In this and following articles it is my purpose to explore the relationship between the Loyal Orange lodges of Newcastle and the lower Hunter, and the labour movement. The time period to be examined is from 1869 when stable long term lodges of the Loyal Orange Institution emerged in the Hunter until the defeat of Catholic Action in the Labor Party during the 1950s.
The theme of the articles will be that for this period of roughly eighty years there was a deep and intimate relationship between Loyal Orange lodge brothers (and sisters) and the labour movement, an assertion which is contrary to a number of well established assumptions about the Australian labour movement. The evidence for Orange affiliations of labour activists is quite remarkable in number and variety.
Fraternally, Philip Carter / Facebook / Great is Truth and mighty above all things (I Esdras 4:41)