Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate the 1st Granville scouts who celebrated 100 years of continuous scouting on Sunday. There were other scout groups that preceded Granville scouts, Parramatta for one, but all of them took a recess during the First World War, the Depression or the Second World War. Granville scouts stuck it out through everything a century threw at them and they are recognised as the oldest continuous scout group in New South Wales.

I was very pleased to join my parliamentary colleague Laurie Ferguson and several generations of Granville scouts and their families at the celebration at their scout hall in Glen Street, Granville. The old boys, as they are called, marched behind vintage cars from the old Granville Pool entry to the hall in Glen St, Granville where they unveiled a plaque to commemorate the achievement at an official ceremony, which was followed by the birthday cake and ice-cream.

In 1911 it all started when a couple of young Granville boys joined 1st Parramatta scouts for a few months to see what scouting was about. Not surprisingly, they liked it and they managed to convince a young patrol leader, George King, to defect and come down to Granville to start a new scout troop. He did and they picked well. George King led the group for 44 years. The group has been in continuous existence since that day in 1911, sometimes growing, sometimes going through more difficult times, but always there for the young boys and, more recently, girls in the area.

The troop did not go into recess during the First World War, even though all of its scout leaders went to war, leaving 16-year-old Roy Black to keep the troop going under the guidance of an adult helper. The troop made it through the Depression too and kept going through the Second World War, although it was reduced to just one leader, the founding leader, George King, who had been with the troop by that stage for nearly 30 years. The members of 1st Granville were dedicated to scouting, a quality evident in the lifelong commitment of its members, many of whom went on to found other groups from Fairfield to Castle Hill, Merrylands, Auburn and Lidcombe.

The scouts in Granville are part of over 68,000 scouts in Australia, which makes it the largest youth movement in the nation. They provide young Aussies with fun and challenging opportunities to grow through adventure. Within that movement, the Granville scouts have pioneered many developments in scouting. They were the first to register a Rover crew of 18- to 26-year-olds in New South Wales and they pioneered senior scouting, now called Venturers, for 15- to 18-year-olds for 20 years before it became an official section of the scout movement.

There are many stories, and the Granville scouts honours them and the history. It has produced a collection of every annual report since 1911. There was one missing—I think it was one from the seventies—but I understand that in recent weeks a single copy of that report has been found and it will be scanned and added to make the collection complete.

Its early years were memorable, with scouts being awarded medals for gallantry for saving people from drowning. In the early 1930s two Rover-age scouts paddled from Goulburn to Granville in 21 days. They paddled up the Wollondilly River to Warragamba River and on to the Nepean and Hawkesbury Rivers, out to sea, back into Sydney Harbour and up to Duck River. They then placed the canoe on their shoulders and carried it a mile back to the scout hall. It is quite a story for a remarkable troop that has survived a century.

The space that houses the scout hall is remarkable in itself—down a narrow alley to a space steeped in history, with memories of good times and commitment in lean times and, overall, of contribution to the future of young people through development of confidence and leadership qualities through scouting.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Cub Leader Bruce Roberts, Scout Leaders Andrew Snelling and Clifford Howard and the many who came before for their tireless efforts to make Granville scouts the success they are today. Sunday was the 100th birthday of Granville scouts. It also makes it the first day of their second century. They are enjoying a period of growth in both numbers and community recognition of the contribution they make and have made. I congratulate them on 100 years. I commend the contribution that 1st Granville scouts have made and wish them a fabulous second century. Well done, 1st Granville.