In this article, I hope to introduce you to an area of Australian history which has many potential rewards for genealogy research. It is an extremely important part of our history but it has been neglected and there are very few reference books you might consult and very few ‘experts’ you might ask for guidance.

I believe I’m the only historian in Australia researching fraternal societies in a comprehensive way. After 25 years of having to work out shortcuts for myself, I’m now attempting to make available the tools I think are useful for making sense of what is a complex and almost invisible world.

In past years, shame about convicts in the family tree changed to pride. A similar thing is about to happen with fraternal heritage.

By ‘fraternal’ I mean all societies which use, or have used:

•    initiation oaths,
•    regalia,
•    a degree structure of advancement,
•    secret passwords and signs,
•    a ‘common purse’ for members’ contributions, and most importantly,
•    a philosophy of helping one another, that is, one’s ‘brothers’.

These have also been called ‘secret societies’, but while there are exceptions to all generalisations, fraternal societies have been benign, not destructive. This has a lot to do with their philosophy of course, but there have been fraternal secret societies which were not peaceful.  I keep track of those because they are part of the fraternal story but I’m much more interested in those fraternals which built communities up, not tore them down.

In fact, the societies that I want to talk about are important precisely because of their long and varied history as the voice and conscience of ‘the people’, what we now call ‘social capital.’

Although there seems to be a lot of books, about Trade Unions for example, in fact the aspects I want to talk about here have been neglected by historians who have lumped all ‘secret societies’ and all their ‘trappings’ together as weird, ‘olde worlde’ and too much trouble.

Bringing fraternal societies together as a single social phenomenon is a very new development.  Part of the reasoning behind it is that it’s not possible to understand Freemasonry for example, if it is looked at as unique and somehow a one-off special.  It makes much more sense when it is placed side-by-side with all other fraternal societies, such as the Odd Fellows, Foresters and Rechabites.

A second part of the reasoning is that in real life the various societies worked with one another, sometimes against one another. Their members interacted in lots of different ways and therefore their histories are intertwined and impossible to untangle.

A third reason is that, whatever specialized area the Freemasons, or the Friendly Societies or the Trade Unions concentrate on today, historically all ‘fraternals’ are fruit of the same tree, with very similar paths of evolution.

To unlock the potentially huge amounts of information locked up in fraternal records, genealogical researchers need to imagine taking two steps.  These two steps will be addressed to two separate articles, the second appearing in The Genealogist in the next quarter.

1.    Identifying ‘their’ society,
2.    Asking ‘why’ did (Aunty Flo) join?

Part of the first step is working through the wrong information that we’ve all been told in the past and getting rid from our heads of the myths and legends that have grown up about these societies

For example many writers have asserted fraternals are just for men, or they were all Masonic, or they were only for pagans, or they were trying to take over the world, and so on. Most of what you’ve been told about these societies is wrong, inaccurate or misleading.

They weren’t just for men, only a small percentage can be called Masonic, and people joined for all sorts of different reasons, depending on the kind of society it was. All our fraternal societies have drawn inspiration from the Christian Bible. There are so many variations among real societies that few generalisations are of any use.

It’s not possible to get much out of fraternal memorabilia and to understand them without getting involved in the history. So beyond, births, deaths and marriages there needs to be a curiosity, along the lines of: ‘why did this person join this society, at this time?’

If a reader just wants to know whether their ancestor was a Freemason or a Buffalo or a Rechabite, and nothing more, they will miss out on a great deal of useful information about that ancestor. Exploring fraternal memorabilia is potentially much more useful than any numbers of wedding certificates or death notices because it can help researchers understand what their ancestors believed in, thought was important and what they actually cared about, beside their family. In many cases, the fraternal society they joined says a lot about the sort of family they wanted to create.

There are four main ‘strands’ of fraternal societies, namely: trade-oriented societies, Freemasons, Friendly Societies, and a last group which contains all those which had all the fraternal trappings, the oaths, the passwords, regalia and ritual, but which don’t belong in the first three groups. These include:

•    the Loyal Orange Institute,
•    the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides,
•    the Order of the Eastern Star,
•    the Buffaloes, (Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes) and
•    the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers to name just a small number.

Trade-oriented societies seem straightforward. They are organizations which protect workers’ rights and attempt to improve working conditions. (I don’t use the term Trade Union very often because not all trade-oriented societies used that name for themselves.)  A very large amount of time has also been spent by these societies on exactly the same sort of work conducted by Friendly Societies, that is, the collection and distribution of their members’ money in a benefit fund or funds.

Insert FEDFA image with the caption - Here is one such society – the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemens’ Association, Broken Hill Branch in 1913. This is the regalia they wore in Eight Hour Day processions.

There are historical connections between ‘operative masons’ and ‘the Masons’ which help to explain why both organizations used the square and compass, but nevertheless, one society was a ‘trade union’ and one was not.

