The West Australian (Perth) July 23, 1999
by Anne Buggins
MASONIC BONE RITUAL SHOCKS ABORIGINES:
Freemasons give police human skulls for forensic testing
Aboriginal activist Clarrie Isaacs, who is a former member of the WA
Freemasons, says he is surprised and disappointed to discover
Aboriginal
bones had been used in masonic secret rituals.
A skull and crossbones belonging to the Newman Masonic Lodge was
identified
as Aboriginal, prompting Freemasons to surrender up to 60 such skulls
to
police for forensic testing.
"I wouldn't like to see the use of human bones in any ritual," he
said. "I
don't think it is a Christian sort of thing to have bones hanging
around."
Mr. Isaacs, who is a Muslim, said he was a member of the Concorde
Lodge in
Stirling Highway for about three years, but left in 1988. "I somehow
felt
it didn't really fit my style," he said. "It was a lot of big
businessmen
and tons of police."
"Some of them were doing good things -- not all of them were police.
I was just working for the Water Authority, I couldn't keep up with
all
their donations. I don't think they objected to me, maybe it was a
novelty
to say they had the only Aboriginal in the lodge."
Despite ent3ring the third masonic degree and attaining the title of
Master
Mason, Mr. Isaacs had never seen a set of bones used for any
ceremonial
ritual. He said he may not have been eligible to see them. "As you
join
among men and want to be their equal, you would hope they don't have
such
dastardly things going on," he said.
Mr. Isaacs said he became fed up with the amount of time masons spent
memorising things and reading them out. "I thought, 'How am I ever
going to
apply this stuff'. It was a bit like nonsense," he said.
Yesterday, Coroner's Court manager Glenn Spivey said police had handed
in a
few skulls for testing in recent weeks. Forensic tests normally took
up to
10 days, but there could be a delay if lots came at once.
Other Aboriginal spokesmen have reacted strongly to the news. The
Perth
Noongar Regional Council chairman, the Rev. Cedric Jacobs, said he was
devastated to think the bones of any human had been used in such a
manner
and believed the Masons should be prosecuted. He said the matter would
be
raised at a council meeting next month.
But Manguri Aboriginal Corporation director Dean Collard said he saw
practical difficulties with any move to prosecute. "I don't think it
can
be done," he said. "Just in a practical sense who do you prosecute?"
He
applauded the Masons' decision to hand other skulls in for forensic
examination. He said it showed respect for Aboriginal beliefs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FREEMASONS HAND OVER 60 SKULLS FOR POLICE TESTS
The West Australian (Perthy) July 22, 1999 page 1
by Anne Buggins
WA Freemasons could be forced to reveal details of their secret
ceremonies
after a skull and crossbones belonging to the Newman Lodge were
identified
as Aboriginal. The discovery has prompted Freemasons to surrender up
to 60
such skulls for forensic testing and to begin using photographic
transparencies instead of human remains in rituals.
Aboriginal elder Ken Colbung, who likened Freemason rituals to those
of a
witches' coven, wants the masons to be prosecuted. "It makes your
blood
run cold really," he said yesterday. "I am not against them using
skeletal
remains as long as they have got permission, but when they become
grave
robbers we would tend to think they shouldn't be doing that."
But South Hedland DetSgt. Ron Clarke said prosecution was not an
issue. The
masons had not contravened a section of the Criminal Code which dealt
with
"misconduct with regard to a corpse."
Irene Stainton, assistant director of Aboriginal heritage and culture
at
the Aboriginal Affairs Department, said it was "hugely significant" to
all
Aboriginal people that human remains be returned to a person's country
or
place of origin. But pathologists could confirm only the remains were
those of an Aboriginal man, aged 30 to 35.
(continued on page 2)
BONES POINT TO MASONIC RITES page 2
The West Australian (Perth) July 22, 1999
The masonic ritual came to light in February when three boys, aged six
and
seven, took a box containing the bones from an unlocked storeroom of
the
Newman Masonic Lodge. After ruling out any suspicious circumstances,
South
Hedland detectives sent the bones to Perth for forensic testing. They
were
found to be Aboriginal, placed in the custody of the Aboriginal
affairs
Department, and are now stored temporarily at the WA Museum.
Peter Bloor, grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of WA Freemasons,
yesterday
insisted the bones, covered with a cement-like substance and some
yellow
paint and kept in a box equipped with an electric light, were nothing
more
than a simple teaching aid.
"We use them as teaching aids in much the same way as a university
uses a
human skull," he said. "The show the inevitability of death and the
fragility of life." He said about 60 of the 180 masonic lodges across
the
state had a similar set of remains. Some were made of ceramic or
plaster,
but most were human and came from the Indian sub-continent, as did
those
used in universities. He said records did not show where the bones
were
from, but it was possible they had been transferred from a lodge in
Cue to
one in Newman earlier this century. The remains were viewed by
candidates
for the third and highest masonic "level of understanding" known as
the
third degree.
Mr. Bloor acknowledged that the switch to using transparencies in
rituals
could be seen as forcing the masons into the 20th century. He said the
bones were not touched or interfered with in any way. In a lodge such
as
Newman, this type of ceremoney would occur about once a year. He said
the
masons had not known the remains were Aboriginal. The decision to
surrender all skulls was made to ensure any other Aboriginal remains
could
be dealt with properly.
Ms. Stainton said the Freemason's decision to surrender other remains
was a
responsible attitude which showed they respected Aboriginal culture.
She
said if the remains predated the 1972 Aboriginal Heritage Act a
prosecution
would not be possible.
--
Directed to the 23 Supreme Councils of the Illuminati 4 June 1889:
"To you, Sovereign Instructors of Grade 33, we tell you: you have to
repeat to the brothers of inferior grades that we worship only one God
to whom we pray without superstition. It is we, Initiated in the
Supreme Grade, that are to keep the real Masonic religion preserving
pure the Lucifer doctrine"
- Albert Pike - (Illuminati, founder of the Ku Klux Klan)