Australian Freemasons.

One of our members  - Norrie Telfer handed in an interesting article from a New South Wales newspaper which his sister sent over. Here is part of the article,

"For hundreds of years, it`s been a secret club where men wear aprons and greet each other with mysterious handshakes and confidential passwords.

But that`s all about to change. Now the concealed world of the Freemason is about to be laid bare for all to see. 

Once identifiable only by their conservative black ties, suits and cases as they crept at night into community masonic halls, Freemasons are now willing to reveal almost everything to shake off hundreds of years of ridicule and mystery - even to wearing "I am a Freemason"

T-shirts.

For the first time they`ll exhibit at the Royal Easter Show and open their doors of their Lodges to the general public. It`s all about putting a public face on the mysterious world of fellowships, says the Most Worshipful Grand Master, George Curry. "You find some terrible stuff about what the Freemasons are supposed to be all about".

"Now we`re wearing Freemason shirts, caps and ties and you`ll see more and more of it. We`ve even got a publicity officer - and she`s a lady".

 "Freemasonry is an organisation which does a lot of good for other people - it just hasn`t been very good at talking about itself".

“Freemasonry”, said The Grand Master, “unified men of high ideals regardless of colour, religion or status”.

In Australia, Freemasonry can be traced to the First Fleet`s arrival

Sir Joseph Banks is said to have led early settlers into Freemasonry. There are more than 100,000 Freemasons in Australia with around 23,000 in NSW. There are 450 Lodges in NSW which are organised into 60 Districts and 11 regions. 

Seems to be that Freemasons are standing up and being counted all over the world !