New Zealand Memories Issue 157

More documents

Recommendations

Info

STORYScouting AroundDavid HillJanuary 1, 1959. Over 120 of us marched off from Napier’sTiffen Park, around past Clive Square, towards the RailwayStation. The 14 to17-year-olds were in front, pretty muchin step, thanks to the Army Cadet training we had at highschool. The young ones straggled behind, pretty much not in step.We wore our khaki shirts with epaulettes and badges, our kneelengthsocks with green or scarlet garter tabs, our lemon-sqeezerhats. Rows of Boy Scouts, on our way to the Pan-Pacific Jamboree,at Cornwall Park in Auckland.“Jamboree” means a big gathering of Scouts. It’s a wonderfulword, apparently invented by Lord Baden-Powell, Boer War heroand founder of Scouting. When asked why he called it that, B-P issaid to have smiled and replied “What else could you call it?”The week-long 1959 assembly brought 8000-plus Scouts,Rovers (the senior branch) and Scoutmasters from Australia, theUnited Kingdom, Canada, the Pacific, most other countries ofthe British Empire – already on its way to becoming the BritishCommonwealth. And of course from all over New Zealand.Eight thousand: it was an astonishing feat of logistics in preemail,pre-cellphone, unreliable toll-call days. So astonishing, thatwe teenagers took it for granted.We reached the railway station. Peter Tait, Napier’s mayor foran unprecedented six terms, addressed us, and I apologise for notremembering a single word His Worship said. We steamed off in aspecial train, stopping at Hastings, Waipawa, Waipukurau, Otane,Norsewood and Dannevirke to pick up more scouts, before a paperbag tea at Palmerston North. Imagine a passenger train stopping atthose little stations these days. Actually, imagine a passenger trainthese days.I’ve still got my Jamboree Logbook, “With the Complimentsof THE NATIONAL BANK of New Zealand Ltd”. Anyoneremember that name? My spiky, 16-year-old’s handwriting and itsstiff prose shows how much was crammed into the jamboree’s eightdays.“Crammed” described the train as well. I’d naively askedmy parents “Will there be beds on the train? Should I take mypyjamas?” Mum and Dad smiled. It was my first experience ofsleeping on an a NZR seat, with all the flexibility and softness ofa park bench.We reached Greenlane Station at 6 a.m. next day, and marchedabout two miles to Smith Sub-Camp, behind the stone walls ofCornwall Park. My first time in Auckland. My first jamboree. I waslevitating with excitement.The 8000 were divided into about ten sub-camps, along bothsides of Greenlane Road, around Alexandra and Cornwall Parks.Each sub-camp was named after a significant person or place inNZ scouting, and each had a ceremonial gateway.8
STORYI have no photos; I had no camera (we’re talking bulky Box Brownies then), but I remember the Aussies’entrance: a giant bamboo pylon, plus an emu made from ropes’ ends. Another gateway was covered with stags’heads; a third featured a volcano with a genuine fire on top.At the March Past and Opening Ceremony, we trooped into Alexandra Park in our youthful thousands. Icarried the Napier Contingent flag, and knew that life couldn’t get more wonderful, even if the lone scout fromCeylon (as it was still called then) got a bigger cheer than Napier’s 120.Governor-General and swashbuckling cricketer Lord Cobham spoke to us. So did Prime Minister WalterNash and Opposition Leader Keith Holyoake, and I apologise again, but I can’t remember a word any of thosedistinguished gents said, either. But I do recall being struck by the PM’s gravelly Birmingham voice, and KiwiKeith’s broad NZ vowels, while the Gov-Gen sounded just like a BBC newsreader.All through the Jamboree, the official programme kept us busy. There was a Scouts’ Own Church Service onthe slopes of One Tree Hill, lit by hundreds of torches. There were presentations and performances by everydistrict. Otago re-enacted the Relief of Mafeking, which made Baden-Powell into a national hero. Fiji did “aspear dance”, in my logbook’s unimaginative words. The Sea Scouts showed the history of whaling in NewZealand. There were displays by Girl Guides, Brownies, The Boy’s Brigade. (Who recalls that lively, Christianbasedyouth organisation?)We were given free entry to the stock-car racing at Alexandra Park, and my logbook eagerly noted that “onecar turned over and caught alight”. Buses took us to the Auckland Museum, from where I saw the almostcompletedspan of the Harbour Bridge.The campsite at the Pan Pacific Scout Jamboree in Cornwall Park, Auckland in January 1959.Courtesy: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1207-6399
Page 1 and 2: APPETISERA Family AffairSpringston,
Page 3 and 4: EditorWendy RhodesGraphic DesignIco
Page 5 and 6: STORYLife on the RailwaysAlan (Mick
Page 7: STORY“A large vegetable garden in
Page 11 and 12: When Duty CallsNelson Troop 4th Con
Page 13 and 14: FEATUREIt’s not easy being a cart
Page 15 and 16: FEATUREAlthough clearly an amusing
Page 17 and 18: INDEX and GENEALOGY LISTMiner's Rig

New Zealand Memories Issue 157

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?