The Boy Scouts Association of Zimbabwe
Encyclopedia
The Boy Scouts Association of Zimbabwe is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement
. Scouting
in Zimbabwe
shares history with Malaŵi
and Zambia
, with which it was linked for decades.
region in Zimbabwe that, during the Second Matabele War
, Robert Baden-Powell
, who later became the founder of Scouting, and Frederick Russell Burnham
, the American born Chief of Scouts for the British Army, first met and began their life-long friendship. Baden-Powell had only recently arrived in Matabeleland as Chief of Staff to Gen. Carrington
when he started scouting with Burnham. This would become a formative experience for Baden-Powell not only because he had the time of his life commanding reconnaissance missions into enemy territory in Matobo Hills, but because many of his later Boy Scout ideas took hold here. Burnham had been a scout practically his entire life in the United States when he went to Africa
in 1893 to scout for Cecil Rhodes on the Cape-to-Cairo Railway
. As Chief of Scouts under Major Allan Wilson
, Burnham became known in Africa as he-who-sees-in-the-dark and he gained fame in the First Matabele War
when he survived the British equivalent of Custer's Last Stand, the imfamous the Shangani Patrol
.
In mid-June 1896, during their joint scouting patrols in the Matobo Hills, Burnham began teaching Baden-Powell woodcraft
, inspiring him and giving him the plan for both the program and the code of honor of Scouting for Boys. Practiced by frontier
smen of the American Old West
and Indigenous peoples of the Americas
, woodcraft was generally unknown to the British
, but well known to the American scout Burnham. These skills eventually formed the basis of what is now called scoutcraft
, the fundamentals of Scouting
. Both men recognised that wars in Africa
were changing markedly and the British Army
needed to adapt; so during their joint scouting missions, Baden-Powell and Burnham discussed the concept of a broad training programme in woodcraft for young men, rich in exploration
, tracking
, fieldcraft
, and self-reliance. In Africa, no scout embodied these traits more than Burnham. It was also during this time in the Matobo Hills that Baden-Powell first started to wear his signature campaign hat
like the one worn by Burnham. Later, Baden-Powell wrote a number of books on Scouting, and even started to train and make use of adolescent boys, most famously during the Siege of Mafeking
, during the Second Boer War
.
and Rhodesia and Nyasaland started in 1909 when the first Boy Scout troop was registered. Scouting grew quickly and in 1924 Rhodesia and Nyasaland sent a large contingent to the second World Scout Jamboree
in Ermelunden, Denmark
. The great popularity of the Boy Scout movement in Rhodesia was due to its outdoor program such as hiking, camping, cooking and pioneering, which was unusual in the protectorate. Additionally, the training and progressive badge system was targeted towards helping others, leading to responsible citizenship.
Gordon Park, a Scout campground and training area, was visited by Lord Baden-Powell on 1936.
Because of the prevailing circumstances earlier in the 20th century, a separate movement was established for black Africans called "Pathfinders". By the 1950s the time was considered to merge both movements into one Scout Association, as was done with the South African Scout Association
.
Rhodesia hosted the Central African Jamboree in 1959 at Ruwa
.
The British contingent to the 14th World Scout Jamboree
, led by Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell, included Scouts from Branches in Bermuda
, Hong Kong
and Rhodesia.
During this period, the highest earned Scout rank bore a sable antelope
, the heraldic supporter
of the coat of arms of Rhodesia
. This motif still seems to be in use today.
, from June 1, 1979 to April 18, 1980, a photo was taken of a group of Scouts from around the world. This photo, which features a Scout wearing a uniform emblazoned with a large Zimbabwe Rhodesia badge over the right pocket, was used for the cover of 250 Million Scouts by World Chief Scout Executive Dr. László Nagy
in 1985.
, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement
, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting.
In 2009, Scouts celebrated 100 years of Scouting in Zimbabwe. Hundreds of Scouts camped at Gordon Park
as part of these celebrations.
World Organization of the Scout Movement
The World Organization of the Scout Movement is the Non-governmental international organization which governs most national Scout Organizations, with 31 million members. WOSM was established in 1920, and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland...
. Scouting
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
shares history with Malaŵi
The Scout Association of Malawi
Established in 1931, the Scout Association of Malaŵi was disallowed between 1964 and 1996. Scouting in Malaŵi shares history with Zimbabwe and Zambia, with which it was linked for decades...
and Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, with which it was linked for decades.
Birthplace of Scouting
It was in the MatabelelandMatabeleland
Modern day Matabeleland is a region in Zimbabwe divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. The region is named after its inhabitants, the Ndebele people...
region in Zimbabwe that, during the Second Matabele War
Second Matabele War
The Second Matabele War, also known as the Matabeleland Rebellion and in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, was fought in 1896–97 between the British troops and the Ndebele people....
