He looks and sounds like any other Tauranga resident going about living in the Bay of Plenty. But for this Brother, his “brotherhood” is fast disappearing from the city.

Peter Miller is part of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

“We’re known as the Buffaloes,” said Miller.

“But we use those initials – RAOB – to identify ourselves.”

The order originated in England in 1822, according to the NZ website, and Buffs aids its members, their families, dependants of former members and charitable organisations.

Unbeknown to many city folk, until recently Buffaloes used to live, meet and discretely gift funds to a menagerie of non-profit community groups among us for many years.

“We’re a philanthropic, fraternal organisation – however, we don’t solicit funds from the general public. All our funds come from the Brothers themselves.”

Legion of Frontiersmen J Squadron leader Val Baker said the original Redoubt Lodge No 98 had been meeting at the LOF hall in Elizabeth St West since 1952.

She’d like to see more men join and revive the Buffaloes in town from the edge of extinction. “We’ve had a long association with the Buffalo Lodge and they’re a group that give back generously to the community,” Baker said.

August 1946

According to Miller, the Redoubt Lodge No 98 was the original Buffaloes Lodge for Tauranga and was founded in August 1946 after World War II.

“At those meetings there’d be 50-60 brothers regularly attending, but over the years that’s dropped off.”

Peter Miller outside the LOF hall on Elizabeth Street West, where the original Redoubt Lodge No 98 met up since 1952. Photo / David Hall

Miller said about eight years of low numbers prompted Redoubt Lodge No 98 to amalgamate with Mount Lodge 130.

“We became known as the Mount Redoubt-Lodge and retained the No 98.”

Since then numbers have dwindled further and Mount-Redoubt Lodge No 98 recently went into recess.

“For months we’d been operating on a bare quorum of five Brothers. Then we lost three senior, very staunch Brothers within 12 months,” said Miller.

“And it became very difficult ... so we decided to go into recess for a year to see what happens.”

Mount-Redoubt No 98’s fate will be decided in December.

“We will decide to close or to carry on.”

Turning the tide would mean drawing more members in.

“It would be good if there were Brothers out there who stopped coming to lodge that would come back. That would certainly help. And younger Brothers and members of the community [joining] would be great too.”

Under the radar

But what are the Buffaloes? And has their demise been flying under the radar?

“Yeah we do [fly under the radar] because we don’t go out looking for publicity. We don’t do that – and perhaps we should have 10-15 years ago so today we wouldn’t be going into recess,” admitted Miller.

He joined the RAOB in December 1970 in Kawerau because his father was a Buff “and, as a child, I’d had quite a few positive experiences with the activities the Buffaloes put on for their children”.

So what does a Buff do?

Miller said Brothers – or Buffs – attended a lodge meeting once a month. Miller said there were three tiers of the RAOB: minor lodges such as Mount-Redoubt Lodge No 98; a Provincial Grand Lodge, which usually has about three minor lodges underneath it; and the Grand Lodge of NZ, which is the national lodge.

Ceremonial

“We’re very ceremonial. We have a number of rituals and ceremonies, especially when a Brother goes from one degree to the next,” said Miller, who was the Grand Primo (chairman) of New Zealand’s conference in 2015.

Peter Miller was the Grand Primo (chair) of New Zealand’s conference in 2015. Photo / Supplied.

“My father always said to me: ‘If you’re able to control a room of Buffs you’ll control any meeting’. And he was dead right because we have a definite meeting procedure to go through in the Lodge; then we go into what’s called ‘harmony’. [This is where] Brothers might bring a musical instrument along or just tell a yarn. That’s one of the ways we raise funds because we put in money after each item – and that goes to the general fund.

“We have a raffle, we call it a swindle each night which is part of fundraising as well.” Since 2018, the Mount-Redoubt No 98 has donated more than $20,000 to local organisations.

“We’ve strongly supported the children’s ward at Tauranga Hospital, we’ve also given to the Blue Light Foundation.”

Other recipients include the Epilepsy Foundation, Blind Low Vision NZ, Katikati Tramping Club, and Ōmanu, Mount and Pukehina surf lifesaving clubs. All without a murmur in the local rag.

Miller now belongs to Te Puke Lodge No 122, which meets monthly on his property.

“So, I’ve still got a Lodge to go to, thank goodness.”

But he’s happy to take inquiries from those who want to breathe life back into Mount-Redoubt No 98. Email him at: millerph@kinect.co.nz