Artefacts
A Certificate of the Order of Ancient Britons Friendly Society.
Banner of Uralla, NSW,
Juvenile AOF.
Juvenile AOF.
Personalities?
Trickery?
Responses? write to:
90 Henry St,
Tighes Hill. NSW. 2297.
Trickery?
Responses? write to:
90 Henry St,
Tighes Hill. NSW. 2297.
The fraternal approach may be visible in such practices as:
* the 'lodge' rites and the conviviality, certain, allocated tasks within 'lodge'; and
* in public acts of 'lodge' benevolence towards individuals, and/or in 'public spiritedness' within the community.
BUT is also embodied in:
* regalia, including jewels, ribbons, etc, used to distinguish insiders (initiated 'brothers' or 'sisters') from outsiders (those not initiated), to distinguish degrees or levels of achievement from one another;
* buildings, which have been created to physically represent the spiritual/religious dimension; and
* artefacts used for less profound purposes, such as public display, eg, banners, drum & fife bands, floats, games & sports; or
* secular/business materials, eg ballot, boxes, signs & plaques, office equipment, paper records.
In more detail:
RELIGIOUS
- Bibles
- Iconographic representations such as tracing boards
- Some lodge furniture and/or personal items
- Lectures or 'Charges.'
* a 'tracing board' is a physical representation of the spiritual dimension relative to a particular Order or Degree. Done in various media, it contained symbols which were explained in lodge to impart specific knowledge to initiates.
SECRET SOCIETY
- Ritual & Code Books
- Passwords & Signs
- Regalia, including jewels & awards, charters, certificates
- Signs of office
- Some lodge furniture, eg, 'altar' cloths, teaching aids
- Buildings & structures.
* some ritual books were written wholly in code while others had words wholly or partly missing.
* secret signs, codes and passwords were of course likely to excite government suspicions and were rarely published or made easily available. Examples are thus rare. New passwords were still being issued in some cases as this text was being written.
* 'Jewels' were usually in the form of a medal, with ribbon/s and a metallic 'token', which were presented with ceremony. They were usually worn on regalia such as a collar or sash. The metal used varied as did the quality and the amount of engraving.
* 'Signs of Office' ranged from items such as a 'wand' or staff held in the hand, to embroidered initials on regalia, to ornate and quite specific costumes, to the location of one's position in the lodge marked with specific furniture/artefacts.
* There was nothing in a lodge room which did not have a specified purpose. All colours, all wall 'decorations', all the furnishings had symbolic or functional meaning, and most had both.
CONVIVIAL
- Plates, glasses, etc
- Song books
- Social & entertainment equipment, including musical instruments
- Sporting equipment
- Trophies
- Records, books & photos
* Freemasons refer to the location of conviviality as 'the South'. When not 'in the South' lodges are either 'working' or closed.
* social events had their own rites and devices, eg, 'Kentish Fire' or 'Foresters Fire', etc, referring to how toasts were given and celebrated by smashing the glasses, stamping of feet, etc.
INDUSTRIAL/POLITICAL
- Records relating to trade protection, material generated for issues lobbying eg, temperance, liquor trading, child protection, prostitution, federation, land conservation, industrial relations, graft & corruption, health & welfare.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
- Records & items relating to health support, eg, 'Hospital Sunday'
- Sports
- Education
- Leadership
- Displays
- Buildings, some lodge furniture, eg, Honour Boards.
BENEFIT/FINANCIAL
- All records of Funds, eg members' registers, money boxes
- Seals
- Records relating to health provision, eg, agreements with doctors.
A number of 'Orders' had separate Female and Male 'lodges', and therefore there can be female and male versions.
* Where there was a Juvenile Order, a training ground for the adult 'lodge', a modified ritual was used with a plainer, smaller-sized regalia. However, 'lodge' rites were taken seriously and adult 'Superintendents' taught special rules, ceremonies, etc. Always difficult to staff and keep going, nevertheless in the 20th century a further surge in interest, among established churches led to children's 'lodges' as adjuncts to 'Sunday schools' again with secret signs, passwords and regalia.
* The local Masonic temple was not only used for Freemasonry events, a 'Foresters Hall' or an 'Odd Fellows Hall' did not just host activities of that particular 'Order'. Thus some buildings are more important than others. Some hotels, some schools, some community halls, and some chemists, also functioned as long-term 'lodge' headquarters and need consideration for heritage significance on these grounds. Many buildings have disappeared and many items have been sent to the tip or have mouldered away. However, my experience says that many others remain to be found, and that at least some of these will be the most historically significant.
