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History

It's a bit of a mystery to us, but we've been lead to believe that 1st Ferntree Gully Scout Group was founded in 1959, back when Ferntree Gully was a booming holiday destination for those in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. We have however found records that indicate that 1959 may have been a reformation and the group is in fact quite a bit older. Records from Victorian Government Hansard 1926 show the group being refused a grant application. That could mean that the group was actually founded much earlier than 1959 and may have or about to have it's 100th anniversary. If only we could find out for sure. The earliest records of members that Scouts Victoria Heritage Centre have for the group is the registration the following scouts:

1926 members of 1st Ferntree Gully

The fact that all of these scout registration numbers are so close to each other suggests that they were all registered at once (possibly when 1st Ferntree Gully was originally founded)... So there you have it - we're closer to 100 than we are to 60!

More information has recently been shared with me inticating that 1st Ferntree Gully Scout group was founded at in 1926 or earlier. An article "Scout Competitions" from the Fern Tree Gully News (see right) of 6/3/1926 which reports on a carnival of events "in the hands of the committee of the 1st Fern Tree Gully Boy Scouts, the organisation was excellent." the article goes on to refer to Fern Tree Gully Scoutmaster McKenzie (is it possible that Scoutmaster McKenzie was one of our founding leaders?

The article also refers to committee members:

Mr Morris (President)
Mr Colliver (Treasurer)
Mr Carroll (Secretary)

The Carnival included the following events:

High jump
Bicycle Race
Long Jump
Stepping the Chain
Threading the Needle
Flag Race
150 yard race
Sia____ race (illegible)
Hop, Step and Jump

Interestingly, the article also refers to the Cub pack participating in a Tug-of-War which tells us that 1st Ferntree Gully Scouts had both Cubs and Scouts in March of 1926.

This earlier article from February 1926 talking about the planning for the Carnival which was held on 27/2/1967 as "...the newly-formed troop of Fern Tree Gully Boy Scouts..." :