Insert Vic Op Stonemasons image with caption - Ceremonial apron used by another trade union, the Victorian Operative Masons Society. Note the square and compass symbols.

Speculative Freemasonry, what we call The Masons, are perhaps best known for secret rituals and for charitable work on behalf of the not-so-welloff. These are areas in which trade-oriented societies and Friendly Societies have also worked in the past and probably still do, but it is not their central function.

There is more than one kind of Freemason. As a result there are lots of different kinds of regalia, jewels and member certificates. There are lodges of Juvenile Freemasons, and Orders of Freemasonry for Women. The following photo shows one such female Mason.

Insert image Co-Masonry Woman’s Day

    Friendly Societies have been the largest group of all the fraternals, but their story has been the most neglected by historians, and unfortunately by their own members. They began as small, local groups, of both men and women, putting some of their wages into a common fund in the good times, so that when bad times inevitably came there would be money ‘in the common purse’ to tide them and their families over.

    This is the same simple idea behind all the fraternals, but where trade-oriented societies have come to specialize in actual working conditions and wages, and Freemasons have specialized in ceremonies, charity and the practice of fraternalism, friendly societies concentrated on health benefits, medicine and welfare. More than the other fraternals since health has become such a political football, they have always had to struggle with changing legislation and governments encroaching on their field. Many have not survived, while those that have are today very strong private health funds, like MBF and HCF, or have turned into financial management organisations.

    After 200 years, there is only one book which tries to describe the contributions made by Australian Friendly Societies. Like the other fraternals, they spread from Europe, especially from England, with white migration and spread all over the continent. But it was the friendly societies which the editor of the Illustrated Australian News was complaining about in 1866 when he reported:

“Odd Fellows, Foresters, Druids and Rechabites are over-running the land.”

One reason they were so prominent was that they were often the groups representing the whole community when the Governor came to town, or when the railway opened, or the hospital needed an extension. The Friendly Societies were there with their banners and regalia long before trade unions began parading for Eight Hours or for May Day.

The fourth group contains societies which were distinctly political, such as the Loyal Orange Institute, or the many temperance organizations which also involved themselves in related social issues, such as gambling, domestic violence and homelessness. Religious battles were fought by such groups and societies which aligned themselves at different times depending on the issues. Catholic societies were numerous and varied, and involved themselves in everything from election campaigns to birth control to school lunches.

The Buffaloes were a social and charitable society which varied in its ‘personality’ from lodge to lodge depending on the interests of the membership. Other societies were established to cover a range of functions for a particular group, such as the Order of Imps set up to help people involved in theatre and music, or the Theosophists set up to explore esoteric teachings. 

Identification:
Family historians will come across ‘clues’ to fraternal membership in funeral notices, on headstones, or on paraphernalia left behind by an ancestor, such as regalia or photos. The vital information is often in what amounts to a ‘code’. Such as this wording on a plaque in my possession:

IOOF No 133
To the memory of
Our Late
Bro RW Hine, PG
Died March 6th 1908
Aged 45.   

The first line here translates as ‘Independent Order of Odd Fellows (Friendly Society), Lodge No 133’, which gives the Order and the No. of the lodge in which the deceased had been a member. The ‘PG’ translates as ‘Past (Noble) Grand’ which means that ‘Brother RW Hine’ had risen through the degrees, of which there are a few, to be elected lodge master. The rank of ‘Past’ master was especially esteemed because the wisdom learned while being in charge of the lodge was then available to the younger brethren coming through after Brother Hine.

The most common fraternal initials are:

AHCG – Australasian Holy Catholic Guild (Friendly Society)
AIOOF – Ancient Order of Odd Fellows (Friendly Society)
ANA – Australian Natives Association (Friendly Society)
AOF – Ancient Order of Foresters (Friendly Society)
EC – English Constitution (Freemasonry)
GUOFG – Grand United Order of Free Gardeners (FS)
GUOOF – Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (FS)
HACBS – Hibernian Aust Catholic Benefit Society (FS)
IC – Irish Constitution (Freemasonry)
INF – Irish National Foresters (FS)
IOGT – Independent Order of Good Templars (Temperance)
IOOF – Independent Order of Odd Fellows (FS)
IOOF,MU – IOOF, Manchester Unity (FS)
IOR – Independent Order of Rechabites (FS)
LOI – Loyal Orange Institute
NIOOF – National Independent Order of Odd Fellows (FS)
ODT – Order of the Daughters of Temperance
OES – Order of the Eastern Star
OST – Order of the Sons of Temperance
PAFS – Protestant Alliance Friendly Society
RA – Royal Arch (Freemasonry)
RAOB – Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes
RBP – Royal Black Preceptory (an extension of the LOI)
SC – Scottish Constitution (Freemasonry)
THC – Trades Hall Council
UAOD – United Ancient Order of Druids
UGL – United Grand Lodge (of Ancient, Free and Accepted Freemasonry)