HistoryThis extract is from "Blue and Gold - The Story Told" by Margaret Coleman and Honor Darling.
This is the story of Guiding, which is unique because it started spontaneously.
Considered to be the largest worldwide voluntary organisation for girls, the Girl Guide Movement began through the demand by a small group to join in a wonderful game which had just begun for boys.
Throughout 1985 celebrations dominated the Guide program as plans swung into action to mark the 75th birthday of Guiding, and to thank those women who, despite early prejudices, pioneered the traditions which we still believe to be important.
Many of the obstacles to be overcome arose because Guiding activities were frequently considered unladylike, particularly the idea of girls camping.
It is recorded that it was taken for granted that sleeping in tents was out of the question for girls - and how could they be expected to do their hair out in the open field? (All respectable young ladies had long hair in those days). It was suggested that: they should sleep in a barn and hang their clothing on nails on the walls. It was stated also that hobble skirts, high heels and tight stays (corsets!) would be banned.
How all this has changed! What was once a new venture is now taken for granted. Few Guides would now take a cow to camp with them to ensure a supply of fresh milk, as did some early Tasmanian girls. She was a red cow called Pearl, and it is on record that nine dairymaid badges were earned during the camp. She was later sold for beef, presumably as she was no longer much good as a milker.
Australia today has almost 30,000 members of the Guide Association. It belongs to a world-wide Guiding family, extending over 140 countries with a membership of more than ten million. All this has developed from an idea conceived by one man, who gave up an important job to put it into practice.
The man was Robert Baden-Powell and the idea was scouting for boys. It was born from the stern necessities of war, but transformed into a game with an aim - the training of young people for good living and good citizenship while enjoying themselves. It swept round the world and was taken up by girls as well as boys. This had not been planned by its Founder, but he could see that the enthusiasm of these girls could not be checked. So he handed them over to his sister Agnes, and the Guide Movement had started itself.
To understand the development of Guiding in Australia, we must therefore go back to that man and his idea.
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell was born in London in 1857, fifth in a family of seven children. His father, the Reverend H.G. Baden-Powell, a professor at Oxford University, died when Robert was only three. Young "Stephen", as his family called him, was fortunate in that his mother, Henrietta, was a woman of very advanced ideas for her time. He and his brothers were encouraged to enjoy the out-of-doors, follow their own inclinations, and find their own amusements.
Early in life Robert developed a talent for sketching, equally well with either hand. He won a scholarship to one of the great schools of England, Charterhouse, which was also ahead of its time. There he developed initiative in the woods and fields, and skills as an actor and entertainer, though outstanding neither in scholarship nor sport.
He was accepted into the army at the age of nineteen, and proved an exceptional soldier. He was soon off to India as a sub-lieutenant, and rose to the rank of colonel during his ten years' service there. During this time he learned the elements of practical scouting, and later devised and tried out many methods of training the army scouts and Guides. He even published a booklet entitled Aids to Scouting.
Baden-Powell had many adventures in India and later in South Africa, culminating during the Boer War in the famous Siege of Mafeking, which lasted for 217 days. He returned to London a national hero, and was promoted major-general.
Boys of all ages began to write to their idol, "BP", as he had become known. They wanted advice and help on all sorts of things, because his military manual, Aids to Scouting, was now being used by groups of boys who wanted adventurous activities. He suggested to the founder of the Boys Brigade, Sir William Smith, that some scouting activities would make the physical training for the boys more attractive and encourage new members. He drew up a short scheme for training, and a publisher agreed to print it.
BP was now over 50, and his current army appointment had ended. He felt the time had come to leave the army and devote himself to his new interest, scouting for boys. He was encouraged to do this by King Edward VII, who was most impressed with the scheme.
