By Ulverstone History Museum
In August 1907, Lord Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scout movement in the United Kingdom. Baden-Powell served in India in the British Army and again during the Boer War. He trained soldiers as forward scouts with the same survival and woodcraft principles he would later publish for use as the handbook Scouting for Boys for the Boy Scouts. It was published in 1908 and Scout Troops immediately began forming rapidly around the world. Agnes Baden-Powell, his sister, decided that girls were missing out and founded the Girl Guides in 1910.
Norman Frost was the founding Scout Master of the 1st Ulverstone Troop in 1910. The Alexandra Road Scout Hall was built in 1963. By 1965, the district’s troops had amalgamated into the Leven District Association. The District Commissioner was William ‘Bill’ Paton, and Paton Park, built 1975–1978 in North Motton, is named after him.
The Scouting movement in Australia has always run on volunteers. Gene Raspin met his wife Norma at the Scouts in 1969. They married in 1971 and their children all became Scouts through the journey from Cubs to Rovers. The self-sufficiency and skills taught through the program culminated for Gene in one of his fondest memories:
In around 1982 or 1983, we built up momentum for 6 months on ‘War Games’, with a campsite up the Clayton Rivulet of one square mile — it was very hilly with the rivulet in the middle. The Troop was halved (18 v18). They went in on Friday and came out on Sunday. The main campsite was held by one group; the other group went bush. Stationery camp tried to locate the infiltrators, other group went into camp to infiltrate and capture the flag. Cook your own meals but covertly so no smoke. One of my sons was sneaking up the Rivulet in chest high water to get into camp.
There were bugles, ballistas with flour bombs, and platforms in trees — with tents off the ground. A roster of sentry duty with search lights at base camp. Very disciplined with rules of engagement to make sure everyone was safe. The following week had a mock court down in Turners Beach Community Hall packed with parents and kids, so-called ‘war crimes’ were charged (e.g. cow pat outside of tent). Sentenced to go out to Turners Beach with witnesses, had to go up to shoulders in the water in uniform as punishment. One of the parents was the judge. It was a real community roleplay.
It will be 115 years of Scouting in this district in 2025. According to the Scouts Australia’s 2023 Annual Report there are 51,016 Scouts across five different age groups across the country. The report also refers to the organisation’s child safety initiatives. This follows Scouts Australia’s 2018 apology in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: ‘The apology is a genuine and heartfelt admission that, for some young people, their time in Scouting was a negative experience. For this, we are truly sorry’.
Doing Our Best is one of the new stories on display in the Ulverstone Museum at Hive as part of the exhibition A Town is a Tapestry … and every persons story is a stitch. Hive is open 10am – 4pm, daily.
Image Credit: Making bricks to build a Scout Hall, c. 1960s. History Collection.