so as to make one Masonic Holiday and Festival and the Installation Ceremonies rendered more imposing. Bro N B Spencer, in his paper on the first twenty years of the District Grand Lodge (EC), states that this was a quote from the District Grand Lodge’s record book.
Ara Lodge No 348 (IC) was one of the sixty-five lodges that in 1889 agreed to the formation of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, but when this fact was reported back to the lodge some of the brethren disagreed and resolved to continue to hold and use the Irish charter. Thus “half” of Ara Lodge became Ara Lodge No 1 (NZC) and the other “half” remained as Ara Lodge No 348 (IC). According to Masonic Law any three persons may hold a warrant in the event of a lodge intending to divest itself of Irish heritage (Cam).
When the new Grand Lodge of New Zealand numbered the lodges that had formed it, a decision was made to use the date on the lodge’s dispensation or charter as the criteria. Thus Ara Lodge, because its dispensation was dated four days earlier than that of New Zealand Pacific Lodge, became No 1 on the roll even though the Wellington lodge had held its first meeting two months before the Auckland lodge.
The delay in recognition of the new Grand Lodge of New Zealand by the three “home” Grand Lodges posed a problem for brethren of the remaining English, Scottish and Irish lodges in New Zealand, as they were not allowed to visit or receive visitors from any New Zealand Constitution lodge. When Sir Francis Bell became the Grand Master in 1894 he made it his mission to get recognition from the three Grand Lodges. He travelled to England in 1896 and requested an audience with the Grand Master, MWBro HRH The Prince of Wales, which resulted in recognition being favourably discussed at a special meeting of the United Grand Lodge of England on 29 July 1896. It took until 1898 before formal recognition was proclaimed, which was immediately followed by the Grand Lodge of Ireland and a little later by the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Conclusion:
Thus Australian Freemasonry played a crucial part in the establishment of Warranted lodges in New Zealand under the Irish and English Constitutions. The Grand Lodge of Scotland was later in coming to Australasia, but their Provincial Grand Lodge of New South Wales played a part in the formation of one of the first Scottish lodges in New Zealand in 1861.
Duty, honour and gratitude to those who founded the Institution and laboured for its stability, bind us to be faithful to the trust and heritage now in our keeping and which we are to transmit enriched and bettered by our efforts to those who follow us (Young).
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