Last weekend I was visiting my local Bunnings and true to form a local community group had control of the famous Bunnings sausage sizzle. To be honest, I had no intention of buying a toilet seat or some screws, I was hungry!
The lucky campers were a Scout Troop, Lake Burley Griffin Sea Scouts to be precise. It bought back a lot of memories, most good, some not so good, of my time with this worthy organisation during my pre and early teens.
Ahh, the late 60's, they were the days, dark ages by today's standards.
The lucky campers were a Scout Troop, Lake Burley Griffin Sea Scouts to be precise. It bought back a lot of memories, most good, some not so good, of my time with this worthy organisation during my pre and early teens.
Ahh, the late 60's, they were the days, dark ages by today's standards.
I remember being invested as a Cub, proudly standing there in front of Akela in my new navy blue serge jumper and shorts (that's what cubs wore in those days), little green cap on my head. Can't remember how old I was now, must have been 8 or 9.
I was thrilled to be a part of it all, the Grand Howl with the dibbing and dobbing, instruction in arcane subjects like the history of the flag, how the scout movement started, how to grow up to be a good little citizen of the British Commonwealth of Nations, love the queen, fear god and salute the flag, sleep with the window open, turn your mattress regularly, salute a funeral procession, give up your seat on a bus or train (the little town I lived in had neither). I can still recite the Cub Law (since changed I notice), over 4 decades later - "A Cub gives in to the old wolf, a Cub does not give in to himself" - maybe I should have lived by that law more often over the years!
Anyway, cutting a long waffle short, I moved on to Scouts at around 12. These were the pre-environmentally considerate times, we would cut down nice straight trees to use as the poles for the cumbersome canvas tents with a fly, all suitably lashed together with regulation lashings and knots. Build a big fire, burn everything in sight. Love it! Try doing that now!
The greatest highlight of my entire Scout career was attending the 1972 World Scout Jamboree at Woodside, near Adelaide. I was the only kid from my Scout Troop to attend so was initially pretty scared and lonely as one is at the age of 13. We travelled in a special train that left Sydney and picked up kids all along the way through to Melbourne and on to Adelaide. It was like a scene out of a WW2 movie, the carriages were that old, if not older. Wouldn't doubt they were used as troop trains during WW1. At one stage we were inspected by the Chief Scout of Australia, Sir Roden Cutler VC, a towering man and a legend resplendent with a chest of medal ribbons and a wooden leg which was probably the reason he was the only one there wearing long trousers.
Sadly, I lost interest in the whole Scout thing not all that long after, teenagers being what they are.
Every now and then I think back with great fondness to the woggles, scarves, lemon-squeezer hats, Bob-a-Job Week, left handed handshakes, the prim and proper teachings of Lord Baden Powell, the badges, camping and the enthusiasm and innocence of youth lost so long ago.
One lasting impact that all this has on me is a long running sense of guilt every time I remember the last of the Scout Laws from that period (since discarded I notice) and I quote it below along with amplifying notes from BP himself ...
A SCOUT IS CLEAN IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED. Decent Scouts look down upon silly youths who talk dirt, and they do not let themselves give way to temptation, either to talk it or to do anything dirty. A Scout is pure, and clean-minded, and manly. - "A scout is clean in thought, word and deed".
Indeed!
I was thrilled to be a part of it all, the Grand Howl with the dibbing and dobbing, instruction in arcane subjects like the history of the flag, how the scout movement started, how to grow up to be a good little citizen of the British Commonwealth of Nations, love the queen, fear god and salute the flag, sleep with the window open, turn your mattress regularly, salute a funeral procession, give up your seat on a bus or train (the little town I lived in had neither). I can still recite the Cub Law (since changed I notice), over 4 decades later - "A Cub gives in to the old wolf, a Cub does not give in to himself" - maybe I should have lived by that law more often over the years!
Anyway, cutting a long waffle short, I moved on to Scouts at around 12. These were the pre-environmentally considerate times, we would cut down nice straight trees to use as the poles for the cumbersome canvas tents with a fly, all suitably lashed together with regulation lashings and knots. Build a big fire, burn everything in sight. Love it! Try doing that now!
The greatest highlight of my entire Scout career was attending the 1972 World Scout Jamboree at Woodside, near Adelaide. I was the only kid from my Scout Troop to attend so was initially pretty scared and lonely as one is at the age of 13. We travelled in a special train that left Sydney and picked up kids all along the way through to Melbourne and on to Adelaide. It was like a scene out of a WW2 movie, the carriages were that old, if not older. Wouldn't doubt they were used as troop trains during WW1. At one stage we were inspected by the Chief Scout of Australia, Sir Roden Cutler VC, a towering man and a legend resplendent with a chest of medal ribbons and a wooden leg which was probably the reason he was the only one there wearing long trousers.
Sadly, I lost interest in the whole Scout thing not all that long after, teenagers being what they are.
Every now and then I think back with great fondness to the woggles, scarves, lemon-squeezer hats, Bob-a-Job Week, left handed handshakes, the prim and proper teachings of Lord Baden Powell, the badges, camping and the enthusiasm and innocence of youth lost so long ago.
One lasting impact that all this has on me is a long running sense of guilt every time I remember the last of the Scout Laws from that period (since discarded I notice) and I quote it below along with amplifying notes from BP himself ...
A SCOUT IS CLEAN IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED. Decent Scouts look down upon silly youths who talk dirt, and they do not let themselves give way to temptation, either to talk it or to do anything dirty. A Scout is pure, and clean-minded, and manly. - "A scout is clean in thought, word and deed".
Indeed!
Lovely story xx
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