Keata
Chairman - National Youth Council

G'day All, You might be looking at the heading the thinking, "This is the same as the last one". Well you are correct!

From what we heard back in feedback, people were dissapointed that they couldn't print this e-news off easy to take to their Scout Night. Well we have solved that by making a new format of this e-news, A E-news that has been formatted to be able to be printed and take to your hall night.

It is assessible by clicking this link here or on the picture to the right. Just watch out, it is almost 5MB in size and can take a while to download, however you will be happy once you have!

On 1st August 2007 World Scouting celebrated 100 years of scouting. On this day I had the pleasure of being at the 21st World Jamboree at Hylands Park in Chelmsford in the UK. We were up early, the bag pipes started around 4.30am and it was fantastic, I could not believe the intense hype around the camp. After breakfast each Subcamp was lead by bagpipes to the main arena, each submerging on the arena one at a time. We were there from 158 countries and to celebrate 100 years of scouting. Finally it was our time, and everyone was yelling and singing, celebrating in full party mode. At Jungle Subcamp we made our way to the arena. Once we arrived at the arena we waited and waited and then waited some more, until the last of the 16 subcamps were seated in the arena. Imagine 40,000 + thousand scouts all in the same place. All there to celebrate together.



To keep with the jamboree theme of One World One Promise, there were no flags of nations like we had seen at the opening ceremony and all around the camp sites since then. Although there were many flags, it was only the world scouting flag. As far as you could see we saw purple flags flapping in the wind.

Then at 8am exactly 100 years from when Baden Powell first blew the Kudu horn and commenced the first scout camp all those years ago, we crossed live to Brownsea Island. Chief Scout Peter Duncan of the UK blew the Kudu horn and then we all stood as one world and said our promise. “On my honour, I promise that I will do my best, to do my duty to my god and to the Queen of Australia, to help other people and to live by the scout law.” Although all our promises are different in some way, they all stand for the same things, honour, faith, hope & trust. I know I try to live by my scouting promise everyday, but renewing my promise as one with everyone, at such a huge occasion, surrounded by people from all different nations some of which are at war, was an honour.

Once we all finished our promise, the stage came alive with dances and music and we all joined in. We were able to listen to the promise in all different languages in the promise song and scouts mimed out the 100 years of scouting on the stage. Groups of scouts raised their hands as their language was spoken and everyone cheered and chanted. Large long pieces of coloured material were passed down the crowd from the back to the front. A group of scouts prayed for peace in several different religions and then white doves were released from the stage. It was amazing.

Each person who was at the sunrise ceremony were given a sunrise scarf, it’s yellow with a picture of a sunrise on the back. During the ceremony many people were waving their scarves over their heads. It was spectacular and everyone joined in, it was just a sea of yellow scarves being waved.


We were then joined by BP’s grandson and when Lord Baden Powell walked on the stage the crowd went silent. He said, how happy he was to be there and said. “My grandfather started the movement with 20 boys on a camp at Brownsea Island. One hundred years later 28 million people in 158 countries are involved in scouting across the world.”

He continued, “The movement he started has become one of the instruments for peace. He would have been delighted to see how the seed he planted has grown into such a movement. Thank you for inviting me to this unique event and in the words of my grandfather 'Have a happy life and good camping.'" Wow the crowd went nuts, all cheering and clapping and it was also very emotional for some.

At the end of the celebrations, we all started to get our sunrise scarves signed by as many people from different nations as possible.

At the end of the ceremony they released a large amount of different coloured balloons into the sky and there was so much to look at, people playing bagpipes and the dancers on stage, and then the doves and the balloons over head. We were all turning our heads one way and then the next.

It was one huge celebration of a huge milestone but I think its not only about celebrating the last 100 years, its also about making sure we continue to grow and learn, and the movement stays strong for at least another 100 years.

I really enjoyed the ceremony for it taught many people a lot about how far scouting has come and just how huge it has become. I would love to go back to the jamboree and do the ceremony over again for it was SPECTACULAR!!!

Windjam 07 – scouts attempt a world record