, Robert Baden-Powell
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB , also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement....
, who later became the founder of Scouting, and Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham, DSO was an American scout and world traveling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement.Burnham...
, the American born Chief of Scouts for the British Army, first met and began their life-long friendship. Baden-Powell had only recently arrived in Matabeleland as Chief of Staff to Gen. Carrington
Frederick Carrington
Major General Sir Frederick Carrington KCB, KCMG , was a British soldier and friend of Cecil John Rhodes...
when he started scouting with Burnham. This would become a formative experience for Baden-Powell not only because he had the time of his life commanding reconnaissance missions into enemy territory in Matobo Hills, but because many of his later Boy Scout ideas took hold here. Burnham had been a scout practically his entire life in the United States when he went to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in 1893 to scout for Cecil Rhodes on the Cape-to-Cairo Railway
Cape-Cairo railway
The Cape to Cairo Railway is an uncompleted project to cross Africa from south to north by rail. This plan was initiated at the end of the 18th century, during the time of colonial rule, largely under the vision of Cecil Rhodes, in the attempt to connect adjacent African possessions of the British...
. As Chief of Scouts under Major Allan Wilson
Allan Wilson (army officer)
Allan Wilson , was born in Scotland. He is best known for his leadership of the Shangani Patrol which resulted in his death and made him a national hero in Rhodesia....
, Burnham became known in Africa as he-who-sees-in-the-dark and he gained fame in the First Matabele War
First Matabele War
The First Matabele War was fought in 1893-1894 between the British South Africa Company military forces and the Ndebele people. Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, avoided outright war with the British settlers because he and his advisors were mindful of the destructive power of the European weapons...
when he survived the British equivalent of Custer's Last Stand, the imfamous the Shangani Patrol
Shangani Patrol
The Shangani Patrol was a group of white Rhodesian pioneer police officers killed in battle on the Shangani River in Matabeleland in 1893. The incident achieved a lasting, prominent place in Rhodesian colonial history.-Setting and Battle:...
.
In mid-June 1896, during their joint scouting patrols in the Matobo Hills, Burnham began teaching Baden-Powell woodcraft
Woodcraft
Woodcraft is a recreational/educational program devised by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1902, for young people based on camping, outdoor skills and woodcrafts. Thompson Seton's Woodcraft ideas were incorporated into the early Scout movement, but also in many other organisations in many countries.In the...
, inspiring him and giving him the plan for both the program and the code of honor of Scouting for Boys. Practiced by frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
smen of the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
and Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, woodcraft was generally unknown to the British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
, but well known to the American scout Burnham. These skills eventually formed the basis of what is now called scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
, the fundamentals of Scouting
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
. Both men recognised that wars in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
were changing markedly and the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
needed to adapt; so during their joint scouting missions, Baden-Powell and Burnham discussed the concept of a broad training programme in woodcraft for young men, rich in exploration
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, tracking
Tracking (hunting)
Tracking in hunting and ecology is the science and art of observing animal tracks and other signs, with the goal of gaining understanding of the landscape and the animal being tracked...
, fieldcraft
Fieldcraft
Fieldcraft is a term used especially in American, Canadian and British military circles to describe the basic military skills required to operate stealthily and the methods used to do so, which can differ during day or night and due to weather or terrain...
, and self-reliance. In Africa, no scout embodied these traits more than Burnham. It was also during this time in the Matobo Hills that Baden-Powell first started to wear his signature campaign hat
Campaign hat
A campaign cover is a broad-brimmed felt or straw hat, with a high crown, pinched symmetrically at the four corners .It is associated with the New Zealand Army, the Royal Canadian...
like the one worn by Burnham. Later, Baden-Powell wrote a number of books on Scouting, and even started to train and make use of adolescent boys, most famously during the Siege of Mafeking
Siege of Mafeking
The Siege of Mafeking was the most famous British action in the Second Boer War. It took place at the town of Mafeking in South Africa over a period of 217 days, from October 1899 to May 1900, and turned Robert Baden-Powell, who went on to found the Scouting Movement, into a national hero...
, during the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
.
Scouting in Rhodesia
Scouting in the former Southern RhodesiaSouthern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
and Rhodesia and Nyasaland started in 1909 when the first Boy Scout troop was registered. Scouting grew quickly and in 1924 Rhodesia and Nyasaland sent a large contingent to the second World Scout Jamboree
World Scout Jamboree
The World Scout Jamboree is a Scouting jamboree of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, typically attended by several tens of thousands of Scouts from around the world, aged 14 to 17....
in Ermelunden, Denmark
Ermelunden, Denmark
Ermelunden is a small forest in Gentofte, Denmark. It is adjacent to the larger Jægersborg Dyrehave.In 1924 it was the site of the 2nd World Scout Jamboree, which brought together 4,549 Scouts and Guides from all over the world....
