A Date to Remember 6th April 1918.

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1 Vol. 1 No. 1 April 2018 The Library and Museum of Freemasonry New Zealand 167 Heritage Society Incorporated, (Registered Charity number CC37259) AUCKLAND, New Zealand Library and Museum of the United Masters Lodge No. 167 (Research), (the Norman B Spencer Library), incorporating the Grand Lodge Collection. A Date to Remember 6th April On this date a significant Masonic event occurred. This was a meeting of 31 members of the NZ Expeditionary Force Masonic Association, (NZEFMA) at the site of King Solomon s Temple in Jerusalem.. Much has been written about this in the Transactions of United Masters Lodge and in other publications since then. But the most important of these was an explanatory letter by Brigadier William Meldrum, Officer Commanding the NZ Mounted Rifles, who organized and led it. This is repeated here now as we are close to one hundred years since that event. The event was commemorated by a mother of pearl jewel pendant. Bro Meldrum had the first one made and others were made to the same pattern. Minutes of a meeting after the event said 50 were to be ordered, but it is not known how many were actually made. The location of about a dozen are known, but if you the reader know of any please let us know. Now follows on the next page, a transcription of a letter from General Meldrum re the meeting in the chamber under the Dome of the rock in Jerusalem on 6th April The original is handwritten on 6 of 8 pages cut from a school exercise book, size. 148 x 100mm.. This News will cover what the Society does, articles about: - acquisitions by the Museum where they are of interest, - books coming into the Library worthy of interest, - comments about heritage, - perhaps a few words of advice on how to look after our historical memorabilia - an occasional short paper and - other things which come to mind or are suggested by you the reader. The News will not cover subjects related to ritual or ceremonial unless a Museum object or book acquired for the Library is about that or is significant in that matter. Our heritage is wider than Freemasonry as many Masons belonged to fraternal and friendly societies which had similar purposes and objects to Freemasonry.

2 Page 2 The Rev C.J. Bush-King St. Matthews Building Hope Place Dunedin. Hunterville 27 June Dear Padre, Colonel Powles has forwarded me your letter of the 12th June which evidently was sent to him in error. I shall be pleased to send you the information you want about the meeting of masons held on the site of King Solomon s Temple. It was held on the 6th April At that time the N.Z.M.R. were encamped in the Jordan Valley close to Jericho having a few days comparative rest after raids on Amman and other places across the Jordan. So we decided to have the meeting we had been looking forward to since forming our Masonic Association twelve months earlier. We drove up in 7 motor cars to Jerusalem 31 of us all told representing 27 different lodges in N.Z. We first made the necessary purchases in the shops of Jerusalem. viz. 3 gavels made of acacia grown in the neighbourhood - square and compasses (of olive wood) a volume of the sacred law, white handkerchiefs to serve as aprons + candles. We then moved down King Davids Street and to the Mosque Omar which is on the old temple site. Entering the mosque we arranged with the Grand Sheikh to be shown into the chamber under the rock (said to be the rock on which Abraham was about to offer up Isaac; and also to be the rock from which Mohammed left the earth when taken up to Heaven) I asked the Sheikh to allow us to be in the chamber for about a quarter of an hour without interruptions. I told him we were freemasons from N.Z. and that we wanted to meet as masons on the site of the Temple of King Solomon. He said he also was a mason. We paid him a few pounds + he agreed to keep visitors away. So we entered the chamber. All arrangements having been made beforehand the officers at once took their places. I was in the chair. Colonel McCarroll of Auckland SW Sergt Lovelock Palmerston North J.W. Padre Wilson of Auckland was Chaplain and also acted as Secretary. I forget for the moment who acted as deacons + as Inner Guard and as Tyler. The two latter were armed with bayonets. The aprons were put on + the Lodge duly opened on the First Degree. I gave a short address appropriate to the occasion. Then resolutions (previously written out) were carried (1) by way of greeting to freemasons in France (2) of greeting to Lodges in N.Z. (3) of regret that through wounds or sickness many members of our Association could not attend the meeting. We then formally closed the Lodge. The attendance book had first been signed by all present. A photograph was taken of the members outside the mosque. This briefly is the account of the meeting. Only N.Z. masons were present. I hope after your very arduous labours during the war you are enjoying the best of health. With kindest regards. I am yours sincerely + fraternally W. Meldrum. The Mother of Pearl Jewel.