* Sydney's Loyal Orange Lodges held their annual march and meeting in the Town Hall for a number of years, thus it's not inconceivable that memorabilia is held within Sydney Council records. The Australian Natives Association (ANA) lobbied governments on many issues, including Federation in the push for which it played a major role. Thus I would expect significant material to be held in Parliamentary Libraries, Departmental Archives, etc. I have located important banners in presbytery broom cupboards, behind Trades Hall doors, and in sheds far from their expected locations.
An unknown percentage of regalia, Rule Books, Charters and Dispensations was produced in the 19th and the 20th centuries. Some locally-produced material reproduced the overseas materials exactly, and some did not. At present, I have the names of only a few local professional producers, so remain doubtful about how many local producers there were, or the details of their manufacturing processes. Nor do I know what might distinguish their productions from those overseas items, if anything.
Local production and local 'badging' was driven to some extent by 'Orders' breaking away from 'Head Office', the 'Buffaloes' being a case in point:
The RAOB, GSB (Grand Surrey Banner) seem to have been the first manifestation of the 'Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes' to appear in NSW, with a 'Bulletin Lodge' in Sydney in 1882. A rival 'Order' the RAOB, GLE (Grand Lodge of England) established the 'Shakespeare (Mother) Lodge' in 1884. By 1889 there were also Sydney lodges representing
the Grand Marine Banner,
the Grand Independent Banner,
the Grand Executive (1 Lodge), and
the GLE Ltd.
Amalgamation talks started in 1913, and in 1914 the RAOB, GAB (Grand Australasian Banner) was formed, incorporating the GSB, the GIB, and the GMB. The GLE and GLE Ltd refused to align themselves but later some of their lodges did join.
Items procured recently through Ebay, the US on-line auction site, are of local relevance and importance because so much has already been lost here, and because many of these overseas-bought items are indistinguishable from what would have been used in this country, having been made for universal distribution. Further research is needed in this area.
* the 'lodge' rites and the conviviality, certain, allocated tasks within 'lodge'; and
* in public acts of 'lodge' benevolence towards individuals, and/or in 'public spiritedness' within the community.
BUT is also embodied in:
* regalia, including jewels, ribbons, etc, used to distinguish insiders (initiated 'brothers' or 'sisters') from outsiders (those not initiated), to distinguish degrees or levels of achievement from one another;
* buildings, which have been created to physically represent the spiritual/religious dimension; and
* artefacts used for less profound purposes, such as public display, eg, banners, drum & fife bands, floats, games & sports; or
* secular/business materials, eg ballot, boxes, signs & plaques, office equipment, paper records.
In more detail:
RELIGIOUS
- Bibles
- Iconographic representations such as tracing boards
- Some lodge furniture and/or personal items
- Lectures or 'Charges.'
* a 'tracing board' is a physical representation of the spiritual dimension relative to a particular Order or Degree. Done in various media, it contained symbols which were explained in lodge to impart specific knowledge to initiates.
SECRET SOCIETY
- Ritual & Code Books
- Passwords & Signs
- Regalia, including jewels & awards, charters, certificates
- Signs of office
- Some lodge furniture, eg, 'altar' cloths, teaching aids
- Buildings & structures.
* some ritual books were written wholly in code while others had words wholly or partly missing.
* secret signs, codes and passwords were of course likely to excite government suspicions and were rarely published or made easily available. Examples are thus rare. New passwords were still being issued in some cases as this text was being written.
* 'Jewels' were usually in the form of a medal, with ribbon/s and a metallic 'token', which were presented with ceremony. They were usually worn on regalia such as a collar or sash. The metal used varied as did the quality and the amount of engraving.
* 'Signs of Office' ranged from items such as a 'wand' or staff held in the hand, to embroidered initials on regalia, to ornate and quite specific costumes, to the location of one's position in the lodge marked with specific furniture/artefacts.
* There was nothing in a lodge room which did not have a specified purpose. All colours, all wall 'decorations', all the furnishings had symbolic or functional meaning, and most had both.
CONVIVIAL
- Plates, glasses, etc
- Song books
- Social & entertainment equipment, including musical instruments
- Sporting equipment
- Trophies
- Records, books & photos
* Freemasons refer to the location of conviviality as 'the South'. When not 'in the South' lodges are either 'working' or closed.
* social events had their own rites and devices, eg, 'Kentish Fire' or 'Foresters Fire', etc, referring to how toasts were given and celebrated by smashing the glasses, stamping of feet, etc.
INDUSTRIAL/POLITICAL
- Records relating to trade protection, material generated for issues lobbying eg, temperance, liquor trading, child protection, prostitution, federation, land conservation, industrial relations, graft & corruption, health & welfare.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
- Records & items relating to health support, eg, 'Hospital Sunday'
- Sports
- Education
- Leadership
- Displays
- Buildings, some lodge furniture, eg, Honour Boards.
