Silver Kangaroo for Keeper of the Relics

Joe Attard lives and breathes Scouts Heritage, working tirelessly to restore and preserve memorabilia, while celebrating the organisation’s legacy into the future.

This devotion to the preservation, promotion and celebration of Scouting’s rich history has seen Joe awarded with a Silver Kangaroo in today’s Adult Recognition Awards.

See the full list of recipients

The State Commissioner (Heritage) has always had an interest in heritage through being a collector.

“I love collecting memories and things like that. I collect things to help me to keep my memories going because when you get to a lot of events, it becomes a blur,” he said.

“I got into heritage because of the birth of my kids. My wife and I decided I would support her career and diversify my interests into being a stay-at-home dad and running my own gardening and landscaping business. I thought if I was going to stick with that long-term, I needed to take a day off, and started to drop into the archives on Wednesdays while the kids were at their grandparents’ place nearby.

“I was amazed. I just fell in love with the place. I was very careful about the archives at the time, because I didn’t know how to handle a lot of stuff because I was too scared to muck it up, but once I started getting used to it, and getting used to the people volunteering there, I started to really get into the history.”

The Scouts NSW Heritage Centre at Belfield is a treasure trove of documents and objects dating back through Scouting history. The volunteer team, whose role is to safeguard and protect the history as much as possible, use photos, badges, uniforms and documents to create a timeline of the items being stored.

Joe said badges and logos are the keys to identifying when and where a photograph was taken and who might be in it.

“Over the years, our logo would have changed three or four times, and if I recognise those logos when looking at a mystery photo – or an event badge – we can almost identify what period of time the photo is from. The change from khaki uniforms to the blues give a clear change in time as well,” he said.

“When I started the timeline photos, I’d look at the badge on the uniforms and know what era it was in. Even a picture of Baden-Powell, if you look at certain pictures he’s wearing World Jamboree badges. When he came to Frankston, he wore the kangaroo Frankston badge on his uniform, so he had to be wearing that badge in 1934/35 for the first Australian Jamboree.”

The items in the archives come from many avenues, whether it be a bequest following the passing of a former Scout or Leader, a donation of memorabilia from someone wanting to give back to the organisation, or clearing out an old hall. While some people are organised and precious about their collections, others may have no idea of the significance of some of their pieces.

The wide variety of items in the collection make it hard for Joe to pick his favourite.

“It could be the BP sword we have in there at the moment, but the Bradfield Shield is a favourite too,” he said.

“I love taking it into national camps, because the shield is made up of bits of the Harbour Bridge, so I say to kids ‘have you ever been to Sydney? Alright, you want to touch the Harbour Bridge?’. The shield is made of pop rivets, a cable and a bit of metal, and was used back in the 1930s to award the winners of the Scouts NSW First Aid competition.”

The Changi Scarf is also a priceless part of the Heritage collection. Donated to Scouts NSW by Jock Mumberson, a former Scout Master at 1st North Bondi Scout Group, the scarf is a relic from World War II. It was created by prisoners in Changi Prison who opened a Rover Scout Unit while incarcerated during the war. It is khaki in colour as it is made from the shirttails of the men’s uniforms. On the mid-corner of the scarf, the men embroidered the Japanese characters for Prisoner of War.

The scarf was one of many objects Joe took with him to the 26th Australian Jamboree in Maryborough, Queensland, in January for a special Scouts NSW Heritage display. He said it can be challenging deciding what to choose for both temporary displays, like at Jamboree, or more permanent displays, like at the new State Service Centre office in Sydney Olympic Park. 

“When we create permanent displays, I always bring more than I need, because it depends on how much room we have,” he said.

“I pick a variety of items from across the timeline and the curator, Anna Ridley, determines the layout. But at events, it’s a negotiation – if they say sorry Joe, you’ve got one table and that’s it, I’d just bring a box of goodies and find a way of presenting that ad hoc.

“We had the Queensland Governor and Chief Scout Dr Jeanette Young visit the Heritage tent at Jamboree. She was so engaged, which I was so impressed with. I kept saying I was very lucky, every time she asked me a question, I knew the answer! Because we don’t always know everything about everything we have, but as we engage with people, we learn more.

“I like to put random photos out, and it’s happened in the past where someone will say, ‘oh, I’m a rock climber, I know where that place is’ and I’ll write it down straight away.”

Heritage is also part of the program, and can function as a Special Interest Area project for youth members. It allows Scouts of all ages the opportunity to not just learn about the history of Scouting as a whole, but to also investigate the history of their own Group. It is also an opportunity for adult volunteers with an interest in heritage, or skills in IT or investigation, to serve Scouting in a different way.

The heritage team – which consists of about 18 people, between six regulars, six irregulars and others contributing from around the Regions – is looking to digitise much of the collection for longevity and always appreciate help from volunteers with the skills to aid that process.

“We have a database that we’re continually adding to, from photos to a few paragraphs on a Group, and then a photograph of their old Scout hall or how it’s transferred over time,” Joe said.

“From there we’re adding the Leaders that were associated with those skills, what scarf they have now and in the past. The scarfs tell the story of our history – in the first few years all our scarfs were black – or brown when we ran out of black fabric during the war – then after World War II we structured and the Districts were formed.

“Each District had a base colour scarf. Let’s say my old District was Canterbury District, all the kids in Canterbury District would have had a royal blue scarf and all their striping would be different colours. Mine was two sets of gold trims for Canterbury. Campsie had the Bulldogs colours – blue and white – and somebody else had blue with grey, and that’s how I identify Groups in old photos.

“In those days, no Scout Group in the same area could have the same scarf. Then in 1946 they did a restructure, and Groups changed Districts and you could end up with multiple Groups in the same area with the same scarf. So that’s an interesting anomaly in the history of Scouting.”

Joe also has his own youth history in Scouts, starting off as a Cub Scout and also achieving his Queen’s Scout Award. While he never achieved his Baden-Powell Scout Award, as he was too busy having fun in Rover Scouts, he reckons he would have done it all except for the paperwork twice over. He was a Leader during his Rover years and also served as a Cub Scout Leader. Later, after being at the grassroots over Scouting for more than 20 years, he would move into the role of Region Commissioner (International) for South Metropolitan Region.

When looking to the future, Joe’s big dream is to create a proper Scouts NSW museum where he can properly display and store the organisation’s memorabilia, as well as run workshops and activities on heritage.

In the meantime, he enjoys getting feedback from youth members and Leaders when he’s out and about with a display sharing the history of Scouts.

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