3 Page 3 This Newsletter For some time, months in fact, even a year or so, Directors of the Society have been trying to get me to create a newsletter about what we do, include articles of interest and descriptions of museum objects particularly where they are unusual, and also books which we think are worthy of attention. The intention is to circulate this by so you can see the illustrations in colour. It will normally be 4 pages but occasionally more. This issue is more to explain the Society, the Library and Museum. But first, by popular demand from a few people, a note about me. It is intentionally short so as not to be boring and take up more valuable space for you to read. Here is a picture however. Alan Bevins, Society Secretary, Librarian and Curator. Born 1937, Lancashire, youngest of two sets of twins 5 years apart, shared one birthday. Grammar school, professional qualifications all forms Transport; Royal Air Force, Air Traffic Control, Ground Controlled Approach Radar guiding pilots blind landings. Later, British Overseas Airways, British European Airways, British Airways (BA) several roles including team member merging those airlines; managing Training for Operations Department, extramural nominated by BA to Prince Charles Trust inaugurating Youth Business Initiative; then purchase and project-manage airliners into service. Same for Gulf Air, Bahrain, with finance personally controlled by airline owners, the Heads of State of Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and United Arab Emirates, with very large budget. Came to NZ Wife Avril and daughter Karen here in NZ, son Ian and family in UK. Joined Freemasonry 1966, London, Master 1977, Past Provincial Grand Warden Surrey, Royal Arch joined 1970, Past Provincial Grand Scribe Nehemiah, Master United Masters Lodge 167 NZ, 2003, Grand Lecturer Managed Library/Museum since Main interest Masonic history and practical reasons why we do what we do. Other hobby is genealogy. Now a bit about the Society. The Society was set up by members of United Masters Lodge specifically to manage the Library and Museum. The Lodge itself as with all lodges in NZ, does not have charitable status. In other parts of the world and specifically England, Masonic museums are set up as organisations with charitable status which enables them to gain finance for their running costs and preservation materials. The latter are the major costs. Thus here a legal incorporated society was founded and gained charitable status within the rules of the Charities Acts. Being such a society enables us to attract finance from a wide range of sources as we wish. The main sources are donations, sales of souvenirs and membership subscriptions. We can also attract interest from the entire range of Masonic organisations in this country and non-masons. Elsewhere in the world there is growing interest in Freemasonry among non-masons.

4 Page 4 The Library and Museum of Freemasonry (New Zealand) History The first thing to say is that we are interested in ALL forms of Freemasonry in NZ, all orders and degrees and the heritage it represents for the country and NZ Freemasons. The Government view over many years has been that museums are custodians of heritage on behalf of the Community and we follow that view. Libraries and museums go through several stages, starting with objects being deposited with a theme such as Freemasonry. Reasons include; too good to throw away, family don t want them, don t know what they are, lodges clearing out store rooms. The facility was started in 1928 as a means of support for United Masters Lodge members with deposits of personal collections principally Norman B Spencer s and individual donations ever since. A second stage is getting these objects into some organised fashion. We reached this in the 1990s. A third stage is proper storage, preservation methods, and seeking more objects where owners wish to dispose of them. We reached this in 2008 when we developed the facility you see now at 181 Khyber Pass Road, Auckland. This consists of the Norman B Spencer Memorial Library/ Museum which includes the Grand Lodge Collection and covers all Masonic orders and some friendly and fraternal societies, and managed by the 167 Heritage Society Incorporated, a Registered Charity set up by the Lodge especially to do that. Entrance gates to the Library and Museum The entrance Lobby has 3 cabinets predominantly glassware and ceramics, gifts to Grand Masters and currently a special display of NZ Expeditionary Force Masonic Association of World War 1. A cabinet shows badges and cuff-links which are bought to sell to Masons to realise a small income to help in buying preservation materials. Cabinets on the left side of the entrance lobby. The Library This is in two parts; Reference and Lending. The former is for any Lodge member, or visitor who wishes to read and research Freemasonry in many of its aspects. The Lending Section is for United Masters Lodge members to borrow for a period to use to develop their knowledge of the wider aspects of the various parts of the Masonic system. The Library houses some 10,000 books plus hundreds of Installation programmes, pamphlets, and research papers. The Masonic books cover histories of lodges, chapters and other bodies, regular annual issues from meetings of Grand Lodges and similar bodies, from many countries in the world. There are books on subjects other than Freemasonry which have been donated by Masons. A very large collection of Masonic stamps is part of the Library. Donations arrive frequently from families of Masons and new books are purchased from time to time.