BP did not, however, want to put his scheme on paper until he knew that it would work, so he organised a camp to try out his ideas. This was the Brownsea Island camp of 1907, famous as the beginning of scouting. What happened there seems like normal scout camping today, but at that time it was very novel to the 20 boys from all walks of life who attended. They sat around the campfire listening to the yarns of adventure which, next day, would be put into practice as patrol games, with their own elected leader responsible for the discipline and success of the activities.
Scouting for Boys, much as we know it today, was the result of that experiment. It was published in six fortnightly parts, each costing four pence (approximately three cents). As soon as the first part appeared in January 1908 boys all over the country began forming themselves into patrols trying out the suggestions and looking to adults to be scout leaders. BP had hoped that other organisations like the Boys Brigade would use scouting as an added attraction. However, the unexpected spread of scouting, even to countries beyond Britain, influenced him to devote his full time to the boy scouts and relinquish his army career. He resigned in 1910 and was awarded a knighthood for his military achievements.
The cover of the first issue of ‘Scouting for Boys’, which appeared in fortnightly parts in 1908.
The first scout rally was held at the Crystal Palace in London in 1909, a landmark as it was the first public appearance of the boy scouts. Some 10,000 boys attended in torrential rain, almost traditional weather for such occasions, but their spirits were not dampened. They wore short pants, wide-brimmed hats and carried staves; a small group of girls, also with scout hats and staves, joined the dripping procession. They demanded to be recognised as the girl scouts, who intended to follow the same programme as their brothers.
Although BP had previously resisted the idea of girls becoming scouts, he now realised that something had to be done about them, so he allowed them to register at Scout Headquarters. More than 8,000 did so in the first year, and realising that he could not look after them in addition to the boys, he asked his sister Agnes to take on the job. To help her he wrote A scheme for Girl Guides, taking the name from that of a famous Indian Ghurka regiment.
Agnes Baden-Powell was two years younger than her brother, and like most girls of her class at that time stayed at home. She was interested in sewing, lace making and music, playing the organ, piano and violin. However, she did share with her brothers a love of the out-of-doors, being particularly interested in natural history. She was a recognised expert in astronomy, could bicycle, swim drive and skate. Her nursing ability was described as first-rate and she was an excellent cook.
By April 1910 Miss Agnes had set up a separate headquarters for the girls' organisation, engaged a secretary and invited the girl scouts to register as girl Guides. The Girl Guides Association was officially launched, but at first the name was not popular, nor was the trefoil welcomed as a substitute for the scout arrowhead badge. B. -P. was most anxious to keep the two organisations separate, and advanced from his own pocket one hundred pounds ($200) to help the Guides become established.
Miss Agnes became president of the Association and worked to adapt Scouting for Boys to suit girls, publishing How Girls Can Help Build Up the Empire in 1912. She handed over the presidency in 1917 to the daughter of the reigning King George V, Her Royal Highness Princess Mary, an enthusiastic supporter of the new organisation for girls. Miss Agnes remained vice president until her death in June 1945, aged 86.
Olave St. Clair Soames was born on 22 February, 1889, and as a girl loved country life and her pet animals. She never attended school, being educated by her parents and a succession of governesses. She lived what she described as a sheltered, happy but thoroughly useless existence.
This changed in 1912, when her father took her on a cruise to the West Indies. On board she met Robert Baden-Powell, the scout man, as she described him. They discovered they had much in common besides their mutual birthday, and were engaged and married that same year, despite the age difference of more than 30 years.
This event upset some of the boy scouts. To one who wrote expressing dreadful disappointment when the engagement was announced, BP replied: "My future bride is as keen about scouting as I am. She will help me in the work so that my marriage, instead of taking me from the Movement, will bring in another assistant to it and one who will love the Scouts as they, l am sure, will love her as soon as they get to know her."
And love her they did, as they proved by giving her a tremendous welcome on her many travels throughout a long life. To show they had forgiven their Founder, the boys subscribed their pennies and bought a 20 h.p. Standard car - a great status symbol in those days - as a wedding gift for the couple. This particular model later became known as the "Penny Standard."
