Bundaberg Region Scouts have showed their skills and triumphed at the annual Kiwi Woggle Easter camp competition, held at Aldershot Scout Camp near Maryborough.
The Scouts are judged on how they set up and make their camp home for the weekend as they erect their campsite with ropes, wooden poles and plenty of knots.
Overall winners were Millbank “Penguin Patrol”, with Moore Park Beach “Bluebottle Patrol” the runners up, and Millbank taking out the Campfire Skit competition as well.
Unpredictable weather and muddy grounds didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of over 250 Scouts, and 94 assisting adults, who attended the camp.
What began in Gympie in 1946 has become a tradition amongst Southern Queensland Scouts as they spend their Easter camping outdoors and making incredible memories alongside like-minded youth and adults.
Tents, dining and cooking areas, campsite entry gates and even hand and dishwashing stations are put together by the 11 to 15-year-olds.
Camp Chief John Muller said his reflection on the four day challenge left him excited about the future of Scouting.
“Since setting up camp on Friday morning, we’ve had some camp sites flooded, some fell down due to the sloppy, muddy conditions,” John said.
“But that hasn’t stopped these Scouts from just adapting and overcoming challenges to do the best they can do – they’re absolutely loving getting out into the wet and the mud.”
On top of constructing campsites and cooking their own food over the long weekend, John said Scouts were entertained and challenged with a variety of activities.
“This weekend is about camping but it’s also about experiencing some of what Scouting offers young people,” he said.
“So, we’ve had Abseiling and Prusiking, slack lining and crate stacking, raft building and paddling, mountain biking, orienteering, arts and crafts and STEM activities.
“We centred all of this around a theme of Mary Poppins and asked the patrols (a team of four to eight scouts) to also come up with a campfire skit and a campsite entry that tied in with that theme.”
The Kiwi Woggle is named after Queensland Scout leader David Thain Weir, who dedicated over 20 years to being a leader and was known as ‘Kiwi’ in Scouting circles.
The trophy, and the replicas which the winning patrol get to keep, is modelled on his “woggle” which is the round holder to keep a Scouts scarf secured around the neck.
