The Grand Master celebrates with Goulburn Lodge of Australia

23 November 23

As Australia’s first inland city, Goulburn is a proud historic town, combining grand heritage and country charm with contemporary museums, festivals, restaurants, and galleries. There are also plenty of epic outdoor adventures to be had in the surrounding region, from rock climbing and abseiling to motorsports and skydiving and of course Freemasonry.

The Goulburn Lodge of Australia No. 58 recently met for the Installation of the new Worshipful Master and officers. In attendance was the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Most Worshipful Brother Lesley Hicks, underscoring the significance of the occasion: the first such Installation for a Masonic lodge in the Goulburn district since the dissolution of the William Ross Lodge and subsequent affiliation of its former twenty members into the Goulburn Lodge.

Founded under the English Masonic charter in 1849 and assigned Registry Number 58 in 1888 by the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, the venerable Goulburn Lodge continues a 175-year legacy as the sole remaining beacon of Freemasonry and its teachings across the Goulburn region.

Following the Installation—which saw the Lodge room filled to capacity—the Grand Master descended the dais to extend personal greetings to the Entered Apprentice and three Fellowcrafts in attendance. Their reception represented the Lodge's ongoing commitment to mentor initiates in Masonic history and transmit the customs of past lodges from the district — namely the Duke of Edinburgh, Taralga, Goulburn District Daylight and William Ross Lodges—into the next generation so their traditions might endure.

At the subsequent Installation Banquet hosted at the Goulburn Soldiers’ Club in a private, well-appointed room, formal toasts and responses were offered before the Brethren continued on with fraternal camaraderie, fellowship and conviviality, as is the core custom and highest duty of the Craft.