A few years after the wedding Lady BP took up Guiding, her first appointment being as County Commissioner for Sussex, where she worked tirelessly to recruit adult leaders for the girls. In 1918 she became Chief Guide of Great Britain, having the year before set up an international committee to find out where Guides already existed and to help more countries establish Guiding. A conference was held at Oxford in England in 1920, and attended by Guide leaders from other countries - the first of many held at regular intervals ever since.
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts was established at one of these conferences in Hungary in 1928, and at the next in 1930, Lady BP was chosen as World Chief Guide, a position she held until her death in 1977. Upon accepting this honour she promised to do her best to help everybody all the time - without doubt a promise well kept.
From the time of her marriage Lady B-P accompanied the Founder on all his scout visits. After his death in 1941, when her three children were grown up and married, she travelled farther and faster to keep in touch with the growing world family of scouts and Guides. She used any available form of transport - ship, train, car, aeroplane, helicopter, rickshaw or elephant! She travelled more than 800,000 kilometres (500,000 miles) by air, visiting some countries as many as 30 times. She remembered thousands of people by name and wrote all her own letters of thanks.
As long as Guiding and scouting exist these three people will be remembered with love and gratitude, for they indeed "saw the start."
The good news of Guiding and scouting spread to many countries, as quickly as a tiny flame spreads into a roaring blaze. At first small groups, inspired by reading Scouting for Boys, sprang up under various names in many parts of the world.
In Australia, too, Guiding began spontaneously, making it difficult to pinpoint the very first date or place. What we do know is that when BP first visited our boy scouts in 1912 he also inspected small groups of girls.
Even before this we find that different names were used to describe such groups in different places; for instance in Tasmania Girl Peace Scouts, corresponding with the organisation of the same name in New Zealand, were formed as early as 1909-10, while in New South Wales the Australian League of Girl Aids, recognised in affiliation with the Boy Scouts Association, was formed at the same time. In Victoria, the Florence Nightingale Girl Aids were established in 1909, and recognised as Baden-Powell Girl Guides in 1911. Guiding in Western Australia began in 1915 at a public meeting in Perth Town Hall under the sponsorship of the Women's Service Guild.
Some of these groups were later disbanded with the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, but many reformed and were then officially registered as branches of the British association. In the early days these separate groups did not know of each other's existence, because of our great distances and the scarcity of detailed records. Few of these were kept because the pioneers of Guiding did not realise the significance of what they were establishing, nor what a vast Movement it would become.
The scantiness of information, distance and lack of training experience restricted activities for the most part to those based on Scouting for Boys. The girls showed great determination, imagination, and often, courage, in carrying on despite adverse criticism from their elders, who considered their tomboy pursuits extremely unladylike.
Many activities, even in the earliest days, were as at present based on service to others. An example is the 'fly-veils for horses' project carried out by the Guides of Western Australia during the first World War. The horses belonged to the large contingents of our Light Horse Brigades fighting in the Middle East, and the girls were distressed to hear that they were greatly troubled by flies. So they set to work using their knotting skills on second hand baler twine, to make fly veils for the horses. They were despatched to the appropriate military headquarters, who were so impressed that they requested a further 50,000 as soon as possible. Farmers willingly gave their used twine, and the project continued throughout the war. One unit made 150 fly veils in one month!
At this time, of course, we had no national organisation, and it was only gradually that state associations were formed, at first under the direction of Britain and later as independent groups in each state. Eventually each state became organised, setting up a headquarters, forming a state executive and appointing a state commissioner. Tasmania was first in 1911 followed by South Australia in 1913, Western Australia in 1915, Queensland in 1919, New South Wales in 1920 and Victoria in 1921.
Then came a wider vision. In 1924 Tasmania suggested the formation of a Federal Council, a body which would draw states together and help overcome the problems of isolation.
