Lord Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scout movement in Britain in 1907, and it quickly spread to many other countries. Scouting began in Australia in 1908.
It is not known exactly when the Whites Hil Scout Group started, but the CO and his siblings were members from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s. The group originally operated from what is believed to be old war-time army huts, situated between Boundary Road and Ara Street. These premises had to be vacated to make way for the coming shopping centre and suburban development, and in approximately 1970, a new double-storey besser-block building was constructed at the present site in Crucis Street, adjoining Eric Sivell Park. (Eric Sivell was an officer with the Brisbane City Council, lived nearby, and was a great supporter of scouting at Whites Hill and elsewhere.) Like many other groups, as the demographics of the surrounding suburbs changed, Whites Hill ceased to function as a separate scout group, and the premises are now used by the Scout Association as a repository for the costumes used in the annual Brisbane Gang Show.
Geocaching is an activity that fits well with scouting activities, and in some parts of the world, scouts can earn merit badges for their geocaching activities. Although this is not the case in Australia, geocaching activities can contribute to some of the requirements of scouting!
This cache is one of a series, celebrating scouting - mainly in Toowoomba (where the CO is a scout leader) and ever-broadening surrounding areas. Have you found any of the others?
(If any cachers are able to shed any light on the history of the Whites Hill Scout Group, please contact the CO)