With over 18,000 youth and adult members from various cultural and religious backgrounds and with varying abilities, Scouts NSW is one of the largest and most successful youth organisations in the state.
At Scouts NSW, we believe in preparing young people with skills for life. We encourage young people to do more, learn more and be more. Each week, we help thousands of young people enjoy fun and adventure while developing the skills they need to succeed, now and in the future.
We’re talking about teamwork, leadership and resilience – skills that have helped Scouts become everything from teachers and adventurers to astronauts and Olympians. We deliver an essential service that empowers young people to be active, confident, responsible citizens of their local, national and international communities.
There is now a World Scout Committee, which provides unity amongst the National Associations, with a World Bureau operating from Geneva and independent national organizations in over 250 countries and territories.
For each generation of Scouts, the challenge has remained the same: to make a better world and have some fun along the way.
We’re incredibly proud of the positive impact we’ve made to millions of people over the past century. And our secret to success? We put the needs of young people first. Our youth-led, adult supported approach ensures our youth members are always at the forefront of our program.
Scouts NSW is an approved provider of the Active Kids rebate.
This NSW Government funded program helps families meet the costs of sports, active fitness and recreation activities for children – just like Scouts!
Every child enrolled in school from Kindergarten to Year 12 is eligible – including children enrolled at TAFE and those who are home schooled. Parents/Carers can receive two $100 vouchers that go towards membership/participation/program fees.
Scouts NSW has worked closely with the NSW Office of Sport to ensure the program is implemented effectively and is integrated as seamlessly as possible so that Scouting families can redeem their vouchers easily.
Learn more about how the Active Kids Rebate can help you get your child into Scouts here!
All Scouts in Australia commit to a code of living as expressed in the Promise and Law.
The Scouting program is designed to help members to learn how to keep their Promise. One of the most important aspects of the Scout Law is that members voluntarily undertake to live by it.
Australian Scout Promise
On my honour
I promise to do my best,
To be true to my spiritual beliefs,
To contribute to my community and to our world,
To help other people,
And to live by the Scout Law.
On my honour
I promise that I will do my best
To do my duty to my God, and
To the Queen of Australia
To help other people,
And to live by the Scout Law.
Australian Scout Law
Be Respectful
Be friendly and considerate. Care for others and the environment.
Do What is Right
Be trustworthy, honest and fair. Use resources wisely.
Believe in Myself
Learn from my experiences. Face challenges with courage.
Scouts NSW is part of a worldwide Movement of more than 40 million Scouts. In fact, Scouting is one of the most successful youth organisations, and has been enjoyed by more than one million NSW youth and their families since 1908!
World Organisation of the Scouting Movement
The World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) is an independent, worldwide, non-profit and non-partisan organisation which serves the Scout Movement. Its purpose is to promote unity and the understanding of Scouting’s purpose and principles, while facilitating its expansion and development. Discover how Scouting is practiced around the world by visiting www.scout.org.
Scouts Australia
Scouts Australia is the national body for Scouting in Australia. Scouts Australia’s website at www.scouts.com.au contains information on all aspects of Scouting across the country, including links to Scouting in other states of Australia.
Our Regions
Scouts NSW is divided into ten geographical regions, which are responsible for administering the delivery of Scouting at the local level. Our Regions include:
Vision
Through fun and friendship, Scouts NSW will inspire and create resilient young people and adults, by developing skills for life and contributing to our community.
Mission
Scouting develops and empowers youth by gaining life skills and a value system, based on the Scout Promise and Law, building a better world and playing a constructive role in society.
Scouting’s origins date back to the start of the 20th Century. It has survived the two World Wars, sweeping social events and the challenges of other influences, to become stronger than ever. It does this by placing the needs of young people first — in a program that can adapt to change.
The founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, was born in 1857 in England. He lived a busy and adventurous life, and as a boy spent much of his spare time in open-air pursuits, hunting in the woods, and joining his brothers in expeditions by land and in their boats. Thus, he developed his powers of observation and resourcefulness and acquired many useful skills.
After trying his ideas of training soldiers in “Scouting”, while in India, he set down his ideas in the book Aids to Scouting, which was used as a textbook for many years. He spent many years in the British Army, and returned to England a hero after successfully defending the South African Town of Mafeking against the Boers.
Sir William Smith, leader of the Boys Brigade, encouraged him to set down his views on how he would apply “scouting” to the training of boys. First, Baden-Powell conducted an experimental camp in 1907 on Brownsea Island, where, with some twenty boys and suitable adult leaders, he taught the boys what he meant by Scouting. They lived in tents, cooked their own food, and learned many valuable skills through games.
The camp was a great success. Baden-Powell wrote of his experiences in a book he called “Scouting for Boys”. Published in January 1908 in fortnightly parts, it sold readily to the youth in England, who started to carry out “scouting” as they read the book.
Following this camp and the publication of the parts of the book, young boys in the community formed themselves into patrols of six to eight, and then looked around for adult leaders who could help them. Soon there were thousands of Scouts all over the country, and within two years, a rally at the Crystal Palace, London, drew together ten thousand young people.
The Scouting Timeline
| 1907 | Experimental camp on Brownsea Island, Dorset, UK |
| 1908 | Scouting for Boys publishes |
| Scouting arrives in Australia | |
| Rally at Crystal Palace, London | |
| 1910 | Girl Guides Association forms |
| Sea Scouts Branch forms | |
| 1916 | Wolf Cubs forms |
| 1918 | Rover Scouts forms |
| 1920 | First Jamboree at Olympia, London |
| 1926 | Extension or Handicapped department forms |
| 1927 | Group System (Cubs, Scouts & Rovers under Group Leader) forms |
| 1928 | Deep Sea Scouts forms |
| 1934 | First Australian Jamboree |
| 1937 | 2.5 million Scouts from nearly 50 countries affiliate with the International Bureau, set to safeguard Scouting and prevent control drifting into the hands of purely religious, political or military bodies |
| 1941 | Air Scouts forms |
| 1946 | Venturer Scouts forms |
| 1973 | Venturer and Rover Scout sections admit females |
| 1988 | Cub and Scout sections admit females |
| 1990 | Joey Scouts forms |
Reference Books: Scouting for Boys, The Wolf that Never Sleeps, Facets of B-P.