TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

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achieved in the United States of America, and he had no doubt that. properly introduced.
they would be a (X)wer for good in the Middle Island. 1172
The Loyal Orange Institution in America had the Loyal Orange Ladies Institution
of the United States of America as their women's auxiliary. It was founded in 1876. They
did not formally link up to its male counterpart until 1906.7 3
The colonial experience
highlighted different needs.
Just as the male Orange lodges met a social, religious and
(X)litical need for the men, the Ladies Lodges also met a need. A noticeable feature of the
Ladies Lodges was the coming together of women who were not only like-minded but who
also had a feeling of sisterhood. This was borne out by the use of the title 'sister' when
referring to members. Using this title would have been a 'translation' of 'brother' from the
male lodges. The concept of brotherhood had to be redefined to incorporate a sisterhood.
The sisterhood in the Orange Association had certain requirements:
she must be true and faithful to every Orange woman in all just actions, and not wrong, or know
her to be wronged or injured, if in her power to prevent it; and that she must not in any manner
communicate or reveal any of the proceedings of her sister Orange women in lodge assembled, nor
any matter or thing therein communicated to her, unless to a sister Orange woman, well knowing
her to be such ... 74
Although in the early years of the Ladies Lodges in New Zealand the officers in
them were women, they still had to be represented at the annual Grand Orange Lodge
sessions by men.7 5 Not only were delegates for the annual sessions men but there were also
elected Ladies Lodge Instructors who were required to be present at any elections of
officers for the Ladies Lodges.76
Clearly in the early stages of the Ladies Lodges
development there was a definite male presence when elections or matters of the Grand
Orange Lodge were in session. Although women were not present at these sessions they
could stilI put forward motions via male delegates representing their lodge. The Ladies
72Lyttleton Times, II February 1889.
73Michael F. Funchion (ed.), Irish American Voluntary Organizations, Westport, Connecticut,
Greenwood Press, 1983, p. 224.
74Op. cit., Female Orange Association, p. 2.
75Grand Orange Lodge or New Zealand, Middle Island. Report of Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth
Annual Session, 1905, p. 6.
76Ibid., p. 12.