In 1926 a meeting of state representatives from Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania gathered at Government House in Melbourne to discuss the formation of a Federal Council of the Girl Guides Associations of Australia. The meeting was chaired by Her Excellency Lady Stonehaven, wife of the Governor-General of the time. She accepted the invitation to be president, and since then it has become traditional for the wife of the current Governor-General to honour the Movement by becoming its Australian president while her husband is in office.
Guiding in Australia had now achieved nationhood. Two years later, it took another giant step. In 1928 it became a foundation member of the newly-formed World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which co-ordinates Guiding throughout the world and encourages its establishment in a growing number of countries. From this time onwards the regular international Guiding conferences became world conferences, at which Australia has always been present to have a say in the world Guiding programme for the next three years. Australians have been elected to the World Committee, and others to various sub-committees of the World Association.
By 2007 the original Chief Commissioner's Standard had become fragile and worn. it was decided to replace it with a copy of the original Standard. this lead to Jane Scarlett, Vice-president of girl guides Australia researching the origins of the Chief Commissioner's Standard and the correct ceremony to retire the old one and dedicate the new one. This ceremony was held at the Girl Guides Australia's Annual general meeting at the Queensland Parliament House, Brisbane, May 2007.
Federal Conference in 1950 proposed that the Chief Commissioner of Australia have a Standard and that South Australia submit a design and supervise the making of the Standard. South Australia, greatly honoured by this most pleasant task, set to work. Miss Audrey Morphett, then State Commissioner for South Australia, called for designs and of those submitted, the one sent by Mrs Ray Kenihan was chosen. This design was redrawn and coloured by Mrs. J Eddy and Headquarters sent it to States for approval.
In 1952, Mrs Kenihan took the design to London where it was passed as heraldically correct by Miss M. Warren, Imperial Headquarters Heraldic Adviser. The material was chosen at Jacqmars by Mrs. C.O Fairbairn, Mrs. M. Marks of Sydney and Mrs. R. Kenihan and brought to Australia by Mrs. Fairbairn. Embroidery and assembling of the Standard was done in South Australia and the badges were embroidered by their respective States. The motifs and those who worked them were:
| Tudor Rose | Mrs. C.O. Fairbairn |
| Surrey Lion | Miss Crowe |
| Trefoils, | Mrs. Trimble and Miss M Cooper |
| Federal Star | Miss Jill Jennings |
| Yakkas | Mrs. Trimble and Miss J Graham |
The enlarging to scale was the work of Miss Helen Artlett. From this, Mrs. A Trimble cut the material and embroidered the emblems onto the field.
A simple description in non-heraldic blazon is:
| First quarter | Golden Trefoil, silver Star, Red Surrey Lion and Tudor Rose on Azure field. |
| Heraldic Bar | Motto ‘Be Prepared’- lettering black on red |
| Second quarter | Cambridge blue and gold state emblems on these.
Gold strip for gold cord insignia of the Chief Commissioner |
At Headquarters, Adelaide on 23rd March, the Standard was presented to the Chief Commissioner for Australia, Mrs. C.O. Fairbairn by Miss May Douglas, State Commissioner for South Australia, and as many as possible of those who had worked on the Standard were present. A symbols are representive of:
The Tudor Rose and Surrey Lion are symbolic of England.
Seven pointed Federal Star representative of Australian States.
Be Prepared – motto of the Association.
The Yaccas typical of all Australia.
The gold strip signifies the distinguishing mark of the Federal Chief Commissioner.
The field indicates the blue of the sky and the Guide Uniform.
The Magpie is the emblem of South Australia
The Southern Cross is for Victoria
The Platypus is Tasmania
The Black Swan is Western Australia
The Waratah is New South Wales
The Black Cockatoo is Northern Territory
The Bird of Paradise Is for New Guinea (which is administrated from Australia in guiding affairs)
The original standard from which the floral display is copied is hand embroidered.
