Through the Key Hole - RoseCroix.org.au

165
PRINCE HALL
By Keith Stockley
Prince Hall is recognized as the father of Black Masonry in the USA.
Historically he made it possible for negroes to be recognized and to
enjoy all the privileges of free and accepted Masonry.
Many rumours of the birth of Prince Hall have arisen. Afew records
and papers have been found of him in Barbados where it is rumoured
he was born in 1748, despite no record having been found of his birth
in either church or State.. An extensive international search has produced
no birth records anywhere of prince Hall.
The most widely circulated rumour suggests that he was “free born” in
the British Wrest Indies. His father Thomas Prince Hall was an Englishman
and his mother a free coloured woman of French extraction.
In 1765 he worked his passage on a ship to Boston where he worked
as a leather worker, a trade learned from his father, During this time
he married Sarah Ritchery.
Shortly after their marriage she died at the age of 24. Eight years later
he had acquired real estate and was qualified to vote.
He also pressed John Hancock to permit him to join the Continental
Army and was one of the few blacks to fight at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Religiously inclined he became a Minister in the African Methodist
Episcopal Church with a charge in Cambridge and fought for the abolition
of slavery.
Freemasonry among black men began during the War of Independence
when Prince Hall and 14 other black men were initiated into
Lodge No. 441 ( Irish Constitution) attached to the 38th Regiment of
Foot, British Army garrisoned at Castle Williams ( Now Fort Independence)
at Boston Harbour on 6 March 1775. The Master of the Lodge
was Sergeant John Batt. A list of these black brethren follows at the
end of this article.
When the British army left Boston, Lodge 441 granted Prince Hall and
his brethren, authority to meet as a lodge but except for certain specified
privileges they were not permitted to confer degrees.
11
GOLD
By Keith Stockley
The Sydney Museum often holds exhibitions on the discovery of
Gold in Australia. Freemasonry has always been involved in early
discoveries and the Australian Gold Rush was no exception.
Gold was discovered at Ballarat in 1851 and the Craft was undoubtedly
represented amongst the many thousands who flocked
to the gold rush and this is evidenced by the fact that the Order
sank early roots at Ballarat.
The earliest mention of Freemasonry was in a newspaper, the
‘ Ballarat Times” when an advertisement appeared summoning
all members of the Ancient Order of Freemasons to attend a
meeting at Bath’s Hotel on the evening of Sunday 3 December
1854.
This was the very day upon which tragic trouble took place in
the ;”Eureka Stockade”. There is no record of whether that meeting
ever took place or was postponed because of the trouble,
however, a month later on 4 January 1855, a meeting was definitely
held.
Henry Harris was in the Chair and eventually on the 28 September
1855, the Victoria Lodge of Ballarat was opened for the first
time.
There are records of an earlier lodge being formed. It was a
French lodge named “Rameau D’ore de Eleusis” and was apparently
formed in 1853 holding its meetings at the Ballaguay Hotel
in Black Hill. Its first Worshipful Master was a Monsieur Fenton. It
was discovered that this lodge held a charter under the Grand
Lodge of Memphis which was not a legally recognised body
working under the assumed authority of Count Cagliostro.
At that point the lodge obtained permission to re-form under the
name of Ballarat Lodge and was chartered by the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Victoria (EC) - Bro. Dufour was the first Master.