5 Page 5 The Display Area This is the most popular part of the facility. It contains 28 horizontal cabinets for regalia, breast and collar jewels and small 3-dimensional objects, badges, mark tokens, and books. Three tall glass towers show ceramics, jugs, bowls, glassware of many types, and metal objects such as trivets. There is one large sloping display for regalia, which currently holds a number of aprons, collars and sashes of Friendly and Fraternal societies. One wall has a row of six sloping-top cabinets with examples of one of each Past Masters presentation breast jewels of NZ lodges, and a seventh cabinet of NZ Royal Arch Past First Principals jewels. This line of displays is usually the first attraction for Masons accompanied by the question Is my lodge there? None of these cabinets have the full range of such jewels so more are always welcome. Where such jewels are received but an example is already there, they are mounted on boards and stored flat in drawers in the Store. Conversely non-masons and ladies tend to look more favourably at the other cabinets especially the very old regalia, glassware and ceramics. The cabinets at any one time show only a small proportion of the entire Museum Inventory. The contents of several of the cabinets are changed from time to time to maintain interest Left side, displays of one of each View of the centre of the room View of the right side NZ Craft Past Masters breast jewels Many of you reading this are not members of our Society so how about joining? The annual subscription is $10, and we can send the News to your address. See the application form on the back page. For financial Masons ask your Lodge Secretary to propose please. Every $10 helps us to preserve what we have.

6 Page 6 The Museum Store and Archive Store This is the Aladdin s Cave and possibly the most important part of the whole facility. It is here where the vast majority of the Inventory is housed in the right temperature and humidity. In the photos you can see brown wooden cabinets which contain display boards of jewels, aprons mostly 1760 to 1840 era, and banners. The light grey cabinets contain photos. The dark grey cabinets have 15 drawers of certificates of many orders and degrees, many non-masonic from Freemasons, and several drawers of charters. The plastic containers contain archives of existing lodges, chapters, Mark, Rose Croix, NZ and English. Behind the door and not seen in these pictures are more shelves of such archives of closed lodges and chapters, Rose Croix etc. Archives include minute books, attendance books, membership registers, Installation programmes and key accounting records. The line of cabinets in the middle of the store contain bibles, glassware, ceramics, metal and wooden objects, and hundreds of Installation programmes. On the right are more archives of existing lodges, but the majority are boxes of regalia including 14 boxes of Friendly and Fraternal societies. The Archive Library It is a store of closed Masonic organisations such as lodges, chapters, Rose Croix, Knights Templar etc which is progressively being converted for easier more accessible reference in situ by serious researchers. It is a series of shelves of boxes made of archival material. Now For Something Different This has to be unique. A home-made wood Rose Croix 18th Degree collar jewel. The pictures are too small to see the detail but is quite finely made. It is wood with normal house paint and a brass curtain hook at the top. It just goes to show what individual ingenuity can do. The owner and/or maker are unknown. u5219 and u5219a

7 Page 7 Application for Membership of 167 Heritage Society Incorporated Name in full in block letters please Member of Lodge name and number Located at Town/City Rank: Master Mason/Installed Master, Other Not a member of a Lodge Address Phone number Proposed by I apply to be elected as a member of this Society and enclose NZ $ to cover one year s subscription. Cheque: yes/no. By internet banking: Society account: Bank of NZ, Remuera, Date of this Application Signature Send this form to us by the postal system, or send an with all your details included. We prefer it not sent as an attachment Our details are below. Contacts, Copyright, Reproduction. 167 Heritage Society Incorporated, (Registered Charity No CC37259). Secretary, Alan Bevins 68A/49 Aberfeldy Avenue, Highland Park, Auckland Phone: , abevinsnz@gmail.com Website: being constructed Opinions in this News are those of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of 167 Heritage Society Incorporated, Extracts may be taken of material in this News but the origin must be quoted. The preferred method of distribution of this News is by . Copyright 167 Heritage Society Incorporated as at the date on the front of this News