A LOVE for adventure and teaching children life skills are what drives Neville Holliman in his position as District Commissioner of Scouts Flinders district.
Scout packs under his leadership are based at Karana Downs, Karalee, North Ipswich and Rosewood.
“I spread my time between them all because I have to make sure they’re functioning properly,” he explained.
“If you let people just go by themselves, they’ll do what they want and that could lead to a dangerous situation.
“I make sure they do things in a legislated manner, and they do things properly.”
Legalities and box ticking exercises also need oversight. Scout leaders need blue cards and be able to work within workplace health and safety regulations.
Almost everyone has heard about Scouts and the movement is going strong here in Australia more than 100 years after its inception.
In the 1970s and 1980s you’d be hard pressed to find a child who didn’t belong to a Scout pack, it was accepted boys went to Scouts and girls joined Brownie groups.
The clubs were designed to empower children through learning life skills like tying knots, lighting a fire safely, knowing how to put up a tent and cooking over an open fire.
Now all genders are welcome to join Scouts and inclusion is encouraged.
Modern day families have less free time and there are more options for after school activities.
“When the Covid pandemic hit,” Neville recalled, “a lot of parents became afraid to send their kid out to do anything and that reluctance still exists.
“That is why [parents] have gone down the path of doing adventure schemes.
“Kids love doing that sort of thing but it costs a lot of money.”
Modern day Scout packs do things like abseiling, rock climbing and take part in other adventure sports.
While these things are fun they’re at the expense of old school skills that are being lost.
He’s not happy that that the Scout hierarchy has decided to focus their attention on what they call the outdoor adventure scheme.
“That’s abseiling, canoeing, archery and rock climbing, all those kinds of things,” Neville said.
“Anybody can do that anywhere if they want to do adventure sports, I take the kids out on a camp in the bush and make them cook on open fires.
“Yes, they have no idea what is happening or how to do it, but they did it and made some really good meals.”
His troop members learned how to bake scones using a Dutch oven and even cooked a small lamb roast in a bell oven.
“The kids were amazed and thought it was pretty cool learning tricks on how to cook in the bush,” he said.
“They also made stew and that was tricky because you have to be careful not burn it on the bottom.
“Then they put up a canvas tent, some then slept inside them while others used a dome tent.”
Like back in the day, these Scouts were working towards ability badges to sew on their shirts.
Knowing how to erect a canvas tent or Queensland ridge tent is a skill Scouts have learned for generations.
The ridge tent is cumbersome and a lot harder to erect than a modern dome tent, but it’s skill and not comfort behind the choice.
And importantly, Scouts appreciate something a whole lot more when they work towards a common end point.
Neville is determined to help teach the packs he oversees skills like bushmanship and survival.