MASONIC RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.
The Australian Masonic Research Council (AMRC) was conceived in 1991 as a coordinating body for the Masonic Research Lodges and Research bodies of Australia.
The Australian and New Zealand Masonic Research Council (ANZMRC) is a voluntary association of research lodges from the local Australasian Masonic jurisdictions. It crosses jurisdictional boundaries without interfering with the authority of the various Grand Lodges and has brought together Australian and New Zealand research to the attention of the rest of the Masonic world.
In the 1990s, under Kent Henderson’s guidance, a committee of representatives of all Australian jurisdictions was created to form an Australian Masonic Research Council.
The aims are.
- To promote Masonic Research and Education on an inter-jurisdictional basis.
- To provide liaison between research lodges.
- To organise conferences.
- To organise and coordinate lecture tours by international Masonic scholars, and to publish the tour lectures conference proceedings and other books.
The inaugural meeting was held in Melbourne in June 1992 its foundation officers were.
President – VWBro. Bill Caulfield (NSW),
Vice Presidents – RWBro. Ken Wells (Qld), and WBro. Jeff Boyes (Tas),
Treasurer – WBro. Tony Pope (SA),
Secretary – WBro. Kent Henderson (Vic), and an
Assistant Secretary from WA
In the meantime, Henderson organised successful tours by John Hamill and Rev Neville Cryer giving a hint of what was possible.
The AMRC inaugural meeting went ahead and over three days the aims were realised. The proposed constitution was adopted and the conference determined that:-
- Hold a conference every two years.
- Rotate meeting places between states.
- Sponsor a lecture tour between conference years.
- Publish books on the lecture tours and proceedings of conferences.
Harry Kellerman OBE, PGDM, of NSW (1902-2000) was a respected Freemason and a retired Teacher. In his 90th (1992) year he presented a paper and attended conferences in 1994 and 1996 he passed away in 2000. The conference lectures in his recognition are called Kellerman and the presenters are Kellerman lecturers. A Kellerman lecturer must present an original work in person at the conference. He must make an oral presentation on his paper and be prepared to defend his thesis, which is printed in the proceedings. Each paper is presented to a selection committee for approval. A person who has presented a paper at an AMRC conference has the right to add KL to his masonic CV.
At the 1996 conference held in Perth WA, the constitution was changed to allow Research Lodges in New Zealand to be full members (affiliates) Thus the name was changed to Australian and New Zealand Masonic Research Council or ANZMRC. Over the years masonic research groups from around the world have become associated with ANZMRC.
Many interesting, outstanding and informative papers have been presented since the Council was created, all these papers are preserved in copies of the proceedings, the best of Masonic research papers of Freemasons from Australia and New Zealand.
Conferences have been convened in;
Melbourne Vic. (1992),
Sydney NSW (1994),
Perth WA (1996),
Launceston Tas. (1998),
Brisbane Qld (2000),
Adelaide SA (2002)
Tauranga NZ, (2004)
Ballarat Vic. (2006)
Queanbeyan NSW (2008)
Mandurah WA (2010)
Wellington NZ (2012)
Cairns Qld (2014)
Launceston Tas (2016)
Melbourne Vic (2018)
Dunedin NZ (2022)
Sydney NSW (2024)
Like all successful organisations, success is achieved by a collection of individuals, each contributing to the whole. At the General Meeting held at the Adelaide Conference in 2002 it was resolved that “any General Meeting of the Council may, by resolution, confer upon any person whose contribution to the Council so merits, Fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand Masonic Research Council (FANZMRC)”, limited to no more than three persons to be so honoured at any one General Meeting”.
The following are ANZMRC fellows. Sadly, not all still survive.
In 2002 Kent Henderson, Murray Yaxley, and Tony Pope.
2004 Graham Stead, Andy Walker, and Max Webberly.
2006 Colin Heywood, Richard Num
2010 Peter Verrall
2012 Charles Millar, Ed Robinson, Neil Morse.
2014 Harvey Lovewell.
2022 David Slater.
2024 Brendan Kyne
In the years between conferences, the Council organised a lecture tour by eminent Masonic scholars, men like John Hamill, Rev Neville Cryer, Cyril Batham, Wallace McLeod, Yasha Beresiner, Robert Cooper, James Daniel, John Belton, David Grey, Michel Jaccard, Trevor Stewart and Rodney Grosskopff. All who gave of their time and expertise to bring to ANZMRC tales of enlightenment and wonder. The collected papers of each travelling lecturer as presented during his tour were published as books. Some of these publications are still available. Please see the ANZMRC publications page for details and availability. for further information.
Sadly, in recent years and no doubt with the help of COVID and the cost of travel, together with the decline in the number of research lodges to share the cost, the council has reason to rethink these magnificent ventures.
Since 1997 ANZMRC has published a Newsletter, entitled ‘Harashim’, which is distributed quarterly to all its Affiliate and Associate Lodges, and to subscribers. You can subscribe online, by going to the ANZMRC website.
The ANZMRC website commenced about the same time and an email list in 2000.
In mid-2009 the website was redesigned with the help of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand who kindly hosted the site, after a decision by the Grand Masters of the Grand Lodges of Australia and New Zealand to support the ANZMRC Masonic Digital Library.