The 26th Australia Jamboree
What a Quest!
This January saw almost 10,000 Scouts from all over Australia (and even internationally!) travel to Maryborough, on Queensland’s stunning Fraser Coast, for the Quest of a lifetime!
The 26th Australian Scout Jamboree officially took place from 6-15 January 2025 at the Maryborough Showground – the same site that hosted AJ2013. Here we set up our home away from home for 10 days of action, adventure, entertainment, and friendship.
If you’ve never experienced a Jamboree, it can be tricky to imagine just how big it is! An entire city was built by thousands of volunteers over several months – it had everything from shops and food vans, two entertainment arenas, chill out zones, and heaps of on-site activities. There was even a fully functioning medical centre!
Scouts had an absolute blast with activities ranging from esky races to abseiling and mountain bike riding on-site, and they had the chance to head off-site to explore water activities in Hervey Bay, learn about the magical local history in Maryborough and get up close and personal with some fierce reptiles at Australia Zoo.
At the end of jam-packed days, Scouts would head to the mall to swap badges and make new friends, or head to one of the arenas to watch killer performances from major Australian artists like Amy Shark and Sheppard.
Such high level productions were only possible because of the industry professional Scout Leaders who volunteered to lend their talents to the Jamboree – and not just at the Arena! Without the thousands of Service Leaders who attended, AJ2025 would not have been possible. These volunteers filled roles across all areas of the event, including logistics, sites and services, catering, welfare, activities, admin, programming, and event services.
One directorate in particular – Health and Wellbeing – relies entirely on medical professionals willing to donate their time and experience to ensure everyone at Jamboree was looked after. This team of over 150 – including 12 doctors – was made entirely of Scout members who are also medically qualified and work in their field outside of Scouting. AJ2025 was fortunate enough to have specialists including general practitioners and paediatricians, emergency doctors, surgeons, obstetrician gynaecologists, and dentists on hand – bringing the Scouting ethos of Be Prepared to the Medical Centre!
One member of the team, Dr Manisha Fernando, wrote about her rewarding experience as a Jamboree doctor and shared her story with other GP’s here.
While the Medical team planned for cases of dehydration and exhaustion (commonly referred to as Jamboritis), there was also the unexpected influx of patients with cases of trench foot and the like after the torrential downpours that flooded the site mid-way through the event.
Every Jamboree has its challenges and for AJ2025 it was certainly the weather! Monumental rainstorms hit the Fraser Coast and flooded large sections of the campsite – predominantly in the two youth Sub Camps – and knocked out our power.
This challenged everyone in different ways – from struggling to keep bedding dry to trying to keep morale up across soggy campsites – but Scouts are nothing if not adaptable. Across the site, Scouts and Leaders could be seen in all directions helping each other out. Strangers ran through camp to close tents before the rain hit and offered helping hands if someone was slipping through the mud. Others embraced the wet and had fun swimming in puddles, dancing in the rain, or holding water fights.
At least we can guarantee that every Scout had at least one shower during Jamboree!
While we weren’t saving lives or rescuing flooded tents, the Media team brought their talent and support in a different way. A team of 70, across Photography, News, Video, Socials, PR, and VIP teams, were dedicated to not only documenting the events of AJ2025, but capturing it in such incredible detail.
For the first time at an Australian Jamboree, the tough decision of not producing a physical newspaper was made early on. While the newspaper is as much a part of Jamboree culture as badge swapping, it brought forward major logistical challenges. The News team instead took the opportunity to explore the potential of digital news at a major Scouting event, publishing articles through aj2025.com.au/news and working with the Social Media team to keep Scouts informed both at Jamboree and at home.
The exciting part of digital news is the ability to continue publishing articles and stories post-Jamboree. The News team is committed to finishing what was started in Maryborough and will keep sharing the funny, exciting, surprising, heartfelt, and bizarre stories from AJ2025.
While the event only ran for 10 incredible days, it was only possible because of the months and years of work put in by dedicated volunteers who were committed to making AJ2025 the best Jamboree ever! We cannot thank these volunteers enough – thanks to you, thousands of young people got to experience the greatest adventure of their life.
Planning for the 27th Australian Jamboree has commenced. We can’t wait to see you at AJ2028!
Article by Tyler, AJ2025 media team
