Arielle Tapper 1

Malcolm James Kinross, 88 this year, tells us what life was like after WWII and how an age-old men’s only organization shaped his life. After World War II had ended and I’d done my time in the Air Force, it was my ambition to be a dentist. But that was waylaid when I told my mother what I was going to do…she said “that would break your fathers heart, he’s worked in that furniture factory of his everyday, even Saturdays and Sundays, right through the war to keep it going for you.” So, I became a furniture manufacturer, like my father, working alongside him, until I took over the factory. While running the furniture factory, I joined an organization called Freemasons Queensland, a worldwide organization that dates back to the late 16th Century. Freemasonry is an organization with a philosophy of teaching people how to live. It gives you principles to guide you along the road from birth to death. In my opinion it’s one of the good organizations we have in the world. I became Grandmaster of the Queensland Freemasonry in 1989 to 1992. My main goal as Grandmaster was to try reducing the loss of membership through loss of interest and to encourage younger men to seek out what Freemasonry is about. You can’t find out what it’s about until you join it, and so it was very hard to gain new members. I think, my Grandmastership was, in my opinion, a very successful operation. We traveled all over Queensland up through New Guinea and Rabaul. I traveled every state of Australia, and over to New Zealand. I was fortunate enough to go to the 25th Anniversary of the Duke of Kent being Grandmaster of England. I was over there in 1992 for that celebration. In 1994 I received my Order of Australia Medal for my care of the aged. It made me feel very proud and it made me think that somebody thought I had been doing something worthwhile, because you have to be nominated for it. I was chairman of the board of Freemasonry that looks after aged people and president for six years, retiring in 1986. I still maintained an interest in Freemasonry, and I used to go to all their meetings, even though I didn’t have the same influence I had when I was president. However, at age 88 this year, my only interests now are my wife Coral, who I’ve been married to for 62 years, our house and golf – tearing up the turf every Wednesday.

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