THE SUPREME GRAND CHAPTER OF

  H i s t o r y

Royal Arch freemasonry was introduced to Melbourne, Victoria, eight years after he town began and four years after the first Craft lodge was opened. It was formed under the English Constitution and, over the next decade and a half while it had the field to itself, operated somewhat intermittently.

Around the end of the 1850's it was joined by further chapters under the English Constitution, the Scottish Constitution and the Irish Constitution, All worked together in complete harmony, probably sharing the same ritual and all struggling for survival in the period between the end of the goldrushes in the mid 1860's and the onset of prosperity in the 1880's. Not all chapters which formed survived and those that did had periods of abeyance.

In the latter part of the 1880's, due to a division in the Craft, a number of chapters under the Canadian Constitution were formed. This meant that when the United Grand Lodge of Victoria was inaugurated in 1889, and the first steps were taken to form a Grand Chapter, four constitutions were at work. In the event, when the Grand Chapter was inaugurated in March 1889, the Canadians stood aloof and the new body began life with 13 chapters, 11 English, 1 Irish and 1 Scottish. The Grand Chapter immediately adopted the English regulations and made of working.

By 1896 the Canadian chapters had transferred their allegiance. The now united Order grew slowly until the 1920's when rapid expansion saw private chapters formed in most parts of the State of Victoria. This growth, in both the number of members and chapters continued until the 1960's when, mirroring the decline in the Craft, membership numbers began to fall. Today there are 80 chapters and around 2,800 members.