WALHALLA WANDERINGS

One of the most beautiful places in the State has to be the historic town of Walhalla. Named after the mythical place of legend Valhalla makes it an ideal place to practice Freemasonry, and practice it we did on Saturday 12^th of November 2011.

The quaint Lodge room was built in the 1860's, first as the Wesleyan Church and then purchased by the local Freemasons in 1877 for $140. It is located at the top of a steep winding staircase (how appropriate) where the first step is located over the footbridge spanning the crystal clear Stringers creek.

Walhalla has a wonderfully interesting history especially for your humble scribe who is a keen railway enthusiast. A narrow gauge railway (2'6") exactly the same as Puffing Billy ran from Moe to Walhalla and was constructed and opened before the dawn of the 20^th century to service the 100 or so thousand gold miners and their families that converged on the valley. The gold rush was over almost as soon as it peaked early last century bringing about the slow demise of the town. The railway, like most other services closed one by one and Walhalla became almost a ghost town. It is only in recent years it has gained new life as a tourist area. A few of the fascinating places to visit in the town is the cemetery located up on the hill, the cricket ground and the Long Tunnel Mine.

The Walhalla installation ceremony of Master Elect, Wor. Bro. Noel Harris began with a 4.00pm tyling to enable us on motorcycles to be back at our 'digs' in Rawson for the 'South' before dark. As most of our members will be aware the V.M.M.A. executive is yet to finalize dress protocols for our installation team with Grand Lodge therefore our team was unable to carry out the ceremony as per the Walhalla Lodge members wish. Instead the ceremony was performed in excellent fashion by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Installation Team ably led by R. Wor. Bro. Bill Kee PJGW, himself a keen motorcyclist and now a member of the V.M.M.A...

V.M.M.A. members in attendance were: Red O'Meara, Brian (The Colonel) Sanders, Gary (Dapper Dan) Power, Taxi Fletcher, Dave Cash, Keith Fulstow, Mai (Mudguard) Pitcher, Dennis (Casper) Setterfield, Noel Harris and your humble scribe David Hall.

The work of the team was first class, especially when we consider the tight working area in the very small Lodge room and the short notice the team had to prepare. Those who have been in the Chair of King Solomon will understand when I report that the members of the V.M.M.A. still took an active part in the ceremony by being invited to share the pavement with the I.P.M. at a very important part of the Installed Board, a great privilege indeed, thanks Bill and Noel!

At the conclusion of the ceremony we on motorcycles donned our gear and rode in single line formation behind the new Ford Territory ably piloted by Red O'Meara with The Colonel in the left hand seat on the lookout for the local wildlife. Missing from our number was The Red Baron who was in Shepparton Hospital recovering from having his new hip put back into place after dislocating it pulling on his boots in preparation to leaving home to meet up with us. The manipulation under general anesthetic had taken place earlier in the afternoon following a fast ride in the back of an ambulance and a few hours on morphine.

As mentioned earlier the 'south' was held at our 'digs' which was the Rawson Resort, our sleeping quarters being in the old Board of Works bunkhouse section, great for a group such as ours and the supper was held in the restaurant. It consisted of a cold meat salad followed by fresh fruit salad. No raffle was held so we didn't have the opportunity to shine in that as we usually do. All too soon the night was over and we adjourned to our quarters for the normal round table discussions putting the world right. At about midnight our president felt the need to telephone The Baron in hospital and enquire after his health. All seemed well except he (The Baron) commented (quietly, of course) that he had been in a wonderful sleep full of the sorts of dreams only the pure of heart such as he can appreciate and he hoped that he could rejoin said dreams exactly where he had left off.

Morning followed night and after attending to our ablutions we met in the restaurant for a hearty cooked breakfast, Dave Cash ensuring he had made room for a large breakfast during the night when he went looking for some fella' called BILL.

Following breakfast Gary Power led the ride down the mountain to Trafalgar where he parted company with us as he had a prearranged date with his lawn mower. Keith Fulstow also left us for a date but that sounded far more civilized than a lawn mower. The rest of us made it as far as Yarragon before an urgent call of nature could no longer be ignored by the Gay Blade, Mudguard. His first attempt at the United Service Station located on the Moe side of Yarragon was unsuccessful as he was advised he had to purchase toilet paper and soap if he wanted to use the loo, something to keep in mind when travelling through the Latrine, whoops, sorry, I meant the Latrobe Valley. Fortunately, clean, well equipped council run toilets were found just a little further into the town.

As the Yarragon Bakery is famous for its custard tarts and coffee those remaining partook and then headed for our respective homes.

Another great weekend shared with good mates, can't wait for the next! Reported by: David Hall. 15/11/2011