Alexander Rud Mills (1885 – 8 April 1964) was an Australian
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
and author, interned in 1942 for his Nazi sympathies and
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
beliefs. He was also a prominent
Odinist, one of the earliest proponents of the rebirth of
Germanic Neopaganism
Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th cent ...
in the 20th century, and an
anti-Semite
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
. He founded the First Anglecyn Church of Odin in Melbourne in 1936. He published under his own name and the pen-names "Tasman Forth" and "Justinian".
Early life
Mills was born in
Forth, Tasmania
Forth is a small village in north-west Tasmania on the Forth River, west of Devonport and north-west of Launceston via the Bass Highway. It is mainly in the Central Coast Council area, but with just under 25% in the City of Devonport.
For ...
, in 1885. In around 1910, he moved to
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
to enrol at the
Melbourne University Law School
Melbourne Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of the University of Melbourne. Located in Carlton, Victoria, Melbourne Law School is Australia's oldest law school, and offers Juris Doctor, J.D., Master of Laws, LL.M, Doctor of P ...
. He graduated in 1916 and was admitted to the
Victorian Bar
The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australian State of Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley KC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 30 June 2020, there were 2,179 counsels ...
in 1917.
Political sympathies and activities
Mills applied to join the
AIF during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
at which time he was living at
Sea Lake. He was rejected on medical grounds. His soldier's reject badge was No. 65039. During 1914-15 he worked as a schoolteacher at
Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to:
Australia
* Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia
China
* Haileybury International School, an internatio ...
, Brighton.
In 1930, Mills stood for preselection as
Nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
candidate for the seat of Hawthorn. He was not successful. The following year, having little work but some money, he embarked on a trip around the world. He visited South Africa but did not like either the climate nor the 'mixed races'. He then visited Italy, Germany, Britain and the USSR. Although already reactionary in nature, he claimed to have become disillusioned with
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, which he had come to view as a form of organised thuggery, during his trip to Russia. He claimed that conditions in the USSR itself were appalling and that "Russia will cure any Communist if he goes to work there." In
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, he attended meetings of
Sir Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...
's 'British Union of Fascists', and
Arnold Leese's smaller and more radical 'Imperial Fascist League'. He aligned himself more closely with the Imperial Fascists and later helped to distribute Leese's newspaper, ''The Fascist'', in Australia.
Historian of esotericism
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the W ...
characterises Mills as a "Nazi sympathiser". Mills' trip to Germany included a visit to the
Brown House where, without appointment, he met Adolf Hitler "talking" (Mills would later recount) "to some of his confreres". At the 1944 Australia First enquiry, Mills claimed that Hitler had impressed him as a "kindly man" who "seemed to have the respect of his men and appeared kind to them." In Germany, Mills also met followers of General
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. ...
, the famous
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
strategist and conspiracy theorist who was also, like Mills, virulently anti-Semitic.
Returning to Australia in January 1934, Mills established the Anglecyn Church of Odin. He told an undercover agent the following year that this 'religion' was a front which allowed him to pursue his dedication to fascism without fear of prosecution. In 1935, he also founded a group called the 'British Australian Racial Body'. He established two short-lived newspapers, the ''National Socialist'' and ''The Angle'', as vehicles through which to espouse his racist, pseudo-religious and political views. At this time he maintained correspondence with officials of the British Union of Fascists. During wartime investigations into his views during the 1930s, it was established that he owned an autographed photograph of
Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher (12 February 1885 – 16 October 1946) was a member of the Nazi Party, the ''Gauleiter'' (regional leader) of Franconia and a member of the '' Reichstag'', the national legislature. He was the founder and publisher of the virul ...
, publisher of
Der Stürmer
''Der Stürmer'' (, literally "The Stormer / Attacker / Striker") was a weekly German tabloid-format newspaper published from 1923 to the end of the Second World War by Julius Streicher, the ''Gauleiter'' of Franconia, with brief suspensions ...
. In 1941, he became associated with the anti-War, pro-Isolationist
Australia First Movement
The Australia First Movement was a fascist movement, founded in October 1941. It grew out of the Rationalist Association of New South Wales and the Victorian Socialist Party, and was led by former Rhodes scholar Percy Stephensen and Adela ...
and contributed to its newspaper ''The Publicist'', which, before 1939, had described itself as being "for national socialism" and "for Aryanism; against semitism", and which was the mouthpiece for
William John Miles, a leading member of the Rationalist Society.