At the commencement of the Annual General Meeting, the Australian Flag, the World Flag and the State and National standards were carried in to the meeting room. At the conclusion of the business of the meeting, the Vice President Jane Scarlett asked the State Commissioners to take their places beside their State Standard. The President of Girl Guides Australia, Her Excellency Mrs Jeffery and the Chief Commissioner stood together in front of the table.While the Vice President will read the following:
The origin of the Consecration or Blessing of Colours or Standards dates back well before the birth of Christ. The Israelites carried the sacred standard of the Maccabees which bore the initial letters of an Hebrew text from Exodus. In the armies of pagan Rome ensigns were worshipped with religious adoration. Pope Alexander ll blessed a banner which William the Conqueror carried at Hastings and at the Battle of the Standard in 1138, the banners of St Peter of York, St John of Beverly and St Wilfred of Ripon were erected on a wagon and moved with the Archbishop of York and his Yeomen of Yorkshire when they fought the Scottish clansmen.
The ceremony of Consecrating the Colours originated in the Middle ages when there were no National standing armies and each nobleman maintaining his own private army for the protection of his land holdings. For purposes of identification, each of these armed bands carried a banner on which was featured the personal coat of arms of its noble commander. When with the passage of time, these armed bands were merged into a national army, controlled by a central authority of which the reigning Monarch was the head, the ceremony of consecrating the banner was retained, but with the difference that the ‘Colours’ or ‘Standard’ now represented regimental or even national honour rather than family reputation.
From the Archives:
Federal Girl Guide Conference in 1950 proposed that the Chief Commissioner of Australia have a Standard and that South Australia submit a design and supervise its making. South Australia, greatly honoured by this most pleasant task, set to work. Designs were called for and the chosen design re-drawn and coloured before being circulated to States for approval. In 1952, the design was taken to London where it was passed as heraldically correct by the Imperial Headquarters Heraldic Adviser.
The work:
The material was chosen at Jacqmars by the CC. Mrs CO Fairbairn and two others and brought to Australia. Embroidering and assembling of the Standard was done in South Australia and the Badges were embroidered by their respective States. The Tudor Rose, Surrey Lion, Trefoils, the Federal Star and Yaccas were worked by selected individuals and Tasmania provided the blackwood for the pole. On behalf of the Federal Council, Miss May Douglas (State Commissioner for S.A.) presented the Standard to the Chief Commissioner in Adelaide on March 23, 1954. It was used for the first time when Guides lined the drive at Government. House for the visit of the Queen’.
At this stage the National standard bearer moved forward and the old standard passed to her and she slowly marched it out of the room to music. Outside, the new standard was handed to the bearer and she marched it to the front of the meeting room, standing in front of Her Excellency Mrs Jeffery, she gently grasp the end of the standard.
Her Excellency Mrs Jeffery read the following:
“At all times, peoples have made for themselves signs and symbols of their allegiance to their rulers, their countries, their movements. On behalf of every Australian Guide, I ask God’s blessing on this Standard, which represents to us our duty to our queen and country and our dedication to the principles of Guiding.”
The State Commissioners read the following:
“Eternal God, Ruler of the universe, we dedicate this Standard that it may continue as a symbol of the Guide Promise and Law and of our commitment to the Guide Movement in Australia.”
The World Song was sung at the conclusion of the ceremony.
National archivists- Margaret and Jenny
About 230 Guiders and Commissioners attended the first Australian Training Camp in January 1933. Lady Isaacs, the Federal President of Girl Guides travelled by car for the day from Canberra especially to the visit the camp to inspect and address the enthusiastic women. This expression of her practical interest in the Girl Guides’ first all-Australian officers’ training camp was much appreciated.
In her address, Lady Isaac referred to the excellence of the camp and the thoroughness of the program of training. She commented that there could not be a finer organization than the Girl Guides’ movement, inspired, as it was, not only by the spirit of friendliness, but also by a spirit of social service in the common good. Those were the underlying sentiments of the organization, which could, with widespread influence and vast membership throughout the world, justifiably be claimed as one of the greatest movements in active operation at the time. (The world membership in 1933 was 1,094,393 with 370,656 in foreign countries).