. The great popularity of the Boy Scout movement in Rhodesia was due to its outdoor program such as hiking, camping, cooking and pioneering, which was unusual in the protectorate. Additionally, the training and progressive badge system was targeted towards helping others, leading to responsible citizenship.
Gordon Park, a Scout campground and training area, was visited by Lord Baden-Powell on 1936.
Because of the prevailing circumstances earlier in the 20th century, a separate movement was established for black Africans called "Pathfinders". By the 1950s the time was considered to merge both movements into one Scout Association, as was done with the South African Scout Association
South African Scout Association
The South African Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognized Scouting association in South Africa. Scouting began in the United Kingdom in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell and rapidly spread to South Africa, with the first Scout troops appearing in...
.
Rhodesia hosted the Central African Jamboree in 1959 at Ruwa
Ruwa
Ruwa is a town in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe, situated 22 km south-east of Harare on the main Harare-Mutare highway and railway line. It serves as a small administrative and trading centre for the surrounding mixed farming area...
.
The British contingent to the 14th World Scout Jamboree
14th World Scout Jamboree
The 14th World Scout Jamboree was held July 29 to August 7, 1975 and was hosted by Norway at Lillehammer, on the shore of Lake Mjøsa.King Olav V and Harald V of Norway, who then was crown prince, opened "Nordjamb '75", as it became popularly known, in the presence of 17,259 Scouts from 94 countries...
, led by Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell, included Scouts from Branches in Bermuda
The Scout Association of Bermuda
The Bermuda Scout Association operates as a branch of the United Kingdom Scout Association, due to Bermuda's status as a British Overseas Territory. The Bermudian Scout Oath and Law, as well as other Scouting requirements, closely follow that of the United Kingdom.Although the program activities...
, Hong Kong
The Scout Association of Hong Kong
The Scout Association of Hong Kong is the overall Scouting organization in Hong Kong. After the first Scouting initiatives in 1909, the Hong Kong branch of The Scout Association of the United Kingdom was started in 1914 by registering the St. Joseph's College Scout Group, and was formally...
and Rhodesia.
During this period, the highest earned Scout rank bore a sable antelope
Sable Antelope
The Sable Antelope is an antelope which inhabits wooded savannah in East Africa south of Kenya, and in Southern Africa.-Subspecies:There are four subspecies:* H. n. niger which is considered low risk conservation dependent...
, the heraldic supporter
Supporters
In heraldry, supporters are figures usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. These figures may be real or imaginary animals, human figures, and in rare cases plants or inanimate objects...
of the coat of arms of Rhodesia
Coat of arms of Rhodesia
The coat of arms of Rhodesia was first used for the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1923, known simply as Rhodesia after 1964.Official authorisation by Royal Warrant for the Coat of Arms was granted on 11 August 1924....
. This motif still seems to be in use today.
Scouting in Zimbabwe Rhodesia
In the 10 months the nation's name changed to Zimbabwe RhodesiaZimbabwe Rhodesia
Zimbabwe Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, was an unrecognized state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 12 December 1979...
, from June 1, 1979 to April 18, 1980, a photo was taken of a group of Scouts from around the world. This photo, which features a Scout wearing a uniform emblazoned with a large Zimbabwe Rhodesia badge over the right pocket, was used for the cover of 250 Million Scouts by World Chief Scout Executive Dr. László Nagy
László Nagy (Scouting)
László Nagy was the Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from May 1, 1968 to October 31, 1988...
in 1985.
Scouting in Zimbabwe
In 1983, Charles A. Martin was awarded the Bronze WolfBronze Wolf
The Bronze Wolf Award is bestowed by the World Scout Committee to acknowledge "outstanding service by an individual to the World Scout Movement"...
, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement
World Organization of the Scout Movement
The World Organization of the Scout Movement is the Non-governmental international organization which governs most national Scout Organizations, with 31 million members. WOSM was established in 1920, and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland...
, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting.
In 2009, Scouts celebrated 100 years of Scouting in Zimbabwe. Hundreds of Scouts camped at Gordon Park
Gordon Park
The Lady in the Lake trial was a 2005 murder case in which Gordon Park a retired teacher from Leece, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, was jailed for life for the murder of his first wife, Carol Ann Park, in 1976....
as part of these celebrations.