What is a Jamboree?

The Australian Scout Jamboree is a jamboree which is held every three years by Scouts Australia. The Jamboree is traditionally held in early January and runs for 12-13 days.

The first, in 1934, was held in Frankston, Victoria and was the only Australian Jamboree attended by the Chief Scout, Robert Baden-Powell.

Australian National Jamborees are for members of the Scout Section aged 10.5-14.5 years of age. They are held every three years on a revolving basis between the State Branches.

The Centenary of World Scouting was launched at the 21st Australian Jamboree (AJ2007) at Elmore in Victoria from the 2-12 of January 2007. Governor-General and Chief Scout of Australia His Excellency Michael Jeffery opened the Jamboree and took a tour of the Jamboree site.

The theme of Get in the Game emphasised to the 11,000 participants the action-packed nature of the Jamboree with the diverse range of activities on offer both onsite and off. Activities included abseiling, rocking climbing, learning circus tricks, using an onsite air-strip with 15 planes for flying, learning to drive, heaps of mud-filled games, a water slide, and amusement rides amongst many other activities. Offsite activities were in nearby towns where the Scouts pretty much took over. As one young child remarked to her mother in the town of Echuca: "Look mummy! There's blue people (Scouts) everywhere!" Onsite and off it, there was always something to get the Scouts’ pulses racing.

he Program was Jam-packed. Activities were Patrol-based and in order to earn their Jamboree Award, Scouts needed to complete most activities which gave them a chance to put their Scouting skills into practice. Each Patrol had four days offsite; two days of planned activities onsite, one day as Duty Patrol, and one day at Game On Activities.

Past Jamborees:

  • 1934-35. 1st Australian Pan-Pacific, Frankston VIC. BP attended.
  • 1938-39. 2nd Australian Pan-Pacific, Bradfield NSW
  • 1948-49. 3rd Australian Pan-Pacific, Yarra-Brae VIC
  • 1952-53. 4th Australian Pan Pacific, Greystanes NSW
  • 1955-56. 5th Australian Pan-Pacific, Clifford Park VIC
  • 1960-61. 6th Australian Pan-Pacific, Lansdowne NSW
  • 1964-67. 7th Australian Pan-Pacific, Dandenong VIC
  • 1967-68. 8th Australian Pan-Pacific, Jindalee QLD
  • 1970-71. 9th Australian Pan-Pacific, Sydney NSW
  • 1973-74. 10th Australian Pan-Pacific, Woodhouse SA
  • 1976-77. 11th Australian Pan-Pacific, Rossmoyne Park VIC
  • 1979-80. 12th Australian Pan-Pacific, Perth WA
  • 1982-83. 13th Australian Jamboree, Collingwood Park, Ipswich QLD
  • 1985-86. 14th Australian Jamboree, Cataract Scout Park NSW
  • 1988-89. 15th Australian Jamboree, Woodhouse SA
  • 1991-92. 16th Australian Jamboree, Ballarat VIC
  • 1994-95. 17th Australian Jamboree, Perth WA
  • 1997-98. 18th Australian Jamboree, Springfield QLD
  • 2001. 19th Australian Jamboree, Cataract Park NSW
  • 2004. 20th Australian Jamboree, Woodhouse SA
  • 2007. 21st Australian and Centenary Jamboree, Elmore VIC

Jamboree Activities

Jamboree activities are a mixture of on-site and off-site activities that seek to challenge the participants, reinforce Scouting values, provide valuable and new experiences, and most of all, be great fun.

Activities for the 2007 Australian Scout Jamboree included:-

  • Circus Skills
  • Bush tracking and navigation
  • Canoes, rafts and swimming
  • Go-Karting
  • Plenty of mud activities

Read more...

Where is Cataract Scout Park?

Cataract Park is about one hours drive south of Sydney close to Appin which is east of Campbelltown. Check out the next page for a statelite image from Google Earth. Read more...