Australian Boy Scout Uniforms


Figure 1.--Australian Scouts at the 1929 World Jamboree. The Australian uniforms were still quite similar to British uniforms.

Scouting in Australia commenced shortly after Scouting for Boys was published in 1908, the same year it began in Britain. As with all countries in the then British Empire, initially Scouting in Australia was very closely based on the way Scouting was structured in Britain. Baden Powell visited Australia in 1912 to help promote the local Scouting movement. He visited each Australian state and spoke to many newly formed troops. I have been able to find relatively little information on Scoting history in Australia. Many Australian Scout publications have a great deal of inforation on the founding of Scouting in England, but very little on its growth in Australia. Australian Scouts are organized traditionally. There are five different elements. Joeys are a relatively new element. Austrlalian Scouts, like most countries in the early stages of the development of Scouting, initially wore a uniform quite similar to the British Scout uniform. Currently they wear a uniform consisting of a khaki shirt and shorts. The Australian Scout unifor has since undergone many changes before arriving at the modern style. A new uniform was introduced in 2003.

Background

Scouting in Australia commenced shortly after Scouting for Boys was published in 1908, the same year it began in Britain. As with all countries in the then British Empire, initially Scouting in Australia was very closely based on the way Scouting was structured in Britain. Baden Powell visited Australia in 1912 to help promote the local Scouting movement. He visited each Australian state and spoke to many newly formed troops. Baden Powell visited Australia again in 1931 and 1934 in his tireless efforts to promote Scouting around the world. In 1934 he attended the Australian Jamboree at Frankston in Victoria. As time went by an Australian flavor of Scouting developed. Those changes were eventually reflected in the Scout uniform. I have been able to find relatively little information on Scoting history in Australia. Many Australian Scout publications have a great deal of inforation on the founding of Scouting in England, but very little on its growth in Australia. Australian Scouts in 2000 had about 80,000 members.


Figure 2.--Australian Scouts camping in bush. They wear the 1960s-70s moss green uniform.

Mixed Gender Program

Australian Scouting is now a fully coeducational or mixed gender program. Girls now wear the Scout uniform and skirts have been added to the uniform garments. There was a separate Girl Guide program. Girls age 15 and older were allowed to join in 1973. Younger girls were first allow to join in 1987. Some Australian Scouters are not happy with these changes. One Australian Scouter writes, "I'm sorry to be negative but since 1973 my boyhood Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts haved pandered to womens ideals and turned this once upon a time boys only Scouts into a fashion and pop culture social club with boys now having no exclusive outlet to hangout with their male cohorts and have been sold out and forced to share their once proud history with girls and I have burned my boyhood uniform and my old cubs hat that I wore aged 8. We have been railroaded and bullied into adding girls to a boys organisation and yet boys can't join Brownies or Girlguides so how fair is that and that means they have three outlets for camping related experiances and boys none and WHY. A dad used to join the scouts to influence his son as did mums in Brownies or Girl Guides but this dead now as father and son don't trek together in their real scout uniforms which blendered with the greenery of the campsite it's self and this is now watered down with teary eyed girls muscling in on our territory and our only outlet to earn merit badges with other boys not getting beauty secrets and putting up with sassy and silly giggling girls in stupid versions of 'our' uniforms. This former cub is no more and they stole away my boyhood and replaced it with fake namby pamby KEN and BARBIE fashions and cottonwool camping. What will it be next dresses for both boys and girls because it's cheaper?"

Garments

Australian Scouts have used the traditional Scout uniform items. Scouts continued to wear the traditional lemon squeezer hats somewhat longer than Scouts in other countries. Cubs wore the tradition English peaked green and yellow caps. The only Scout garment that we have noted that is unique to Australia is a wide brimmed hat with a flat top. Australia Scout garments are somewhat unsual in that Cubs and Scouts, except for the headwear, wore the same basic uniform.


Figure 3.--Australian Cubs and Scouts are pictured here in a photograph probably taken in the 1960s or 70s. Note the traditional Cub caps.

Levels

ustralian Scouts are organized traditionally. There are five different elements. Joeys are a relatively new element. A joey for non-Australians is a baby kangaroo. Joeys jump into all sorts of fun and games together! Boys and girls aged 6 and 7 years old can join Joeys, and when they do there's lots to keep them occupied. This level of Scouting is called Beavrers in some other countries. Cub Scouting is known to Scouts around the world. Cubs have a lot of fun doing a lot of interesting things! There are games to play codes and skills to learn, places to see and new friends to meet. Cub Scouts all help each other, and we try to help other people too. action. Scouts might explore a mountain wilderness, soar on warm air currents high above the earth at the controls of a glider plane, helping in emergency rescues, operating a radio station, photographing wild animals, sending coded messages, searching for gold, canoeing down a swift river, camping out bush, recording your own songs or sailing across the ocean with the salt spray in your face. Scouting provides the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of exciting activities. Venture Scouts are for somewhat older boys. You could find yourself camping above the snow line, exploring the underwater reefs, riding the wind in a high-performance land yacht, earning a pilot's licence, investigating a career in astro-physics, editing a own film, making a sculpture or climbing a sheer rock face. The ROVER section of the Scout Movement is open to young Men and women aged between 17 and 26 years, and you don't have to have been a member of the Scout or Guide Movements previously to join. Becoming a member of a Rover crew will provide you with a challenge and the opportunity to develop your personal abilities, as well as learning plenty of new skills. Rovers could be described as a fellowship of the open air and service, and the participants encounter an extensive range of activities open, and socially, mix with a group of young adults doing the things they want to do.

