History

The Grand Constitutions of 1786 provide for a procedure whereby a Supreme Council in one country can establish a Supreme Council in another country where a Supreme Council does not already exist. Under this procedure Supreme Councils are legitimately established. A Patent to establish the Supreme Council 33° for England and Wales was sought from the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction USA and was granted in 1845. The Supreme Council 33° for Scotland was erected by Sovereign Grand Inspector General Morison in 1846.

Within a comparatively few years both the Supreme Council for England and the Supreme Council for Scotland had approved petitions for Charters to establish Rose Croix Chapters in Australia, the first one being Metropolitan No.1 in Melbourne in 1858. Until 1945 progress of the Order in Australia was slow but steady. After 1945 there was a marked impetus to the development of Rose Croix Freemasonry in Australia.

It was a natural development because of the growth of this Rite post 1945 that there should be a demand for a Supreme Council 33° for Australia. In response to that demand, in 1984 the Supreme Council for England and the Supreme Council for Scotland conducted a vote of all their members and chapters. The result of this proving favorable, the two Supreme Councils moved to establish a Supreme Council for Australia and on the12th October 1985 the ‘Supreme Council of the Thirty Third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for Australia’ came into being. We are now one of more than 60 regular Supreme Councils operating in different countries throughout the world.

We have over 150 active Rose Croix Chapters, together with over 60 Knight Kadosh Councils of the 30° operating in Australia. For administrative purposes the country is divided into Regions, each Region having several Districts. In most cases, wherever you live in Australia there is a Rose Croix Sovereign Chapter and Sovereign Council under this Supreme Council operating near you. Chapters typically meet bi-monthly or quarterly.

To become a member of our Rite you must be a member in good standing of a Craft Lodge owing allegiance to an Australian Grand Lodge or a Grand Lodge in amity with an Australian Grand Lodge. To remain a member of the Rite, you will be required to remain a member of a recognised Craft Lodge. Your three craft degrees are accepted as equivalent to the first three degrees of this Rite. If you truly seek greater knowledge of Freemasonry, I invite you to apply to join our Order. I am sure that you will find the experience both uplifting and rewarding.