Venturer Scouts (Australia)

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Scouts Australia
Scouts Australia
Scouts Australia Logo
Country Australia
Founded 1908
Founder Robert Baden-Powell
Membership 84 000 [1]
Chief Scout Michael Jeffery, Governor General of Australia[2]
Website
http://www.scouts.com.au/index.asp

Scouting portal

Venturer Scouts, formerly Senior Scouts, is the fourth section of Scouts Australia, and was first formed in 1946. Venturers are aged between 14.5 and 18 years of age and are organised into Units, which can be a part of a single Scout Group or a stand alone group. both types of Unit take Scouts from any Scout Group. Although not in common usage, the motto of the Venturer Scout section in Australia is "Look Wide".

The highest award in Venturers is the Queen's Scout. This award recognises people who can set their own challenging goals and achieve them. This section of Scouts Australia is about Venturers organising and running there own activities with leader support, moving away from a reliance on adult leaders.

Structure

A Venturer Unit is run by its Unit Council, usually consisting of a Unit Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and some General Members. Some larger units also include a Assistant Unit Chair, Social Secretary, Fundraising Coordinator, Quartermaster or assistant secretaries and treasurers.

While the younger sections are represented by their leaders at the district level, Venturers are encouraged to attend their monthly District Venturer Council. In Australia, all scouting is divided by state into Branches, and then into smaller, geographically defined, districts. The District Venturer Council is a monthly meeting of the Venturer Scouts and Leaders in the District which serves both as a check on the quality of the potential Queen's Scouts in the District and for sharing information between the Units in the area. It is also a social meeting for both the Leaders and Venturers to catch up with each other. Where the district, for whatever reason, is not be appropriate for these meetings, typically due to low numbers in the District, a Zone is formed as a replacement for the district.

Branch level activities are becoming more and more popular because of the difficulty in running unit level activities. Unit management is a problem for many units because of small number of attendances and difficulty in running successful activities for small groups, as well as motivation. Most Branches have a themed competitive hike run at Easter, plus many smaller activities, normally put on by dedicated leaders. These often are courses required for badgework as well.

Lones Venturer Unit

There is also a unit of Venturers in each state for those people that are unable to attend, or unable to find a Venturer Unit close to them. This is called the Lones section, they do all badgework by correspondence and are still able to go to all the "Ventures", camps and hikes, just like a normal Venturer.

Badgework

Queen's Scout Badge as worn by recipients of the Award

The highest award is the Queen's Scout. Queen's Scout is about members extending their commitment and achievement in a variety of areas, to strive for better than they do all ready. One of the key points is that the levels are peer reviewed, so larger parts of the award have to be approved by the District Venturer Council while most can be approved by the Unit Council. The award is split into four activity areas which are then split again as follows:[3]

  • Leadership Development
    • Leadership
    • Unit Management
    • Vocations
  • Adventurous Activities
    • Outdoor
    • Expeditions
    • Initiative
    • Elective of either Outdoor 2 or Expeditions 2
  • Personal Growth
    • Pursuits
    • Ideals
    • Lifestyles
    • Expression
    • Elective of a Second level of any of these
  • Community Involvement
    • Service
    • First Aid
    • Citizenship
    • Environment

Each subsection earns a stripe and the completion of one activity area earns one corner to complete a full badge. This would go on the uniform of the Venturer. The Queen Scout can be coupled with The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Other badges are the Venturing Skills award, a basic outdoor skills earned during introduction to the unit, and the Endeavour award (in some states), a half way point to Queen Scout.

Australian Venture

Venturers also participate in what is known as a "Venture" which is the venturer equivalent of a Jamboree, but for Venturers there is a lot more freedom and latitude in what they do. There is a number of onsite activities and also an off site expedition, normally totaling about 12 days long. The next Australian Venture is in Perth 2009

See also

References

  1. WOSM Asia-Pacific Region Accessed 14 December, 2006
  2. Chief Scout Accessed, 14 December 2006
  3. Awards: Activity Areas Venturer Scouts South Australia

External links

Hatcombine.svg Scouting in Australia
Sections
Joeys | Cubs | Scouts | Venturers | Rovers
Branchs
Australian Capital Territory | New South Wales | Northern Territory | Queensland | South Australia | Tasmania | Victoria | Western Australia | Christmas and Cocos Islands | Norfolk Island