Associations

Australian Scouts followed the British precedent of one single Scout association rather than the European model of multiple Scout associtions, sometimes lossely associated in some kind of federation. Some countries like America even passed laws to ensdure that there was only one single Scout assoiciation organized. The original Australian association was Australian Federal Scout Council, which organizationally was an overseas Branch of the British Boys Scout Association. At the time, the constitutional status of Australia was in transition. It was a British Dominion rather than a fully independent country. A few Scout groups resisted centralization. One such group was the Blue Boy Scouts, so named because they retained some of the influence of the Boys' Brigade which had blue uniforms. Most Australian Scouts, however, fully accepted centalization and the authority of the the Scout Concil. The independent national Australian Boys Scout Association (ABSA) was finally organized, officially separaing from the British Scout Associsation (1958). The ABSA was incorporated by Royal Charter (1967). The name of the association was officially changed to the Scout Association of Australia (1971). The Scouting movement became coeducatinal (19??), but the official name was not at first changed. The Royal Charter was amended through an Act of Parliament (2001). Australian Scouts are now known as Scouts Australia, although the name Scout Association of Australia remains the formal title. Scouts Australia is a federatione up of all branches of the Scouting movement that operate throughout Australia. The different branches are organizattionally separate. They maintain their own structure, program, and rules. It is up to each branch how to structure itself down to individual group level. They have a common uniform and common award scheme structure.


Figure 5.--Australian Scouts, Cubs, and Brownies during a Royal visit in the 1980s. The boys are wearing the teal-colored uniforms with distinctive Austrlaian hat.

Chronology

Austrlalian Scouts have worn both traditional as well as some destinctly Australian Scout uniform items. Like most countries in the early stages of the development of Scouting, initially wore a uniform quite similar to the British Scout uniform. Currently they wear a uniform consisting of a khaki shirt and shorts. The Australian Scout uniform has since undergone many changes before arriving at the modern style. Another change was introduced in 2003. I do not currently have information on early Australian school uniforms, but would be interested in any details Australian visitors to this website could provide. Australian in the 1960s cubs wore a rather varied uniform of green jerseys (sweaters) or green shirts with blue, grey, or other color shorts. The Australian Scout uniform consisted of a "sage green" short-sleeved shirt with a collar, worn with "moss green" trousers or shorts. Sea scouts wear the same style, but all in navy blue. For the 1977 uniform Cub Scouts wore either: a teal jersey (sweater) or shirt, beige shorts, beige walk socks, Group scarf, and black or brown shoes. The official uniform for Scouts was either a teal jersey (sweater) or shirt, beige shorts, beige walk socks, Group scarf, and black or brown shoes. The uniforms inn the 1990s for various sections of the Australian Scout organisation have been under occasional review for many years. The most recognisable change is the replacement of the traditional indented scout hat, affectionately called the "lemon squeezer" in Australia, with a more Aussie looking style of hat. Older sections wear berets, and Joey Scouts have a peaked hat with back flap. Australian Scouts in 2003 decided on major changes to the uniform. According to an Australian newspaper account, "Scouts are ditching their time-honoured khaki uniforms because young members fear that they are not quite keeping up with cool street fashions. So it is out with the old and in with plain or two-tone tan, yellow, green, red, anf navy button up or polo shirts.

Activities

We have very limited information on Australian Scouting activities. We note that the traditional activities like hihking and camping are an important part of the program. We do not yet, however, have detailed information on the full range of Scouting activities.






HBU




Navigate the Historic Boys' Uniform Chronology Pages:
[Return to the Main chronologies page]
[The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s] [The 1980s] [The 1990s] [The 2000s]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Uniform Web Site:
[Activities] [Biographies] [Chronologies] [Countries] [Essays] [Garments] [Organizations] [Religion] [Other]
[Introduction] [Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Questions] [Unknown images]
[Boys' Uniform Home]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Uniform Web organizatiion pages:
[Return to the National Scout page]
[Boys' Brigade] [Camp Fire] [Hitler Youth] [National] [Pioneers] [Royal Rangers] [Scout]



Created: November 15, 1998
Last updated: 1:41 AM 7/19/2009