Post by Tamrin on Nov 27, 2008 18:11:13 GMT 10
Freemasonry in London and Sydney, Australia,
circa 1788
[Excerpt, Article by Dan Byrnes, www.danbyrnes.com.au/ - Linked Above]
circa 1788
[Excerpt, Article by Dan Byrnes, www.danbyrnes.com.au/ - Linked Above]
SYDNEY, Australia, was settled by the British on 26 January, 1788, as a small and unprepossessing convict colony. This article presents information proposing that the initiative, which was quite creative in geopolitical and other terms of the day, was influenced to a debateable extent by men who were Freemasons. The question is: does this matter at all?
Further, that pursuit of the evidence leads one to dispute noted critics of English Freemasonry, as well as to dispute with at least one classic apologist for English Freemasonry, John Hamill.
(John Hamill, The Craft: A History of English Freemasonry. London, Crucible, 1986, [Hamill is librarian, United Grand Lodge of England.])
Further, that there is too little reliable information on the influence of Freemasonry in Britain during the reign of George III, from 1760. We now know that American Freemasons were influential before and during the course of the American War of Independence. But there is little information on the fallout-factors resulting in London amongst Freemasons there once it was known that the American had won their war.
See Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840. Institute of Early American History and Culture, University of North Carolina Press, 1996. ISBN 0-80872282-5.
(See also, A. Ralph Epperson, The Unseen Hand; An Introduction to the Conspiratorial View of History. Tuscon, Arizona, Publius Press, 1985. Thirteenth printing of 1992.)
Further, that the discussion leads to matters too-little discussed concerning the American Revolution, the aftermath in England of the Revolution; to a little-known visit made to London by Thomas Jefferson in the timeframe of the recent movie, Jefferson in Paris; and that once the evidence is considered, matters will look and feel a little different (?).
Meanwhile, to suggest that Freemasons had an influence in early Australian colonial history is not, by 2000, a particularly original suggestion, and I have spoken with one Australian Freemason who over 25 years ago explored notions that the first governor of Britain's new convict colony, Captain Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), was a Freemason. This proposal gained no credence from evidence available in London at that time (and I have checked since, only to draw a similar blank). My own view is that Governor Phillip was not just "a Freemason", but a useful and productive one. There is, however, not a shred of documentary proof for such a view.
Further, that pursuit of the evidence leads one to dispute noted critics of English Freemasonry, as well as to dispute with at least one classic apologist for English Freemasonry, John Hamill.
(John Hamill, The Craft: A History of English Freemasonry. London, Crucible, 1986, [Hamill is librarian, United Grand Lodge of England.])
Further, that there is too little reliable information on the influence of Freemasonry in Britain during the reign of George III, from 1760. We now know that American Freemasons were influential before and during the course of the American War of Independence. But there is little information on the fallout-factors resulting in London amongst Freemasons there once it was known that the American had won their war.
See Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840. Institute of Early American History and Culture, University of North Carolina Press, 1996. ISBN 0-80872282-5.
(See also, A. Ralph Epperson, The Unseen Hand; An Introduction to the Conspiratorial View of History. Tuscon, Arizona, Publius Press, 1985. Thirteenth printing of 1992.)
Further, that the discussion leads to matters too-little discussed concerning the American Revolution, the aftermath in England of the Revolution; to a little-known visit made to London by Thomas Jefferson in the timeframe of the recent movie, Jefferson in Paris; and that once the evidence is considered, matters will look and feel a little different (?).
Meanwhile, to suggest that Freemasons had an influence in early Australian colonial history is not, by 2000, a particularly original suggestion, and I have spoken with one Australian Freemason who over 25 years ago explored notions that the first governor of Britain's new convict colony, Captain Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), was a Freemason. This proposal gained no credence from evidence available in London at that time (and I have checked since, only to draw a similar blank). My own view is that Governor Phillip was not just "a Freemason", but a useful and productive one. There is, however, not a shred of documentary proof for such a view.
