26 Monday Nov 2018
Posted in Uncategorized
The Victor Scout Group invites you to our 2018 Christmas Break-Up.
Date:Friday 30 November, 2018
Place: At the Victor Scout Den
Time:6.00pm
RSVP: to your Group Leader by Thursday 29th November please.
A BBQ sausage sizzle will be provided, along with campfire fun for young and old.
RSVPs are needed for catering purposes.
BYO chairs, picnic rugs
09 Sunday Sep 2018
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This Sunday, after the warm up act ( a full day at the Cub Leadership Course), intrepid Cubs from the Victor Scout Group, under the mature leadership of some Grey Wolf candidates, sought out the mystery of the Bulimba Creek Bunyip . As anyone that’s ever watched a monster movie knows, “you should never stray from the path”, but that’s just what these Cubs did, heading off track and across the long disused ‘troll bridge’.
Seeking safe passage across the usually calm waters of Bulimba Creek, made all the more treacherous by the recent torrential 12mm of rain experience earlier in the week.
With nary a dry eye (from the sheer terror), nor a dry foot from the passage, it was soon accomplished.
With a cheerful salute they headed on their way and were soon lost amongst the mulga. September is the beginning of Spring, when many of God’s creatures stir from their slumber. All too soon amongst the long grass a cry of “snake” rang through the air and rippled through the pack. The orderly procession soon gave way to chaos … for fear of missing out.
All to soon, and still on a jelly snake sugar high, a potential bunyip sighting by one of the members of the band had everyone scurrying to the river bank in haste; however, with Baloo (the bear) getting there first, we think its cowardly nature shone through, leaving nothing but ripples in its wake.
By this time enthusiasm was waning, with the energy high from the consumption of said snakes long since passed, so the merry band converged on Wolf Rock to regroup, seek guidance from the spirit of Akela, and plot the way forwards.
Luckily a path was located and passage continued, entering a glade not unlike that frequented by Robert of Locksley, within which a magnificent tree with low branches enticed the Cubs into its arms (well beyond the reach of responsible adults).
And it was here within “the story tree”, that the legend of the Bulimba Creek Bunyip was retold by the leader of today’s adventure, its retelling striking enthusiastic waves of apathy, the like of which hasn’t been seen since before the school lunch bell on a Friday afternoon. And yet all the same, bringing a sense of dread and creating within each member such a thirst that could only be quenched by … half time oranges. “Why does someone’s parent always have to bring fruit?” a younger one cried, but they ate them anyway.
And so, as the sun dipped below the trees, all too soon it was time to be heading home and thinking about polishing shoes for school tomorrow.
Alas dear reader, with no definitive sighting, the legend of the bunyip remains unverified, but seems to be a definite possibility of a maybe. Perhaps as the legend grows, it’s just waiting for another generation of Cubs to discover it.
03 Monday Sep 2018
Posted in Cubs, scouts brisbane, Uncategorized
Tags
Bunyip (from Australian National Library collection)
With an upcoming Victor Cub Scouts Grey Wolf walk planned along Bulimba creek, it was thought some local history might be a useful reflection. In the process we uncovered the legend of the Bulimba Creek Bunyip…
Many years ago, before the lands of Mansfield, Carindale and Belmont were populated with houses they were set aside for grazing of cattle, and the growing of sugar cane. To support this work in the suburb of Carindale and along the shores of the creek that passed through the area was an abattoir for the preparing of meat for the inhabitants of the new town of Brisbane’s consumption. The by products of which drew various carrion and scavenger animals, including the Bunyip.
Many at this time thought the legend of the Bunyip from the indigenous peoples of the surrounding areas to be something to frighten small children into emptying the chamber pots at night and not to ask for an extra serving of bread and dripping at dinner time.
– Reproduced from The Tasmanian Journal of Natural Scienc
Around this time the founding mayor of the City of Brisbane, William Jolly had a prized bull that was to be put out for stud along the creek. This bull was amongst the largest ever seen, with the Brahmin bull not yet being seen on our fair shores. You see this was around the beginning of Australia’s reputation as a legendary cattle producer. By all accounts the bull was a productive member of the herd, however as fate would have it it simply disappeared one day.
All the known cattle rustlers of the day were rounded up in an effort to locate the prize bull, however to no avail. It is though that it was at this time that the most dangerous cattle rustlers made their escape, including the famous Captain Thunderbolt who fled to the interior around the granite belt and Tenterfield regions.
In due course the remains of the bull were found down near the bank of the creek, after some loud noises were heard one night . Of course no one approached, for fear of the legend of the terrible Bunyip had again gained prominence. A young boy named Arthur Scurr (who went on to start a well known hardware store) was said to have seen a terrible creature whilst fishing by the shores of the creek the day before and he bravely approached the scene the next day.
