Freemasons are always celebrating.
And soon you will be able to help celebrate with local Freemasons. Publicity is about to be launched with newspaper inserts and invitations to be sent to members of the public to a special day to celebrate, not just Freemasonry, but also the depth and richness of the land and seas around us.
Local Freemasons will hold a special function at the Bairnsdale Masonic Centre in Francis Street from 3pm on Saturday, March 2, 2024.
This function will feature renowned Masonic hospitality, supported by similarly renowned East Gippsland food, beer and wines, organised by an also renowned local restaurateur.
The event will include a visual presentation, members who can fully inform and reply to enquiries and a visit into the Lodge room for a conducted detailed tour which no doubt will generate more questions.
As a travel advertisement states, “You’ll never, never know, if you never, never go”.
The principal objective of Freemasonry is to perfect the individual and to guide mankind towards a better, more harmonious development, especially through their three great principles.
Through brotherly love where every Freemason will show tolerance and respect for the opinions of others and behave with kindness and understanding to all people. It provides for the common foundation for friendships between members which may last for life. Examples occur around us in our everyday lives.
Through Relief Freemasons are taught to practice charity and to care not only for one another, but for the community as a whole, through charitable giving and voluntary effort.
Support is widespread through the community, from bushfire relief and BlazeAid, being members of the SES or police, rewarding scholarship, and much more.
Kindness and charitable giving are deeply ingrained within the principles of Freemasonry.
The organisation provides the structure to make positive contributions to communities and various causes. Since 2014 the Freemasons Foundation has donated more than $16 million to the Victorian community including more than $1 million supporting the East Gippsland community.
Freemasonry strives for truth and requires high moral standards of its members.
You will hear Freemasons repeat and espouse these principals many times and they are clearly demonstrated by acts within the community.
Not just around Victoria and East Gippsland, it is a worldwide community of men who believe in the principle of equality and charity. It is one of the few remaining organisations that honour and respect religious, cultural and political diversity.
There are about 250 lodges in Victoria and there are plans for a few new lodge consecrations; all reasons to further celebrate, as Freemasonry appears to be on a new wave of membership, in many towns and cities; including East Gippsland. In a few lodges in this area there have been several new applications and initiations of men who are enthusiastically embarking on Masonic careers. A standout trend at the moment is the increasing number of younger Freemasons who are more than ready to stand up and volunteer, to do their share of work within the Lodge, to do good in the community.
Significant parts of Bairnsdale attribute their establishment to Freemasons who were active in community affairs and local government as is seen in the town and environs that were named after them and later generations of Masons. These include Ballantine, Brown, Collins, Drevermann, Eastwood, Gibbs, Goodman, Hadfield, Holloway, Macarthur, Wyndham and Yeates.
Despite a history in Bairnsdale from the 1870s Freemasonry is a modern and vibrant organisation.
The first step of enquiry is to ask questions: What is Freemasonry? Will I have to take oaths and keep secrets? How often must I attend? Can my partner attend?
