WHAT IT TOOK TO BUILD A JAMBOREE
(Based on an article in the Jamboree News, December 31, 1964)
To establish a Jamboree camp for 16,000 is to build a town five times the
size of Myrtleford, four times that of Wonthaggi, three times the size
of Orbost, twice the size of Warragul; in fact, equal to Warrnambool or
Moe.
Let no one think that this is a small
undertaking. For the Jamboree town has to be set up on a piece of
virgin land which must be developed within a period of 18 months. No
normal town will be established complete in so short a time. Water
supply and reticulation; a 120 bed hospital fully manned, with all
necessary services; telephone, lighting and power; hundreds of marquees
and tents to provide the headquarters to control this town, have had to
be acquired and erected.
Food of all sorts and in vast quantities has
had to be ordered, prepared and stored and eventually will have to be
efficiently distributed to thousands of hungry boys and men. The figures
of food required appear so huge as to be almost unbelievable 3000 tons
of food at 400,000 meals. 4000 sheep and 1000 head of cattle; 60,000
lbs. of bread and 12,500 lb. of cake, 34,000 lb of sugar, 180,000 eggs
and 132,000 chops. 800 tons of firewood have been brought into the camp
and many thousands of tentpoles have been cut and carted. All these
items and some special additional ones must be mentioned.
Provision for
tours, for swimming and hiking have
had to be made, with all the necessary safety plans to accompany them.
Night entertainment — Campfire Concerts, Gang Show, Film showings and
rest centres — all these have had to be organised and provided.
The
Planners - when the Australian Boy Scouts Association invited the
Victorian Branch to establish the 7th Australian Jamboree on their
behalf, a planning body, the Jamboree Council was established and has
been meeting regularly for nearly two years.
The Jamboree Camp Chief
(Chief Commissioner R. W. McKellar) presided and established the broad
outline which has been carried into effect by a most efficient and hard
working team. His deputy is Assistant Chief Commissioner Ken Brewster,
who must be the most experienced Jamboree planner still planning Jamborees.
The heavy groundwork from the time that
the site was selected
until the present moment has been in the hands of an outstanding Civil
Engineer, Jack Maver, formerly District Commissioner for Bendigo. The
Financial wizard at work in the background is A.
J. Hooley, formerly a full-time member of the staff of the Victorian
Branch of the Boy Scouts' Association and now an estate agent.
Commissioner G. J. Clarke, Commissioner for East Suburban Area has had
the onerous task of ordering all equipment and food needed for this
great camp. What a man !
Activities ranging from Arena displays to
Skill-o-Rama and camp fires and concerts, fraternity and billeting has
been under the charge of Commissioner James Jacoby, District
Commissioner. for Malvern. In Sir W. S. Gilbert's phrase "Lord High
Everything-else" is the office held by Commissioner Jim Butchart who has
Charge of Administration. All these gentlemen, and so many others who
cannot be named here, have given countless hours of their time and vast
energy to the cause of staging this great camp. It is for all of us
living in the Jamboree to show our appreciation of their efforts by
making this the happiest, healthiest and most satisfactory demonstration
of the 4th Scout Law that any of us has even seen.