“Bull in Bunyip” he declared to all that would listen and this soon became accepted fact as the remains when finally examined bore the marks of huge teeth upon it. By and by the story faded somewhat and the fishing area became known as ‘Bull in Bunyip’ to the local boys. Eventually as all boys do, they grew up, some becoming future civic leaders, when the area formally became part of the City of Brisbane. That favourite fishing hole, which is still there today (for those that dare look), became known simply as Bull-in-Ba and the creek that flowed through it eventually becoming known as Bulimba creek.
And so this is the story of how Bulimba creek got its name, by way of a big load of bull!
References:
Scurr brothers – http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2006/05/19/1641487.htm
Mayors of Brisbane – https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/about-council/council-information-rates/council-history/brisbanes-lord-mayors
Captain Thunderbolt – http://www.guidetoipswich.com.au/experience-south-east-queensland/64-donnellys-castle-captain-thunderbolt-s-hideout
A History of Bulimba Creek Valley – http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/belmont.history/history.htm
About Bunyips – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyip
05 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted in Cubs, scouts brisbane
Anybody need some tubes?
One of the great challenges in running a successful scout group are the substantial running costs of the den. The largest expense there being the energy costs, in particular the lighting, which is also a big part of our carbon footprint. With almost 30 lights needed to run an evening it wasn’t hard to realise that we could probably reduce our footprint and costs here substantially by switching to LED lighting. So we reached out to the community to see what we could do about this.
And so it was with grateful thanks to Energex and the Brisbane South Area Manager that our application to become a community partner with Energex, as part of the Energy Queensland group, was successful. Early last week we have been able to convert all of our internal lighting over to LED’s. Special thanks to our friendly local electrician Dawson Electrical for getting it done too…now what to do with our old tubes?
22 Sunday Apr 2018
Posted in Uncategorized
If your Cub is planning on going to Cuboree in Sept and you haven’t got your application sorted…its not to late!!!
10 Saturday Mar 2018
Posted in Cubs, Uncategorized
Thanks to an invitation from the Rochedale Cub Pack, two of our cubs were able to join them for Air Activities this weekend. Air activities is a branch of Qld Scouts and gives budding pilots a chance to fly in a plane, make one and learn all about them too! For all those keen on badges not only is there a Flight Level 2 badge for your sleeve, but another for your camp blanket!
Big shout out to Rochedale leaders Jess and Kiwi for doing the heavy lifting and Chil for giving us the heads up.
05 Monday Feb 2018
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It’s cub pack council night is the beginning of term opportunity for the cubs to plan what they want to do. All of the sixes’ came up with some great ideas….though we are not sure about boa constrictor snake handling night.
03 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted in scouts brisbane, Uncategorized
Thanks to the support of the Queensland Department of Sport and Recreation for a ‘Get Going Clubs’ grant the dream of having our own trailer for the many weekends away has finally been realised and we recently took delivery of the groups new trailer.
While its often said that a camel is horse designed by commitee, we think we got this one pretty right after checking out what other groups were using checking in with Hawkeye and Komodo (our resident trailer experts). Light enough to be towed by your average family wagon, yet with braking and tires to handle the heaviest loads and fully galvanised to with stand years of …err abuse, we hope it will bring us many years of service. Samuel took delivery from Rhys (pictured) of the new trailer, probably in the hopes of earning another badge (good luck with that one).
Many thanks to the trailer guys (they also do camper trailers ) who understood our needs and were able to advise us on the pros and cons of the various features on an extensive wish list. Also big thanks to Murrays marine upholstery for the cover, spiffy pole rack up top and for organising the signage so we can be spotted easily and next district camp.
We’d also like to that MP Joe Kelly and counsellor Krista Adams for supporting our grant application last year too and Scouts Queensland for the submission process.
29 Friday Dec 2017
Posted in Cubs, Joeys, Scouts, scouts brisbane, Uncategorized
All too soon Victor Scouts wrapped up for 2017, with a XMAS BBQ, a good old barn (err shed) raising and some new doors too!
Everyone had a turn at the power tools 😉
Being watered and feed before the shed raising
And this bit goes, over …um …here…
Santa made an appearance too, bringing us some new fire exit doors and signs to point the way out.
Now thats a door and in our favourite shade of green too
We’d like to thank the elves, Dallas from Able Doors and Building and John from Snelson Electrical for doing putting it all together.
Special thanks to Scouts Queensland for a Queensland Scout Foundation grant that helped that make it all possible and our committee for pushing all the paper round too 😉
30 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Interested in Cuboree 2018, here’s what they got up to last year (with a few cameos by the Victor Mob). Registration is open!
