Alexander Rud Mills
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Alexander Rud Mills (1885-1964) was a prominent Australian Odinist, and one of the earliest proponents of the rebirth of Germanic Neopaganism in the 20th Century. He was a published author, lecturer and Barrister. He founded the First Anglecyn Church of Odin in Melbourne in 1936. He was also known by the pen-name Tasman Forth.
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[edit] Life
Mills was born in Forth, Tasmania in 1885. Around 1910 he moved to Victoria to enroll at the Melbourne University Law School at the University of Melbourne. Mills was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1917. He married Evelyn Lousia Price at Holy Trinity, Church of England, Surrey Hills, Victoria 2nd June 1951. She was the daughter of Frederick Andrew Price and Helena Louisa Rogers. Rud was 65, Evelyn was 62. They had a long friendship and romance continuing for over 30 years prior to their marriage. Witnesses at the wedding were Henry Jamieson and Edward Clare. Rud Mills passed away on 8th April 1964, buried at Ferntree Gully Cemetery, Victoria. His wife, Evelyn passed away on 9th July 1973 and is buried with her husband.
[edit] Odinism
The Odinic Rite of Australia (ORA) is a tax-exempt non profit organisation which seeks to continue the pioneering work of the founder of modern Odinism, Alexander Rud Mills. The Australian Tax Office accepts the ORA's definition of Odinism as "the continuation of ... the organic spiritual beliefs and religion of the indigenous peoples of northern Europe as embodied in the Edda and as they have found expression in the wisdom and in the historical experience of these peoples".
[edit] Detainment
Mills was loosely associated with (but not a member of) the nationalist Australia-First Movement. He was detained without trial for suspicion of sympathies to the Axis, and for offering his legal services to other members on March 10,1942. He was interned until 17 Dec 1942, having been set free at last by a tribunal. No charges were ever brought against him. Mills was cleared of any wrongdoing by a judicial panel, but received no compensation for his imprisonment.
In Parliament in March 1944 Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, then leader of the opposition, said "I happen to know him quite well..... he was hauled out of his home, imprisoned and put in an internment camp..... his association, so I am informed, with the Australia First Movement amounted to this: some man who had secured appointment with the movement wrote to him and asked him to subscribe, and he forward 10s 6d.as a subscription..... I know this man and I know something of the disaster which this has brought upon him..... Here is a man who for twenty-odd years was building up a practice as a professional man. He was taken out of his home, just as anybody might be. He was incarcerated in circumstances of immense notoriety. When he came out, what happened? His friends were gone, his practice gone, his reputation was gone."
In "The Puzzled Patriots," by Bruce Muirden, Melbourne University Press 1968, page 128 refers to a bashing of Rud Mills by an army offcer at Loveday internment camp in South Australia. This allegation was backed up by Mills wife, Evelyn Louisa Mills.
Alexander Rud Mills applied to join the AIF during World War 1 to fight against the Germans and Turks but he was rejected on medical grounds. His soldier's reject badge was No. 65039. This act, alone, demonstrated his allegiance to Australia, regardless of his private philosophical views.
[edit] Influence on Germanic neopaganism
Forthcoming..
[edit] Partial bibliography
- (1957) The Call of Our Ancient Nordic Religion. Coventry, England: Northern World Pub.
- (1957) The Call of Our Nordic Religion – Reflections on the Theological Content of the Sagas. Calcutta: Northern World Pub.
- (1947) Law for the Ordinary Man. Melbourne: A.R. Johnson.
- (1939) The Odinist Religion: Overcoming Judeo Christianity. Melbourne: Ruskin Press.
- (1937) Ritual Book of the Moots of the Anglecyn Body.
- (1936) The First Guide Book to the Anglecyn Church of Odin. Sydney: Forward Press.
- (1934) Hael, Odin!. Melbourne: Village Belle Press.
- (1933) And Fear Shall Be In The Way. London: Watson & Co.
[edit] References
- Asbjǿrn Jǿn, A. (May 1999). "Alexander Rud Mills and the Ásatrǘ faith in the New Age". Australian Religion Studies Review 12 (1).
- Gardell, Matthias (2003). "4", Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Duke University Press, 269-283. ISBN 0-8223-3071-7.
- Henderson, Peter (Sept 2006). "National Socialism in Australasia". Alexander Rud Mills - Esoteric Nazi, Univ of Queensland - Pacific & Asian History: NSA Conference.
- Henderson, Peter (Nov 2005). "Frank Browne and the Neo-Nazis". Labour History 89: 73-86.
- Kaplan, Jeffrey (Jan 1997). Radical Religion in America. Syracuse Univ. Press. ISBN 0815603967.
- Kidd, Colin. The Forging of Races. Univ of Glasgow, 225. ISBN 9780521797290.
- Muirden, Bruce (1968). The Puzzled Patriots, The Story of the Australia First Movement. Melbourne University Press.
- Oliver, Professor Revilo P. (August 1989). "Chrétian Malgré Lui – A. Rudd Mills". Liberty Bell.
- Slauson, Irv; Asatru Free Church Committee (1978). The Religion of Odin. Red Wing.
- Winter, Barbara (2005). The Australia-First Movement. Glass House Press. ISBN 18768191X.
