Britannia Park (Girl Guides Victoria)

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Britannia Park is a campsite belonging to Girl Guides Victoria. It is located near Yarra Junction in Victoria, Australia. It is 72 km east of Melbourne. The site covers 42 acres (approx 10 hectares), although the original purchase was smaller.

Melbourne City in Victoria, Australia

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km2 (3,858.1 sq mi), comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, and is also the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of approximately 4.9 million, and its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians".

Contents

Fundraising to buy the site began in 1934 and continued until 1938. [1] Helen Storrow contributed £100. A competition was held for a typically Australian round, to be sold to raise funds. The winning song, Kookaburra, by Marion Sinclair, was sung at the 1934 Scout Jamboree in the presence of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell.

Helen Storrow Girl Scouting leader

Helen Osborne Storrow was a prominent American philanthropist, early Girl Scout leader, and chair of the World Committee of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) for eight years. She founded the First National Girl Scout Leaders' Training in Long Pond, Massachusetts; headed the leaders' training camp at Foxlease, UK; and donated the first of the WAGGGS World centres, Our Chalet.

"Kookaburra" is a popular Australian nursery rhyme and round about the kookaburra. It was written by Marion Sinclair in 1932.

Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement

Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the world-wide Boy Scout Movement, and founder, with his sister Agnes, of the world-wide Girl Guide / Girl Scout Movement. Baden-Powell authored the first editions of the seminal work Scouting for Boys, which was an inspiration for the Scout Movement.

The opening ceremony was planned to be held in January 1939, with Lord Hampton representing Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Guiding worldwide. Bushfires in Victoria made this impossible, and the event was rescheduled for September 1939. The outbreak of World War II forced the cancellation of the ceremony entirely. Despite this, the first camps on the site were held in 1939. A large fête called 'Walkabout' had been planned to be held in the Melbourne Town Hall in the same year to raise money for the camp. The fête was held as planned, but the money raised (£1,000) was given to the Red Cross and to the Guide War Work for British evacuee children.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Fête party in a village in which (almost) all the local inhabitants participate

A fête, or fete, is an elaborate festival, party or celebration. In Britain, fêtes are traditional public festivals, held outdoors and organised to raise funds for a charity. They typically include entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments.

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement international humanitarian movement

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 17 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering.

Name

At the time of purchase, the property was known as "Britannia House". For many years after, both the house and the wider property were called simply "Guide House". In 1965, it was decided that this was too confusing. After much consideration, the name "Britannia Park" was chosen, incorporating the initials of the Founder and the old name of the property. The house is still called "Guide House"

Facilities

Guide House sleeps twenty-eight people. The Camberwell Room is the main living room in Guide House and is named after the Camberwell District who originally gave the money to furnish it. A blanket made from the wool of a Confederate soldier's uniform, donated by Helen Storrow, hangs in the Camberwell Room. [2] There are several other smaller buildings that to accommodate other groups sizes and for some memorabilia kept on site.

Camberwell, Victoria Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Camberwell is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2016 Census, Camberwell had a population of 22,081.

Confederate States Army Army of the Confederate States

The Confederate States Army (C.S.A.) was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting against the United States forces. On February 28, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Davis was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, and colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican–American War. He had also been a United States Senator from Mississippi and U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the Confederate government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at Charleston, South Carolina, where South Carolina state militia besieged Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, held by a small U.S. Army garrison. By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.

Events

Southern Cross

Southern Cross was an international camp held here in 1970.

State Camps

State Camps were held approximately every three years during the January school holidays. At some time this was changed (possibly due to water restrictions and bush fire danger) to be held in the September School Holidays. 1964, State Camp 'Tartandi' 1967. 1970 1973 : 'Wirake' 1976 1979 1982, 'Alterama' 1987, 'Milpara'. 2007 'Tikana' was held, commemorating 100 years since Baden-Powell's initial Brownsea Island camp in 1907 2010 'ACE' camp transferred to Geelong due to fire risk during the January school holidays.

Australian Centenary Event

The Australian Centenary Event (ACE), an international camp, was to be held at Britannia Park in January 2010. Due to increased potential fire risk at Britannia Park during the summer months, it was relocated by the organising committee to the Marcus Oldham College in Geelong.

Marcus Oldham College is an agricultural, equine and farm management tertiary education institution located in Geelong, Victoria and is the only private agricultural college operating in Australia. Founded in 1962, the institution attracts enrolments from domestic and international students.

Geelong City in Victoria, Australia

Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Geelong is 75 kilometres (47 mi) south-west of the state capital, Melbourne. It is the second largest Victorian city, with an estimated urban population of 192,393 as of June 2016.

See also

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References

  1. "Circles" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  2. "History of Britannia Park" (PDF). Girl Guides Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-13. Retrieved 2009-03-30.