M. W. Bro. Norman Cooper
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Tasmania

The Grand Master's Diary

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Grand Master's address at the Grand Installation Hobart

Most Wor. Bro. Norman Cooper.

Grand Masters Address 22^nd February 2008

I am extremely proud to have my Mum Ida my wife Cyrene and our three children present this evening together with some of our grand children, extended family and friends. I thank them for their support and assistance and hope they enjoy tonight's ceremony

If three years ago someone had suggested that we might sometime find this venue too small I would have doubted their prediction. However we have today stretched the capacity of the area. This is extremely heartening as I believe it indicates a growing awareness and support for Freemasonry. Indeed the rate of decrease in our membership over recent years has slowed and it is hoped that we have reached a stable level on which we can build for the coming years. Membership will continue to be one of our greatest challenges but I am sure that we have a secure future if we continue to the practice the principles and tenets that are the basis of our philosophy at the same time maintaining the ancient landmarks of the order. 

The ceremony taking place this evening is in a large part the result of the dedicated  work of the Grand Installation  Organising Committee and our Grand Secretariat together with the Grand Lodge Installation Ceremonial Team and I thank them and particularly the Chairman M. W. Bro. Rob Clarke, the Preceptors R. W. Bros Caulfield and Fisher for their leadership and untiring endeavours in achieving this end result. 

The cooperation we received from The Campbell Town District High School where we have held most of our rehearsals and The Wrest Point Convention Centre has in no small way smoothed the process of this exciting event. 

During the past three years we have been pleased to have two new lodges formed, both of which are operating most successfully, each having a considerable number of candidates and an increasingly high profile presence in their respective locations.

Each fills a niche need in a specific area.  St. Helens Lodge was initially the result of the wishes of a group of retirees living in or around the St. Helens area. It is now a thriving Lodge with a steady stream of candidates and an active community role although they do not have a normal Lodge Room facility. They meet at a Neighbourhood House and Community Services complex in a room which is set up as a Lodge Room for each meeting . Their obvious and close contact with the local residents is already creating a great relationship and they are becoming part of the fabric of this predominantly tourist and retirement town.

Lodge Phoenix meeting in Launceston is catering for a group with a desire for fine dining as well as taking great pride in the standard of their Lodge work. Classified as a Dining Lodge they provide a facility for busy CBD workers as well as men in other fields and the strictly controlled time frames of their meetings suit men with many other commitments.

In the very near future a committee consisting of the Grand Master, the Deputy Grand Master and the Immediate Past Grand Master will be convened to look at the actions that need to take place to ensure that Freemasonry continues to be a viable , active and worthwhile force in the Tasmanian community. Our membership is fairly evenly spread over the State and as the three people involved are located in the North, North West and South of the state they are ideally placed to  consider the strategies that should be implemented on a state wide basis. The terms of reference are very liberal however this is a good thing as it allows a degree of lateral thinking and I am confident that there will be wide ranging discussion on all topics that are associated with our future. 

The ongoing concerns regarding our three ceremonial teams and the proposition that the Grand Lodge Ceremonial Teams should be filled by appointment will certainly be an agenda item. The need to address this situation is abundantly apparent and reinforced by the last two reports from the Grand Lodge Returning Officer which have highlighted the need for change in our current system of having some elections and some appointments of the members of the Teams and Boards. 

The condition and amenities of our Lodge Rooms is an area in which I have a great interest. I am passionate about the need to improve the standard of our meeting places, at the same time acknowledging the improvements that have been carried out in some areas in recent times. I am totally convinced that part of our ongoing strategy must be to provide Masonic Centres with facilities and amenities that are clean, comfortable and conducive to successful Lodge meetings. In order to gain and retain younger members we must appreciate the requirements of a new age of brethren who are not prepared to accept building standards that we have in the past thought to be quite acceptable. No longer are they willing to be cold, hot or to accept a level of comfort less than that they experience at home. Seating,  kitchens,  bathrooms, air conditioning and general ambience of meeting rooms need to be evaluated against a modern day set of values and standards. I am aware of the problems and dangers in entering into an area which is to a large extent operated by autonomous bodies beyond the direct control of Grand Lodge. However I am hopeful that a sympathetic approach and an earnest desire to help will convince the managers of Masonic meeting complexes that there is a need for change and that a cooperative and constructive attitude to the challenge will result in vast benefits to them and the Craft.  