The Brownie Guiders staged for Lady Isaacs’ pleasure a special Brownie welcome around a toadstool in an idyllic setting. There was a quaint ceremony of a Brownie enrolment, Brownies with little wings flying to the next rank in the movement and games played. The afternoon concluded with the ‘grand howl’.
During the camp the Guiders went in pairs on long hikes as one of the movement’s efficiency tests. There were two hospital tents with equipment for emergencies and a doctor and nursing sisters at the ready to treat any ailment. The only ailments were bruises and other minor ailments. There were first aid demonstrations.
Fifty- four bell tents on the bank of the Nepean River, at Macquarie Grove, Camden, courtesy of Arthur Macarthur Onslow. This was the sight that met the eyes of 140 girls and 71 leaders when they arrived on 8th January, 1926 to attend the first international camp held in Australia by the Girl Guides. All states of Australia were represented, and 12 guides came from New Zealand.
The camp commandant was Marjory Shanks (Red Cord diplom'd guider) who came from Scotland to organize the camp. The camp was divided into 4 groups, (and each group had girls from all states.) with patrols of 8. But all combined for prayers and Colours each morning and for camp fire at night. Each group was complete in itself, and carried out a pre-arranged programme. Each group had its own cook, and food was given out daily.
The camp was prepared for all emergencies- the hospital consisted of 3 bell tents, and a fully equipped medical chest. There were 2 doctors who acted as medical officers. There was time to make new friends- and the programme included 1 1/2 hours of free time each afternoon, and there was swimming each day and inter-state meetings. Visitors were welcomed each afternoon to watch old english folk dancing and songs and to see displays of gadget making, hike fires, camp kitchens. So some things have changed over the years!
On Thursday 14t" Jan a cable was sent to the Founder and Chief Guide "BadenPowell, Bentley, Hampshire- " Greetings from Australia and New Zealand Guides assembled at the first Interstate Camp, Camden, N.S.W. `" To those present camp life stood for freedom of action and thought, and the opportunity to learn bushcraft and campcraft, an independence of spirit and to learn about one another.
This camp was such a success that it was felt unanimously that such camps should be held every 2-3 years. Victoria offered to be responsible for the next camp 15-25t" Jan 1929 at Hendra, Frankston, on property lent by Mrs H. Masterton. 1928 saw an appeal for all districts in Victoria to pay 35 shillings for a visiting delegate, and also to help towards providing equipment.
Like camps to-day, hospitality was provided before and after camp in Melbourne. The cost of food was 1/8 per day- and this included cooked breakfast and soup and meat and vegetables and dessert for the main meal each day. There is no mention of what was served for the other meal.
The kit list makes for interesting reading - To be included:
Guiding began in Australia in 1910, where it developed independently in each state. The Federal Council co-ordinated affairs of interest to all states. By 1926 the Federal Council of State Associations was formed with each State Commissioner and one delegate from their state, along with Miss Behrens who represented Imperial Headquarters. Each state in turn acted as Federal Headquarters with the State Commissioner as Executive Vice President, and was given the right to appoint the Federal Secretary. The first Secretary was Mrs Mabel Brookes (Later Dame Mabel) from Victoria. The documents passed from state to state in one suitcase, which is now in the National Archives.
In 1926 Irene Fairbairn, who later became the first Chief Commissioner of Guides Australia, represented Australia at the International Assembly (the first held outside Britain) at USA Conference Centre, Camp Edith Macey. It was here that Thinking Day was first planned.
Some snippets of what kept our early leaders busy!
Chief Commissioner (1947 - 1952)
Irene Fairbairn O.B.E.was the Hon. Federal Secretary of the Federal Council of the Girl Guides Association of Australia (1938-1947).
