TAMWORTH

54
We visited the grave of J.W. Jackson, the Mason who had
introduced the Craft to Queensland, it was extremely well
kept, and looking across the cemetery there were broken
pillars, I said “ vandals have been here Oh no, they said,
they’re the graves of Freemasons. There were hundreds of
them, as far as the eye could see.
They arranged afternoon tea with the Mayor, and he proudly
showed us his Chain of Office, it’s an exact replica of our
own Mayor’s Chain. We left Australia to return home, the
flight was 23 hours, but we were determined to return.
New York New York: it’s a hell of a town. In August 1999
we set off for USA
Grand Lodge is an incredible building. The Grand Secretary gave us a tour of the 12 temples that building, each
one furnished with its own theme such as Colonial, French and Egyptian. The pretty town of Warwick is about
60 miles north of New York in the hills.
To mark the occasion the Mayor had declared it to be “Masons Day in the Town”
The Lodge Meeting was packed and l was surprised to see about a third of the Members wearing jeans and
lumber shirts (we wear Dinner Suits, black bow tie etc).
It was a very happy occasion, especially as the Master from Rhode Island had travelled down with a party of 8,
and the Master from Warwick, Australia had also made the special journey.
They baked a big cake and couldn’t have been more hospitable. One of the guys said he’d been a member for
over 40 years and it was one of the most memorable occasions he had attended.
The next day we travelled with the visitors back to Rhode lsland, the
journey took over 4 hours, they told us stories of their Lodge history and
how The Grand Lodge of Rhode lsland was the first foothold for
freemasonry in America.
They took us straight to the Hotel, we thought “this can’t be right” as it
was a 5 * Star, however they assured us it was, and our accommodation
and meals had been paid for!
The meeting at the Lodge was again very special. Once again Masons took time
off work to show us around and we visited many homes and families. Our flight
home was from New York and we hadn’t made the necessary arrangements to
get back there, no problem” said the Secretary of the Lodge “l’ll drive you
there”, the journey again took over 4 hours (and the same back home for him),
and he wouldn’t even accept petrol money.
If that’s not true friendship, tell me what is.
One of the main objects of Freemasonry is Charity, and in America they have a Masonic Order
called
The Shiners.
Their charity is the upkeep of 22 Hospitals across America that specialise in orthopaedic care to
children from birth to the age of 18 years. Kids whose parents couldn’t afford hospitals, or
whom the insurance companies were no longer prepared to support.
Treatments are free of charge, and no questions are asked.
They took me to one of the Hospitals; there were unbelievable cases of hardship and suffering,
and also cases for great hope and compassion.