SOUVENIR-CHARTERS TOWERS, 1872 TO JULY. 1950 Page 63


Around The Campfire

A Story of the Doings of the Scouts and Cubs

THE tall white gums glistened as the glow from the campfire, burning with intensity, lighted up the surround­ing night like day.
Yes, folks, camped in that hollow is a Patrol of Scouts from this fair city of ours, known to the old pioneers as "The World" and the new as the City of Char­ters Towers.
Two score and eight years ago the first troop of scouts came into being, As the years rolled on and war was declared and won, hundreds of lads passed through its ranks as scouts and many a man as scouters.

I quote, "The world gets along' with three thing's-'Doing, 'Undoing and Pre­tending.'" To-day and for some years now the scout-minded citizens of the gold-mining city have been doing things. It is through the efforts of these people that to-day we have here a large expand­ing bank of young "Broom-stick war­riors" as the people wrongly call them, capable of looking after themselves in the home or the field.
Bound together by the Laws and Promise, laid down by our founder, we have now in our city something in scout­ing' and cubbing that will, I think, live forever in the minds of our citizens.

Our undulating countrysides are in­deed ideal for scouting activities. A short hike and one is readily in a posi­tion to carry out first class work, Dur­ing the year, camps, both large and small are held on the banks of our "River J or­dan," the Burdekin. Indeed these are looked forward to, both by the scouts 	and scouters. There	the	sheep	are herded from the goats as the work is both strenuous and tiring and what is learnt is put to practice.
As the weeks pass on do our ef­forts to build up our strength combined with thought, word and deed, so now to­day we have in our midst, something in the vicinity of fifteen active scouters, eighty scouts and one hundred and twenty-five cubs.
The citizens of to-morrow are the boys and girls of to-day. The future and the peace of the world depends on its citizens, so by training them, along these lines, training the young so they may be able to think, work, and do for them­selves, we may have a country worth­while living in. Training them along the lines of the scout laws to be :­
"Trusty, loyal and helpful, Brotherly, courteous, kind, Obedient, smiling, thrifty."
Pure in thought, word and deed, we may and should turn out the required citizen.
With a fan mail covering the Empire, it shows we are on the map ill this field of life. Scouting offers a tremendous lot to the one who takes advantage of it:, so let's hope what is being done for the scouts and cubs will still be with the little extra still being added.
At the present day, we have here now a grand organization governed by a Local Association, the following:­
3rd Charters Towers Group with Headquarters at Mill Street, Streng.th: 4 Scouters, 18 Scouts, 35 Cubs.
4th Charters Towers Group with Headquarters at Richmond Hill. Strength: 4 Scouters, 16 Scouts, 22 Cubs.
5th Charters Towers Group. Head­quarters at Thornburgh College. Streng,th: 4 Scouters, 41 Scouts, 30 Cubs.
6th Charters Towers Group. Head­quarters at All Souls' College. Strength: 2 Scouters, 31 Cubs.
All the above are under the control of the District Commissioner.

We are advancing rapidly in this field of citizenship, so may God, give us help and protection.