Our Masonic Benevolent Foundation, Freemates ,The Masonic Centenary Medical Research Foundation and The Freemasons Homes are achieving praiseworthy results as detailed in their regular reports to Grand Lodge Communications but still need our ongoing support and I thank them for their efforts and commend them to you. 

Notwithstanding the concerns and challenges we so obviously face I am very optimistic  about the future of Freemasonry. Our basic aims and ideals if earnestly applied, will surely enable us to enjoy our Freemasonry and to continue to be an influence for good in the society of this  State. 

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At various times over the past three years I have made reference to my inaugural address as Grand Master on my Installation in February, 2005. In this, my final address to Communications as Grand Master, I will take stock of the last three years.

Three years ago I said, "My priority over the next three years will be to tidy up the loose ends of the past and to establish a future for Freemasonry in Tasmania which, by force of circumstances, is going to be somewhat different from the past, or even the present, whilst maintaining the ancient landmarks of the order."

As you will hear later in this address I have not been completely successful in tidying up the loose ends of the past. Neither has the broad Masonic landscape in Tasmania changed in the way I envisioned that it would. It is not that my vision was wrong, it was more that the changes I anticipated have taken longer to eventuate than I imagined.

I had not long been Deputy Grand Master when I gave an address to the Hobart Lodge of Research entitled, "The Children of the Craft". Here is an extract from that address: "With the current state of Craft Masonry a critical time is ahead for the other orders. I firmly believe that both Craft Masonry and the other orders should face a planned crisis in the immediate future rather than an ad hoc crisis further down the track. Those who are devoted to the other orders and their long term survival should try to fend off the coming crisis by diverting some of the efforts which are currently expended on the other orders to the revitalisation of the Craft." End of extract. Over five years later I still recommend this as the way forward.

Our Craft is not well organised to plan effectively for the future. Lodges and Lodge building owners are autonomous and are not subject to planning on a State wide basis. In round figures we have an average Lodge membership of 30 and we have a Masonic building for each 75 members. This is a situation which cannot be sustained for much longer.

Most Worshipful Brother Clarke launched Freemates, a scheme designed to provide scholarships for tertiary students, in 2002. The establishment of Freemates was slower than anticipated because some unexpected legal problems were encountered. Some one off establishment costs having been met the fund stood at about $10 000 three years ago. The fund currently stands at about $45 000. However this is effectively $90 000 as a result of a partnership which has been established with The University of Tasmania. The first Freemates scholarship of $2000 was awarded for the 2007 academic year. The selection process has been completed for the scholarship of $2000 for the 2008 academic year. The fund is sufficiently robust for consideration to be given to increasing either the value or the number of scholarships offered for 2009.

Three years ago I launched "The Tasmanian Freemasons’ Tsunami Disaster Appeal". This appeal raised about $10 000. This sum was Tasmania’s contribution to a total of about

$450 000 raised across Australia and in New Zealand. These funds have been used in the construction of a training facility for young people displaced by the tsunami in Sri Lanka. Construction has been completed and the building was opened last August.

During his term of office Most Worshipful Brother Clarke held a Grandmaster’s Workshop which was followed up by a smaller workshop session to draw out a number of priorities from the original Workshop. At the original Workshop I made an undertaking to see that the recommendations stemming from the Workshops were acted on. Three years ago I noted that a number of results of the Workshop had already been achieved. Amongst these were the admission of Master Masons to full voting rights in Grand Lodge and the approval of a ritual and the necessary Constitutional changes to permit Lodges to hold open installation ceremonies. Tasmanian Union Lodge was the first Lodge to hold an open installation, which it did in June 2005.

