The Daily Bean – 13Jan – NSW Contingent to AJ2025

The Daily Bean – 13Jan

AJ2025 NSW Contingent Daily Newsletter

Fun is Your Choice / Discovery Base

There is so much to do here. Yesterday. Today. Every day. And it’s your choice how you spend your day.

At the Your Choice activity base, check out the virtual reality games and drone racing. Take time to rest at the garden games or play some favourites like Twister and cornhole. Work out the Escape Room challenge. Visit the Woodworkers and create your own wooden woggle and decorate it or try your hand at laser engraving.

There’s also amateur radio station so you can try to contact Scouts from other countries or elsewhere.

A new day after a heavy storm

“A Scout is resilient. A Scout is resilient. A Scout is…oh, no…not more rain!”

Last night there was more heavy rain and some of our NSW campsites flooded again. Leaders and members of the NSW Contingent team quickly assessed the situation to find a way to keep our Scouts and Venturer Scouts as dry as possible and to redirect any moving water from the campsite.

Around 40 youth members and two Leaders were moved into the Contingent tent overnight to get some sleep. This morning we made a few trips to the local laundromat to dry sleeping bags, pillows and clothes belonging to Scouts, Venturer Scouts and Leader from impacted Units.

We’re a bit afraid to look at the BOM but we’ve been told to expect more rain. Get those gumboots ready!

Scouting life goes on
Trenching
Too much for this dryer
Is two enough?
That’s better
Celebrate after the rain

Well done to our Leaders

Major events, like a Jamboree, need a whole lot of people in place for them to be successful. Many of these people are volunteers. Some are professional team members working at the Scouts NSW State Service Centre. Others are Board Directors.

We were delighted to welcome the Chair of the Board, Anthea Cudworth, to the Jamboree site so she could see just how much fun the Scouts and Venturer Scouts are having, along with the work done behind the scenes to make this happen.

“I’ve been to large events in the past,” said Anthea, “but I’ll never stop being impressed with the magnitude of what we do at a Jamboree. It’s amazing how Leaders from around Australia all work together to provide an awesome experience for our youth members – regardless of whether the weather is hot, cold, wet or windy. The Board is so proud of the work you do and how our youth members represent New South Wales.”

Mud treatment at the Jamboree day spa

One of the most popular activities on the Jamboree site is the Your Challenge activity base. The base is a series of low ropes activities to test Scouts as they navigate their way through, as they work together to bring the entire Patrol to the end of the challenge.

The hint, of course, is in the description of the activity: “Dress for the activity as you will get wet and muddy. Wear clothes that you are happy to throw away after. You’ll need to wear shoes and have a change of clothes for afterwards.”

By popular request, here are some more mud photos. See who you can recognise under all that mud. Looks surprising like the Chief Commissioner!

Safety is everyone’s business

Scouts NSW Executive Manager – Risk and Safety, Michael Scrase spent the last two days at the Jamboree site to get a firsthand look at how we address safety at a major event.

“There are so many different elements to keeping our members safe,” said Michael. “Of course, we must make sure that the activities are safe for Scouts and Venturer Scouts but we can’t forget about the other areas of safety. Like emotional and mental safety and providing shade and protection from the weather elements. And even the most obvious things like how we boil water on the Unit lines. I spoke with a Leader at one Unit where they had quite an elaborate solution for hot water.”

While at AJ2025, Michael visited the Emergency Response Centre and spoke with the Head of Safety and Security (S&S) about the work they do. He also caught up with Daniel Ainsworth, a Scout Leader from Ballina who is assigned to the Jamboree S&S team.

Meeting up after 49 years

Close to 50 years ago, 14,000 Scouts and Leaders from 18 countries attended the 11^th Australian Scout Jamboree, held from 31 December 1976 until 6 January 1977 at Rossmoyne Park in Victoria.

Over dinner the other night, Joe Attard, Paul Hamer and Dean Bassett – all members of the NSW HQ team – realised that they had something in common: they each attended the 11^th Australian Jamboree as Patrol Leaders.

Joe, Paul and Dean agreed to share some of their memories from their Jamboree. Here’s some of what they told us:

“We wore the khaki uniform and carried a khaki coloured backpack. My mother waved me off and became very upset because it reminded her of when her brother went off to war.”
“It took a long time to talk Mum into allowing me to go to Jamboree because it was expensive and cost a couple of hundred dollars.”
“We used to take 10 cents out of the security box to call home. But there was no point for me because my family didn’t have a phone.”
“Our community activity was to make bricks for the Dandenong Hospital.”
“The showers were a hessian (fabric) fence with a shower pipe overhead in the middle. We all stood in there to shower.”
“Gateways were ornate and full on. Every Troop had a gateway.”
“We sent letters home and received letters from home, while at Jamboree.”