The population of Dungog grew by more than 14 per cent when Scouts came to town for the annual Corroboree. 

Held from 14 to 18 January, 256 Scouts, 52 Venturer Scouts, and about 120 Leaders and Rover Scouts pitched their tents in the Dungog Showground for the five-day Scout camp. While the camp was organised by the Hunter and Coastal Region, all were welcome, with Scouts coming from all over NSW. 

There was plenty on offer for the event attendees exploring the theme of “Outback Australia”, from traditional Scouting activities such as crate stacking, archery, and canoeing, to creating Aboriginal dot paintings, playing Frisbee golf, and undertaking an overnight bivouac. Camel riding was also a popular activity, with many of the Scouts surprised by the strange feeling as the camels stood up. 

“It’s been super fun, I’ve gotten to try lots of new things”, she said. “The crate stack which we just did has been the best so far, and the rock climbing, we are about to do that next so I am really excited to do that”. 

 

Event organiser and Hunter and Coastal Region Commissioner (Scouts) Peter Cross said on Friday the Scouts were having a ball, despite a massive downpour. 

“The feedback when I was out at the water activity site yesterday was the canoeing was a fantastic activity,” he said. “We only had a couple of kids capsize, so a couple went swimming, but most stayed dry. 

“The feedback on the Venturer Scouts’ assistance was awesome. We had a couple of canoers lagging behind and the Venturers got in to help them out and pull them through. 

“The rafting was also fantastic – I didn’t see very many rafts actually float. I saw more barrels floating and rafts sinking, but no, that was fantastic.” 

The Scouts also converged on central Dungog, in a pair of activities called “Burke and Wills” – a photo scavenger hunt and a Landcare activity. 

“We’re setting 300-odd kids loose in Dungog on a photo scavenger hunt,” Peter said. 

“They won’t have seen that many kids in there in a long while. We’ve also got a Landcare activity in the afternoon – we’re going to do a bit of tree planting, some bush regeneration, and learn about the plants in the area.” 

An event of this size is not possible without the support of volunteer Leaders and Rover Scouts. 

“We’ve got 22 Rovers that have done an amazing job out of Q-store. They’ve provided all the food for the weekend,” Peter said. “All the deliveries come in, they sort it out, the Units come and collect it and take it back out and that happens for every meal. 

“They organised three, four, five cool rooms because we had some cool room issues coming down here. Today I’ve sent them up to arrange a drying room to get the sleeping bags dry. So they’ve done that for us as well. They’re also solving any other issues we’ve got on the way through. So, go Rovers! 

“We’ve got 100-odd Leaders around here too that are helping run activities, run the Unit sites. Without them all, we couldn’t do it.” 

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