Scouts Australia
| Scouts Australia | ||||
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| Headquarters | Chatswood, NSW | |||
| Country | Australia | |||
| Founded | 1958 incorporated 1967 |
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| Founder | The Boy Scouts Association (United Kingdom) | |||
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| Chief Commissioner | Chris "Chiefy" Bates | |||
| Chief Scout of Australia | Peter Cosgrove AK MC | |||
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Website http://www.scouts.com.au |
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Scouts Australia, officially The Scout Association of Australia, is the largest Scouting organization in Australia and is a registered member organization of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. It operates personal development programs for children and young adults from 6 to 25 years of age in Australia and Australian territories. Scouts Australia was formed in 1958 and was incorporated in 1967. Scouts Australia's programs were opened to girls after 1971.
Despite opening participation to girls and ever younger children and Australia having a high population growth rate well above the world average, participation in the organization's programs has continued to decline. According to a 2014 media article: "Scouts Australia is hoping [to] arrest a steady decline in membership. In 1979 the organization had 114,500 youth members, today there are 52,000." According to its own Annual Reports membership decreased from 84,502 in 2,126 Groups in 2001 to 63,200 in 1,836 Groups in 2005 and in 2012 there were 49,181 youth, 2,587 young adult Rovers and 14,113 adult leaders and support roles in 1,486 groups. This means the organization has an exceptionally high number of adults compared to its number of youth participants with a ratio of more than 1 adult : 3 youths.
For the history of Boy Scouts and the Scout Movement in Australia generally, see Scouting and Guiding in Australia.
Branches of The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom were formed in each of the Australian states. Initially each Australian state branch was directly responsible to Imperial Headquarters of The Boy Scouts Association in London. In 1922, The Boy Scouts Association formed its Australian Federal Council, consisting of nominees of its Australian state branches, to achieve co-operation and coordination at a national level. The Boy Scouts Association later appointed an Australian Commissioner. The Australian Federal Council functioned as a branch of The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom and the Australian Commissioner was appointed by the Imperial Headquarters in London. The Australian Federal Council of The Boy Scouts Association became a member of the World Scout Organisation of Scout Movements (WOSM) in 1953, rather than being represented through The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom. In 1958, The Australian Boy Scouts Association was formed and it succeeded the Australian Federal Council of The Boy Scouts Association. In 1967, The Australian Boy Scouts Association was incorporated by royal charter as a branch of The Scout Association of the United Kingdom. Each of the Australian state branches and the Papua New Guinea branch of The Scout Association became branches of The Australian Boy Scouts Association. In 1971, the association changed its name to The Scout Association of Australia. Until 1976, it admitted only British Subjects to membership and programs and other nationalities only on special conditions and approval. After 1976, British subjects continued to be automatically admitted to membership while foreign subjects, including residents were still subject to special conditions and approval. In 1997 the organisation adopted a new logo and the trading name Scouts Australia.
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