Mills' ''The Odinist Religion: Overcoming Jewish Christianity'' was published in 1939. In that work, Mills claimed (without evidence) that Nordic races had established the ancient civilisations of
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, but that they had been weakened by miscegenation with other races. He was particularly affronted by the espoused Christian assumption that all humans were equal. The following year he stood for the Federal seat of Fawkner representing the Motorists' Protection League. He polled 2,152 votes compared to Harold Holt's 38,387 (for the U.A.P.) and A. E. Fraser's 22,558 (A.L.P.)
Internment
Mills was the first resident of Victoria to join Australia First, though he would later claim to be only a passive member. Barbara Winter shows that, in fact, he fully supported Australia First's position, read its publications and was convinced of the idea of a widespread Jewish conspiracy; he believed, for instance, that former Australian prime minister
William Hughes was half-Jewish and that
Chiang Kai Shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
was a prominent freemason and therefore in the thrall of 'Jewish Christianity'. Mills' membership of Australia First and his well-known Nazi sympathies were possibly the reason he was arrested on 7 May 1942 and detained without trial lest he aid the Japanese army which at that time seemed likely to invade Australia. Major Edward Hattam of the Commonwealth Investigation Branch later testified that he believed "Mills had views leaning somewhat toward Nazi ideology." There were claims made that during his internment he 'was prominent in openly advocating a Japanese victory.' He was interned until 17 December 1942. Bruce Muirden's ''The Puzzled Patriots'' refers to Mills' claim that he had been insulted, then bashed with a rifle, by an officer of the camp guard at Loveday Internment Camp in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
though Mills did not mention this during the 1944 inquiry into Australia First. Peter Henderson, writing of Australian Nazi sympathisers of the 20th century, suggests that his Australia First association was not the reason for Mills' internment: "Mills was interned primarily for leading the Odinist cult in Victoria, as well as for receiving 'substantial sums from unknown sources' and for his links with German and British Nazi groups."
In Federal Parliament on 30 March 1944
Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
, then leader of the opposition, said of Mills, "I happen to know him quite well, because he went through the university at the same time as I did... 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."
Mills' Odinism
Having formulated "his own unique blend" of
Ariosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are esoteric ideological systems that were developed largely by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', which means the wisdom of the Aryans, was i ...
, he drew heavily on writings of pioneering Austrian Ariosophist and Wotanist
Guido von List
Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List (5 October 1848 – 17 May 1919), was an Austrian occultist, journalist, playwright, and novelist. He expounded a modern Pagan new religious movement known as Wotanism, which he claimed was ...
. Much of Mills' ideology focused around what he conceived as the "British race", a group who he believed also inhabited not only Britain but other parts of the world colonised by the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
. That concept was particularly problematic given the ethnically and linguistically diverse nature of the British population during the early 20th century. Mills believed that while Christianity was alien to the "British race", Odinism was 'native' and thus could be better understood by them. He expressed the view that "our own racial ideas and traditions (not those of others) are our best guide to health and national strength". He was critical of Christianity, believing it to be "unnatural" because – in his view – it encouraged the breaking down of racial barriers.
In Mills' so-called theology, the Norse gods were symbols of the divine rather than actual anthropomorphic entities, and he believed that each racial group had its own symbolic system for interpreting and understanding divinity. For Mills, Odin represented an archetypal father figure, with other deities from
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, such as
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...
and
Frigg
Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wet ...
, having minor roles.
In his 1936 liturgical text, ''The First Guide Book to the Anglecyn Church of Odin'', Mills gives a version of the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
that is only slightly different from that in
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
, and Mills' formulary includes vigils, hymns, evensong and communion, making it abundantly clear that Mills based the liturgy of the Anglecyn Church of Odin on that of the Anglican Church. However, while textually there is a debt to Christian worship, philosophically Mills expresses strong anti-Christian sentiments throughout:
Anti-Semitic comments can likewise be found scattered throughout the Guide Book. He claims, for instance, that
Jewish people plot world conquest:
control the media:
and dominate
Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
:
Later life
After Mills was released from internment in late 1942 he continued to promote his vision of Odinism. He remained an active writer, publishing eight books and numerous articles and pamphlets between 1933 and 1957 on Odinist themes. He published ''Law for the Ordinary Man'' under the pen-name "Justinian" in 1947. ''Law for the Ordinary Man'', which has no publisher stated (only a printer, A. R. Johnson of Surrey Hills), was written, Mills stated, for 'the "man in the street"; foreigners (to Australia, although some laws discussed were unique to Victoria); 'for students before beginning their law studies'; schoolteachers, 'business men', and 'generally for those people who have little or no time to study the law'. In this book, Mills commented that the King of England was involved in dispensing justice for a 'penniless, unhealthy negro of Trinidad'. He also used as an example of 'international law' two 'primitive villages' which, in his opinion, were likely only to agree on points of law if their inhabitants 'are of the same race.' 'If, however, the villages differ in language and race, if they are temperamentally very different, then the measure of agreement is not very great.'
