Scouting in Australia - History

History

Scouting started in Australia with some individual troops in Western Australia and Victoria in 1907. Scouting was established in Australia in 1908, the year the first Boy Scout training handbook Scouting for Boys was published in England. CHUMS Scout Patrols started forming in Australia in 1908 due to the circulation of CHUMS publication there. R.C. Packer and the Sunday Times in 1908 supported the formation of the League of Boy Scouts. St. Enoch's Presbyterian Church, Mount Morgan, Queensland formed its unit on 23 November 1908.

The Boy's Brigade launched their Scout program in 1909. Troops under the British Boy Scouts (BBS) program began Australian operations in 1909. Other Scouting organizations formed in 1909 were: Imperial Boy Scouts (IBS), Church Scout Patrols program of the Anglican Church Lads' Brigade, Australian League of Boy Scouts Queensland, Girl Peace Scouts and YMCA Scouts.

In 1910 the CHUMS Scout Patrols merged with the BBS. Also in July 1910, the Australian League of Boy Scouts Queensland affiliated to the United Kingdom's Boy Scouts Association and changes names to League of Baden-Powell Boy Scouts, Queensland Section. St. Enoch's affiliated their company with the Boy's Brigade Scouts in 1910. The IBS Victoria Section requested in September 1911 that the Minister of Defence allow IBS troops to undergo military cadet training under the military supervision, but were denided as being a voluntary association.

The Australian Boy Scouts founded in 1910 had merged with the Imperial Boy Scouts to become Australian Imperial Boy Scouts (A.I.B.S.) by 1912. In 1912, the Gippsland Boy Scout Association was formed and affiliated with the A.I.B.S. The Church Scout Patrols ceased activities by 1912 while the League of Boy Scouts had stopped operating around 1914. Some of the Girl Peace Scouts joined the Voluntary Aid Detachments during World War I.

Baden-Powell visited Australia in 1912 and in later years (1927, 1931 and 1934) to encourage the extension of his Boy Scouts Association.

Baden-Powell's scouting organization finally extended itself to Australia almost five years after founding, known as the Baden-Powell Boy Scouts in 1914 later rename to the Boy Scout's Association. Its New South Wales Section formed that year. While the League of Baden-Powell Boy Scouts, Queensland Section changes names again to Boy Scout's Association, Queensland Section.

Most of the remainders of the Girl Peace Scouts joined the Girl Guides in the 1920s. The Tasmanian, South Australia and West Australia Sections of the Boy Scout Association (BSA) are set up in 1920 and 1921. The Salvation Army's Life Saving Scouts start up in 1921. Norfolk Island Boy Scouts formed in 1922. A BSA Section for Victoria is set up in 1923. The Methodist Boy Scouts (W.A.) associated with Boy Scouts Association after 1924. Boy Scout's Association, Queensland Section merges with the rest of the BSA. The Boys' Brigade (BB) Scouts program ended in 1927 while the Catholic Boy Scouts' Association is formed the same year by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in New South Wales and Queensland. With the end of the BB Scouts, St. Enoch's unit becomes a BSA unit. Girl Guides under Australia administration were started on Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands in 1927.

The Boy Scout Association want their branches to receive monopoly status from the governments so as to control the scouting movement. The BSA send Overseas Commissioners in the 1920s and 1930s along with Baden-Powell in 1931 and 1934 to Australia in support of this effort. In 1934, the BSA began a move to centralise control over its units by insisting on property being registered in the BSA's name instead of the local Scout Group. Also that year, the BSA's Queensland branch constitution was changed to remove State Council's elected local representatives. Scout Groups resisted put the BSA used World War II to further the centralisation.

Norfolk Island Boy Scouts signed up with The Boy Scouts Association in May 1930. The final Girl Peace Scouts troop in Lindasfarne Tasmania ceased operating in 1935. In 1939, St. Enoch's BSA unit goes independent as the Blue Boy Scouts. On 31 August 1932, the AIBS signed an agreement with the BSA of Australia to merge. In 1942, Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, The Governor of Queensland, resigned as Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association, Queensland Branch due to the failure of the BSA to respond to his call for reforms to its centralization effort that led to the severance of the Blue Boy Scouts' tie to the BSA. Several scouts-in-exile groups get started in the 1940s for eastern European countries with four just for Ukrainians.

In the 1950s, the British Boy Scouts ceased being an active group but continued with members. The 1950s also see the Hellenic Scouts and Maltese Scouts formed. Several general scouts in exile groups also formed in this decade: Australian Association of Scouts in Exile (AASE) (N.S.W.), Ethnic Scouts and Guides in Victoria (ESGAV) and Ethnic Scout & Guides of South Australia (ESGOSA). While the Blue Boy Scouts ceased operations in 1957. Australian sections created their own national Boy Scout Association in 1958.

The Vietnamese Scouts are founded in the 1970s and end soon in 1972 along with the Hellenic Scouts ending activities but continued as an interest group. While the 1970s see the Salvation Army replaced the Life Saving Scouts with the Boys' Legion.

The 1st Devonport Scouts went independent in 1981, leaving the YMCA Scouts. Various Baden-Powell Scouts associations sprung up in 1985 which the Devonport Scouts affiliated with. In 1986, the Independent Scouts were formed.