By Juanita Kwok Chinese Masonic Sign (Albury City Collection ARM 92.009) The Chinese Masonic Society is one of the earliest and largest and longest-continuing of Chinese Australian associations, established in the 1850s and still in operation, with its headquarters in Mary St, Surry Hills, Sydney. John Fitzgerald described its evolution “from a loose affiliation of rural clubs into an organised social network with a prominent urban profile”.[1] A report of the representatives who attended the grand opening of the Chinese Masonic Lodge at 18 Mary Street, Surry Hills on 30 January 1912 illustrates how widespread membership was in rural Australia: The opening ceremonies commenced at 2 o’clock this morning when the Grand Master of the Society, Moy Sing, formally received the delegates from the different affiliate bodies in Melbourne, Brisbane, Bendigo, Rockhampton, Thursday Island, Auckland, Tasmania, Wagga, Wyalong, Temora, Nyngan, Braidwood, Moree, Mungindi, Condobolin, Hay, Parkes, Walgett, Newcastle, Wellington NSW, Albury, Wangaratta, Tumut, Tingha, Narrabri, Goulburn, Gunnedah, Wollongong, Lismore, Armidale.[2]...Read More