Mills also wrote a song, "Australia", with Henry Hedges, published in or around 1954.
For over thirty years, Mills had a friendship and romance with schoolteacher Evelyn Louisa Price. They were married at Holy Trinity, Church of England, Surrey Hills, on 2 June 1951. At the time of their marriage Mills was 65, Price 62.
Bruce Muirden relates that Mills continued to pursue compensation for his internment in the 1940s for long after his release and threatened to write about his experiences, 'still talking about a book' in 1961. 'His chaotic ideas changed little in his final years. He remained obsessively anti-Jewish, anti-Christian and anti-black.'
Mills died on 8 April 1964, and is buried at Ferntree Gully Cemetery, Victoria; Evelyn died on 9 July 1973 and is buried with her husband. Curiously, considering Mills' avowed rejection of Christianity, both are buried in the Church of England section of the Cemetery. In 2021, an exposé in the Melbourne ''Age'' of Australian
Neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
gave brief details of 'a ceremony inspired by Norse mythology, instructed by a tattooed Odinist at the grave of one of Australia’s first well-known neo-Nazis
ic Alexander Rud Mills.'
Legacy and influence on Germanic neopaganism
Writing in the ''Australian Religion Studies Journal'', A. Asbjørn Jøn characterised Mills as "obscure yet important", having played a "very significant role" in the development of Norse-oriented Neopaganism.
During the 1960s, the Danish far right activist
Else Christensen came across Mills' work while she was living in Canada. Although Christensen felt that many of Mills' ideas were too heavily influenced by Freemasonry for her liking, she was profoundly influenced by his ideas about reviving the worship of ancient Norse deities. Christensen subsequently established the
Odinist Fellowship
Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th centu ...
in 1969, then based from her
mobile home
A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...
in
Crystal River, Florida
Crystal River is a city in Citrus County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,108 in the 2010 census. According to the U.S. Census estimates of 2018, the city had a population of 3,162. The city was incorporated in 1903 and is the self p ...
. According to Australian historian of the far right, Kristy Campion, the Odinist religion had more influence in the United States than in Mills' native Australia.
In the early 1970s, a group of Australian Odinists, who were students at the University of Melbourne, sought a guarantee from the Australian Attorney-General that if Odinism were formally revived it would not be persecuted (as, they claimed, Mills' church had been). Attorney-General Lionel Murphy pursued a course of allowing freedom of religion within Australia, and by the early 1990s the Odinic Rite of Australia had been granted legal status by the Australian government.
In 1980,
Kerry Raymond Bolton from Christchurch, New Zealand, along with David Crawford, co-founded a New Zealand group called the Church of Odin. They both had a background in far-right political activities.
Paul Spoonley
Paul Spoonley (born 1951) is a New Zealand sociologist and professor at Massey University where his specialist area is social change and demography and how this impacts policy decisions at the political level. Spoonley has led numerous externally ...
quotes Crawford as saying that the Church of Odin was exclusively for whites, and specifically whites "of non-Jewish descent", and that "the main Odinic law requires loyalty to race". By 1983 Bolton had left the Church.
[Bolton, letter to the editor, Herald (26/6/83), cited in Spoonley, p. 170.]
Today, the main Odinist religious bodies that see significance in Mills' work are the northern hemisphere's Odinic Rite, the Odinic Rite of Australia, and the
Asatru Folk Assembly.
Partial bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Reference works
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Footnotes
Other sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Odinic Rite of Australia: the pre-Christian religion of Europe2009-10-25)
*A. Asbjorn Jon
'Skeggold, skalmold; vindold, vergold' -Alexander Rud Mills and the Asatru faith in the New Age
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Alexander Rud
1885 births
1964 deaths
Australian modern pagans
Adherents of Germanic neopaganism
Antisemitism in Australia
Australian fascists
Modern pagan writers
Founders of modern pagan movements