Community Involvement

It was a great honour for ten Scouts to join Phil Harrison, Chief Commissioner of Australia to represent Scouts Australia at the Queen Elizabeth II National Memorial. These are some of the recollections and reflections by Ashley, Caitlin, Callum, Casey, David, Liam, Lily, Max, Talon and Tom.

On the day, Ashley and Tom started early with a live-to-air interview on ABC Radio Canberra. Both impressed the presenter by highlighting how the Scout Program had changed; that we no longer ‘dibbed and dobbed’ and that young people could design their own Scout journey.

After the interview it was onto Parliament House where we assembled and were escorted into the Great Hall. Being amongst the first group of attendees, we were able to soak up the atmosphere and eat the lollies that Caitlin had brought to keep our sugar levels up. Ashley caught up with girls from her old school, while Talon and Tom practised their ‘tight turns’ without knocking into television cameras.

As the guests started to arrive the background noise rose steadily until at 10.45am the screens switched to the arrival of the Governor-General and the smoking procession led by the Wiradjuri Echoes. Then the room fell quiet as we observed a minutes silence. Speeches were made, the Australian Girls’ Choir sang hymns and at the appointed time (as Anthony Callea was finishing his rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone”), the Scouts assembled at the back of the room. Then as the MC and Scout parent Melissa Doyle noted that the Queen had been a patron of Scouts for 70 years, Tom and Talon, Caitlin and Callum carrying the two wreaths and Lily, Max, David, Ashley, Liam and Casey carrying baskets with sprigs of wattle proceeded to walk to the main stage.

Again, at the invitation of the MC, it was up to Liam and Casey to offer the Prime Minister and the Governor-General sprigs of wattle to pin on the two wreaths. This was followed by nearly 700 official guests doing the same. Obviously, all the rehearsals paid off as the team of Scouts seamlessly kept taking turns offering their flowers to the assembled audience. Many dignitaries nodded to the Scouts in appreciation for their service with the occasional person pausing for a conversation. Max had a brief conversation with ACT Senator David Pocock.

As the ceremony drew to a close there was time for each Scout to also pin wattle to the wreaths and for one final photo of the whole team in front of the stage. It had been an honour and a privilege to participate in the ceremony and to acknowledge the role the Queen had played as Patron to all Scouts in Australia.

As Callum pointed out, while it was not a physical challenge, it certainly was challenging as he came to appreciate that this was a very solemn and stately ceremony, and you were representing 55,000 Scouts of Australia at a once in a lifetime national and historic event. As the Governor-General said in his speech “Her Majesty epitomised servant leadership and, particularly in this age of extreme individualism, set an example of living and serving for something greater than herself”. In their small way by participating, each of our ten scouts also set an example of living and service something greater than themselves.

For Casey it was an honour, to stand proud at the front of the Great Hall packed with more than 700 people and pay her respects to Her Majesty. Even though her arm was burning from holding the basket, her hands sweaty with nerves of having the Prime Minister of Australia seated directly in front of her, she stood tall, and represented both the Scouting and Guiding movements (Casey is a Queen’s Scout and a Queen’s Guide). She is also proud of being part of a team who did such a splendid job. Together, they helped put together two beautiful wreaths of wattle, which occasionally looked as though they might topple over. She also wanted to thank the Commissioners for their time to escort us to the rehearsal and the event, and for making us smile through the nerves.