Since my installation as Grand Master, the Constitution has been amended to allow affiliates to be admitted to Lodges without the necessity for a ballot. This was an outcome of the Grand Master’s Conference. It has therefore been of some disappointment to me that this provision seems to have been largely forgotten. I can almost hear the question, "When were we told about this?" being asked. I would remind you that every member of the Craft receives the agenda and the minutes of our Communications.

Another outcome of the Grand Master’s Conference is that considerable progress has been made to increase the use of electronic communication within the Craft in Tasmania.

In February 2005 I stated that we must plan our future rather than just let things happen and that it was intended that a number of motions would be presented to the August Communications which would, amongst other things, reduce the number of ceremonial teams from three to two. This did not happen. In fact no progress has been made regarding either the rationalisation of the Grand Lodge ceremonial teams or a move to appointments rather than elections.

It is much easier to manage an expanding economy than it is to manage one that is contracting.

I was a school principal from 1975 to 1997, serving in that role at Bothwell, Savage River and Deloraine. During that time there was a State wide decline in school age child population, public and private schools combined, from about 90,000 to about 80,000. This decline came about from a decrease in family size and an increase in the average age at which women were bearing their first child. The result was that at both a State and at a local level there had to be a decline in services. A result that could not be achieved without considerable community protest.

As my term as Grand Master draws rapidly to a conclusion I see that the greatest challenge presently facing not only Craft Masonry but, just as importantly, the ‘other orders’ is the management of a contracting economy.

Debate on the future of the three teams of Grand Lodge officers and a debate as to whether Grand Lodge offices should be filled by appointment, rather than by election, had been on the agenda long before my appointment as Deputy Grand Master. This was one of the unresolved issues that I inherited three years ago. It remains unresolved although it has been put on the ‘backburner’ for the last year or more. The problem has not gone away. The number of Grand Lodge offices being filled by a single nomination or by appointment, because there has not been a nomination for a particular office, is a matter which concerns me greatly.

Another issue that results from a declining economy is the matter of maintaining a Masonic presence in as many parts of Tasmania as possible whilst sustaining a reasonable number of Lodges and Lodge buildings. Our organisation is not well structured to deal with the planning of these aspects of Freemasonry on a State wide basis. However, I have seen two promising developments in recent times. Firstly is the creation of a new Lodge at St. Helens in a part of Tasmania where there has never previously been a Lodge. Moreover, this Lodge is not encumbered with a Lodge building. The Lodge uses pre-existing facilities in the town.

The other promising development is the discussions that Rt. Wor. Bro. Cooper and I have had recently with representatives of the two West Coast Lodges of the future of Freemasonry on the West Coast.　

Three years ago I stated that it was a matter of considerable concern to Freemasons that they are subjected to, sometimes intense, criticism by certain elements within the Christian Church. I do not deny that some Freemasons still have difficulties in their relations with their Church. I have to say that within the Anglican Church my work puts me in close contact with the Bishop and with other senior members of the Church, all of whom are aware of my role as your Grand Master. I find that I have an easy relationship with those I work with at a Diocesan level within the Anglican Church.

May they be remembered for the good they have done and the enduring friendships they have made in their journey through our Masonic fraternity. Please be seated.

Seven years ago I did not have my sights set on being Grand Master. However, an approach from, then, Rt. Wor. Bro. Robert Clarke inviting me to be his Deputy Grand Master changed all that. At that time I had been saying that, with the difficulties that would have to be faced with a declining economy, anyone taking on the offices of Deputy Grand Master and the Grand Master would have a difficult task ahead of them. Having now served as Deputy Grand Master and Grand Master I can say, without reservation, that the last six years have been fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable. That is not to say that there have not been challenges to be met along the way.

I wish Rt. Wor. Bro. Norman Cooper (Norm) and V. Wor. Bro. Campbell John Wallace (John) a very happy and successful time as they lead Freemasonry in Tasmania over the next three years. I pledge them my full support.

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