BENEFIT/FINANCIAL
- All records of Funds, eg members' registers, money boxes
- Seals
- Records relating to health provision, eg, agreements with doctors.
A number of 'Orders' had separate Female and Male 'lodges', and therefore there can be female and male versions.
* Where there was a Juvenile Order, a training ground for the adult 'lodge', a modified ritual was used with a plainer, smaller-sized regalia. However, 'lodge' rites were taken seriously and adult 'Superintendents' taught special rules, ceremonies, etc. Always difficult to staff and keep going, nevertheless in the 20th century a further surge in interest, among established churches led to children's 'lodges' as adjuncts to 'Sunday schools' again with secret signs, passwords and regalia.
* The local Masonic temple was not only used for Freemasonry events, a 'Foresters Hall' or an 'Odd Fellows Hall' did not just host activities of that particular 'Order'. Thus some buildings are more important than others. Some hotels, some schools, some community halls, and some chemists, also functioned as long-term 'lodge' headquarters and need consideration for heritage significance on these grounds. Many buildings have disappeared and many items have been sent to the tip or have mouldered away. However, my experience says that many others remain to be found, and that at least some of these will be the most historically significant.
* Sydney's Loyal Orange Lodges held their annual march and meeting in the Town Hall for a number of years, thus it's not inconceivable that memorabilia is held within Sydney Council records. The Australian Natives Association (ANA) lobbied governments on many issues, including Federation in the push for which it played a major role. Thus I would expect significant material to be held in Parliamentary Libraries, Departmental Archives, etc. I have located important banners in presbytery broom cupboards, behind Trades Hall doors, and in sheds far from their expected locations.
An unknown percentage of regalia, Rule Books, Charters and Dispensations was produced in the 19th and the 20th centuries. Some locally-produced material reproduced the overseas materials exactly, and some did not. At present, I have the names of only a few local professional producers, so remain doubtful about how many local producers there were, or the details of their manufacturing processes. Nor do I know what might distinguish their productions from those overseas items, if anything.
Local production and local 'badging' was driven to some extent by 'Orders' breaking away from 'Head Office', the 'Buffaloes' being a case in point:
The RAOB, GSB (Grand Surrey Banner) seem to have been the first manifestation of the 'Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes' to appear in NSW, with a 'Bulletin Lodge' in Sydney in 1882. A rival 'Order' the RAOB, GLE (Grand Lodge of England) established the 'Shakespeare (Mother) Lodge' in 1884. By 1889 there were also Sydney lodges representing
the Grand Marine Banner,
the Grand Independent Banner,
the Grand Executive (1 Lodge), and
the GLE Ltd.
Amalgamation talks started in 1913, and in 1914 the RAOB, GAB (Grand Australasian Banner) was formed, incorporating the GSB, the GIB, and the GMB. The GLE and GLE Ltd refused to align themselves but later some of their lodges did join.
Items procured recently through Ebay, the US on-line auction site, are of local relevance and importance because so much has already been lost here, and because many of these overseas-bought items are indistinguishable from what would have been used in this country, having been made for universal distribution. Further research is needed in this area.
With Apologies to Philip Jones, and his impressive 2007 Wakefield Press publication, Ochre and Rust:
(from the Introduction) 'Until recently museums have not been reflective institutions...Most collectors scarcely brushed against the lives of their subjects. But sometimes, in journals and letters, photographs or even museum registers, a particular intensity about those moments of engagement indicates that the object's own story can illuminate that zone of encounter...'
Jones was advocating 'reading' Australian Aboriginal artefacts and objects retrieved somehow after 'moments of engagement', sensitively and more completely. His plea has wide applicability.
In the fraternal society case, almost no regard has been given to the 'stories' held within objects. Although I have battled to rescue and preserve fraternal artefacts, and my 'collection' represents a step forward, it has in no way bridged the gap between what we know collectively and what we might know, given enough curiosity, integrity and moral courage.
(from the Introduction) 'Until recently museums have not been reflective institutions...Most collectors scarcely brushed against the lives of their subjects. But sometimes, in journals and letters, photographs or even museum registers, a particular intensity about those moments of engagement indicates that the object's own story can illuminate that zone of encounter...'
Jones was advocating 'reading' Australian Aboriginal artefacts and objects retrieved somehow after 'moments of engagement', sensitively and more completely. His plea has wide applicability.
In the fraternal society case, almost no regard has been given to the 'stories' held within objects. Although I have battled to rescue and preserve fraternal artefacts, and my 'collection' represents a step forward, it has in no way bridged the gap between what we know collectively and what we might know, given enough curiosity, integrity and moral courage.
Who knows where this banner might be now?