International Jamborees: 1980 Report Australia
Exchange programme between the 1st Wembley Downs Venturers and the Boy Scouts of South Africa
The exchange programme originated when the Boy Scouts of South Africa visited Australia from 30 December 1979 to 11 January 1980 as part of the 'World Jamboree Year'.
The Contingent was led by John Potter and they attended the 4th Asia-Pacific/ 12th Australian Jamboree in Perth, Western Australia.
The Contingent was hosted during home hospitality by Group Scout Leader Laurie Leckie of the 1st Wembley Downs Scout Group in Perth, Western Australia.
On departure, John Potter made a donation to the Group to start a fund to send two Venturers from their group to South Africa and the first two visited South Africa in December 1980.
1980/81 Visitors from Australia
Visit by two Australian Venturers 10 December 1980 to 23 January, 1981.
They were Craig Fisher and Brett Bussel
A tour around South Africa by car was arranged for them, which included a few days at the Geach cottage at Timbavati, on the border of the Kruger National Park; and a Wilderness Leadership Trail in the Kruger National Park.
They also toured through Natal and down the South Coast and joined the National Scout and Guide Hike down the Wild Coast from Port St Johns to Hole-in-the-Wall, followed by hospitality on a farm near Graaff-Reinet.
When the arrived in the Western Cape they went kloofing in Wit Els from the 16 to 18 January, 1981.
They spent some days in Cape Town before flying home via Johannesburg.
They were accompanied throughout by Peter Foster Scoutmaster of 2nd Somerset West and Peter Geach.
1981/82 Visitors to Australia
Visit by two South African Senior Scouts to Australia to attend the 6th Australian Venture - 11 December 1981 to 23 January 1982
They were John Langland of 2nd Kensington and Stanley Hutcheson of 1st Discovery, Transvaal.
The visit included a tour around south-west Australia, and a four-week camping trip with 15 1st Wembley Downs Venturers across southern Australia to attend the 6th Australian Venture held in Nunawading, Melbourne from 29 December, 1981, to 6 January, 1982.
(Ed Note: The Australian Venture is an event for Australian Venturer Scouts. It is their equivalent of a Jamboree, but for Venturers there is a lot more freedom and latitude in what they do. There are a number of on-site activities and also an off-site expedition, normally totalling about 12 days long.)
1983/84 Visitors from Australia
Visit by two Australian Venturers December 1983 to January 1984
They were Martin Hughes and Annette Cunningham.
Arriving in early December they did some touring of South Africa and then attended the 6th National Senior Scout Adventure in the Great Witzenberg over New Year. Annette was the only girl amongst 600 boys.
They then spent one more week in South Africa before retuning to Australia.
The visitors were accompanied on their road tour by Clinton and Julian De La Hunt of 2nd Somerset West, Cape Western.
1984/85 Visitors to Australia
Visit by two South African Senior Scouts to Australia to attend the 7th Australian Venture - December 1984 to January1985
The Scouts were Vaughan Davies and William Guy both from 1st Rustenburg, Northern Transvaal.
A tour of Western Australia was included in their itinerary, together with home hospitality and participation in the 7th Australian Venture held in Perth, W. Australia from 28 December, 1984 to 7 January, 1985.
Their time in Australia encompassed: -
- Home hospitality in Wembley Downs, Perth - 10 to 16 December
- A Tour to Kalgoorlie in the interior - south to Esperance - along the south coast to Perth via Albany and Bunbury - 17 to 22 December
- Hospitality with relatives - 23 to 26 December
- Attendance at 7th Australian Venture in Perth - 29 December to 8 January 1985
- And finally, Home hospitality again in Wembley Downs - 9 to 13 January
1985 Visitors from Australia
Visit by an Australian contingent to the 1985 Mafikeng Centenary celebrations
Two Venturers and one Ranger Guide together with a Scouter and Guider from Western Australia made up a contingent that attended the 1985 Mafikeng Centenary celebrations and Camporee.
Their experiences were report in the Australian Scout magazine 'Western Scouter'.
The adults in the group consisted of Scouter Michael Dowd and Guider Mrs Noela Medcalf.
The participants were Venturer Leonie Worthington of 1st Wembley Downs; Venturer David Lake of 1st Wesley and Ranger Guide Kerry Armstrong of 1st Mundaring, all from Western Australia.
1988/89 Visitors from Australia
Visit by three Australian Venturers December 1988 to January 1989
As 1st Wembley Downs had only one suitable candidate to send over, they asked if 2 Venturers from 1st Scarborough Venture Unit could come as well.
This contingent was made up of - Venturers Edmund Seal from 1st Wembley Downs and Glenn Gates and Raymond Scott from1st Scarborough who were both Queen Scouts.
They arrived on 1 December and flew on to Durban from whence they were taken up to Sordwana Bay to join the Scoutmaster and Scouts from 1st Glenashley in a turtle count with the Natal Parks Board.
They travelled from Durban in a Combi together with the 1st Glenashley Scouts who were also attending the 8th National Senior Scout Adventure in the Cedarberg from the 11 to 22 December 1988.
En-route they were involved in an accident and Glenn was seriously injured with damage to his spleen and was taken to Bloemfontein hospital for treatment. Those not hurt continued on to the Adventure arriving a little late. Glenn eventually came to the Adventure looking very pale but OK.
After the Adventure they spent Christmas In Cape Town, and returned to Durban via the Garden Route.
After New Year's Day in Durban they took a scenic route back to Johannesburg and departed for home on 8 January 1989.
1990/91 Visitors to Australia
Visit by two South African Senior Scouts to Australia to attend the 8th Australian Venture - December 1990 to January1991.
Kenlea Murray from 1st Howick, KwaZulu-Natal and Andrew Ashwell from 1st Cotswold, Cape Midlands travelled to Tasmania to attend the 8th Australian Venture.
They left South Africa on the 13 December 1990 and flew to Perth to continue the tradition of teaming up and touring with the 1st Wembley Downs Venturers. Here they were given home hospitality and taken on sightseeing trips in and around Perth and spent Christmas with local families.
The day after Christmas they took an eight-day overland bus trip across the southern part of Australia passing Norseman - Eucla - Iron Knob (Port Augusta) - Adelaide - arriving in Melbourne. From Melbourne they took the ferry to Devonport on the northern shore of Tasmania and then a further 100km to the Campsite at Launceston.
The 8th Australian Venture was held in Launceston, Tasmania from 2 - 12 January,1991
When the Australian Adventure was over the Scouts then toured around Tasmania visiting places like Scottsdale - Derby - St Helens - Swansea - Sorell - Port Arthur - Hobart - Queenstown - Zeehon - Trial Harbour - West Ridgley - and finally back to Devonport to catch the ferry back to Melbourne om mainland Australia. The four day return trip to Perth was much the same passing through Adelaide - Cedina - Norseman - Kalgoolie and finally arriving back in Perth.
From the 25 to 30 January 1991, it was again home hospitality in Perth and on the 31 January the two Scouts flew back to South Africa.
Although it is possible there were more 'exchanges', no documentation was found in the Cape Scout archives.