History
Lieutenant Colonel Cossgrove served in the Second Boer War with Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout and Guide movement. Following Baden-Powell's ideas Cossgrove established Boy Scout troops in New Zealand in 1908. His daughter Muriel wanted an organisation for girls so, after correspondence with Baden-Powell, Cossgrove started the Girl Peace Scouts and, on Baden-Powell's suggestion, wrote the programme in the book "Peace Scouting for Girls" which was published in 1910. By the time the book was published, there were over 300 girls already practicing Peace Scouting in Christchurch (Cossgrove's home), Dunedin and Auckland, creating confusion about the starting year. Letters from Muriel in 1908 discussing Peace Scouts with a friend have been found and this is generally the accepted date for the origin of the New Zealand Guide movement. The Peace Scouts became an incorporated society in 1919 and Cossgrove was the head until his death in 1920. Leadership was then continued by his wife and son. The organisation became officially affiliated with the UK branch of Guiding (now Girlguiding UK in 1912 and, in 1923, the organization changed its name and programme to Guides New Zealand and was a founding member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1928.
From 1923 to 1968 the promise read:
- On my honour I promise that I will do my best
- To do my duty to God and the King/Queen
- To help other people at all times
- To obey the Guide Law
From 1923 to 1973 there were 10 laws and the motto was Be Prepared.
In 2007, this organisation changed its name from Guides New Zealand to GirlGuiding New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: Girl Guiding New Zealand
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)