In 1947, Irene Fairbairn became the First Federal Commissioner for Australia which in 1952 became known as the Chief Commissioner of Guides Australia. She held this position until 1955. It was in this role that in 1947, due to war time rations, she arranged for Australian Guides to send dried fruit to England for Princess Elizabeth’s wedding cake.
Irene Fairbairn supported Guiding in many capacities from State Commissioner for Victoria (1958-1963), Australian Vice President (1957-1970) to the Australian Appeal Director for the World Centre in Sangam, India. However, her name is most remembered as Chairman of the Irene Fairbairn Award Fund. This fund was established in 1955, as an expression of appreciation and affection by the Girl Guides of Australia for the purpose of encouraging young members to travel to overseas events. The use of the daffodil on the badge acknowledges Irene Fairbairn’s delight in gardening, especially the propagation of a new variety of daffodils.
Irene Fairbairn was awarded the Silver Fish (1947), O.B.E. (1963) C.B.E. (1969).
Chief Commissioner (1955-1962).
Service to the community was a hallmark of Eleanor Manning’s life.
She was a member of the Movement from early childhood, and held many positions from Lieutenant, District Commissioner, Commissioner for Training, Camping Adviser, Ranger Adviser to Deputy State Commissioner (NSW).
During the Second World War (1939-1945) she served in the Australian Woman’s Army attaining the rank of Major and later became the Controller for NSW and Deputy Controller in the Australian Women’s Army Service for the Commonwealth. Her organisational and administrative skills were quite outstanding and she was responsible for the recruiting and training officers for the two Army Services – Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS ) and Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS).
In 1946, Eleanor Manning and three other Guides went to Malaya to serve with the Guide International Service to help with post war rehabilitation. This led to a life long interest in the Australian-Malaysian-Singapore Association and the development of friendship and co-operation between the countries.
In 1955, she became Chief Commissioner (1955-1962) and and later a member of the World Committee of WAGGGS (1960-1969). In these roles she travelled widely to enhance the cause of Guiding. Countries she visited included Brunei, Egypt, India, Japan, Korea, Malaya, USA, Ceylon, Switzerland, Brazil and Greece. Eleanor Manning became Australian International Commissioner and was a driving force in the establishment of the World Centre in Sangam, India.
Her clear thinking, administrative skills and tireless effort for Guiding are recognised in the Eleanor Manning Award which was established to assist other Guides with overseas travel to Guiding Events.
Eleanor Manning was awarded the Beaver (1938), Silver Fish (1954), O.B.E. (1959), and Coronation Medals of (1937) and (1953).
Chief Commissioner (1962-1968).
“Jim“ Buntine gave exceptional service to Guiding for over thirty years. She joined the Movement quite by chance in Perth having never been a Guide as a young girl. In 1933, she was elected to State Executive of Western Australia and became interested in public relations. She broadcasted monthly from the ABC studios in Perth and had the ability to enthuse and inspire.
After moving to Victoria she became a Division Commissioner and represented Victoria at the Australian Council meetings.
In 1961, “Jim” was elected Chief Commissioner but did not take up the position until December 1962. Her drive and understanding helped Australia to consolidate a high standard of Guiding. She was always ready to represent Australia at Conferences and meetings of other organisations.
In 1962, she represented Australian Guiding at the Training Conference for National Leaders, Asian Area, held in Malaya and in 1963, she was a delegate to the 18th World Conference in Denmark. Her ability at overseas conferences was recognised when she was invited to act as a Vice Chairman at the 1966 World Conference in Japan .
She gave tirelessly of herself and was most appreciative and understanding of the part played by others, especially those behind the scene. As Chief Commissioner she initiated the states to think more nationally. Jim Buntine’s Thinking Day Speech 1964 was “Thinking and Thanking” – one surely leads to the other.
In 1967 Jim Buntine escorted the World Chief Guide on her Australian tour.
Jim Buntine was awarded M.B.E (1961) for “Service to Youth”, O.B.E.(1966) and the Silver Fish (1966).
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