AIM OF SCOUTING
The aim of Scouting is to encourage the physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual development of young people so that they take a constructive place in society as responsible citizens, and as a member of their local, national and international communities.

PRINCIPLES
The principles of Scouting are that Scouts should serve their God, act in consideration of the needs of others and develop and use their abilities to the betterment of themselves and their families and the community in which they live.

(ABRIDGED) VALUES OF SCOUTING

The Scout Association of Australia recognises:

· The importance of individuals developing a sense of personal identity and self worth which leads to a responsibility for oneself and one's actions as a citizen.

· That young people are able and willing to take responsibility and contribute to society.

· The importance of adults providing suitable role models for young people

· The importance of individuals and the community adopting a lifestyle that allows ecologically sustainable development through preventing environmental overload, environmental degradation and resource depletion.

· The importance of respect for and equity in dealings with all people, irrespective of culture, gender, religion or impairment

· The importance of the development of understanding between individuals as a contribution to peace between nations.

· The importance of gainful employment in contributing to the sense of dignity and self worth of the individual.

FIRST PRINCIPLES
[Extracted from "Leaders in Scouting" published by Adré de Waal, past District Commissioner on behalf of Black Range District as a memorandum to new leaders.]

We owe our existence to Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell, a British Army career-soldier at the turn of the last century with a love of "fun, fighting and feeding" and the ability to enter into the child's world. The basis for scouting, which he laid down in 1908, still holds true today, and I thought that the following quotes from his 1920 book "Aids to Scoutmastership" explain the first principles a lot better than I could.

Baden-Powell said:

"Scouting is not an abstruse or difficult science: rather it is a jolly game if you take it in the right light.  At the same time it is educative, and (like Mercy) it is apt to benefit him that giveth as well as him that receiveth."

Furthermore, BP thought that:

"The Scoutmaster has to be neither schoolmaster nor commanding officer, nor pastor, nor instructor.  All that is needed is the capacity to enjoy the out-of-doors, to enter into the boys' ambitions, and to find other men who will give them instruction in the desired directions, whether it be signalling or drawing, nature study or pioneering."

However, BP obligated adult leaders to do their duty:

"Success in training the boy largely depends upon the Scoutmaster's own personal example.  It is easy to become the hero as well as the elder brother of the boy.  We are apt, as we grow up, to forget what a store of hero worship is in the boy.

The Scoutmaster who is a hero to his boys holds a powerful lever to their development, but at the same time brings a great responsibility on himself.  They are quick enough to see the smallest characteristic about him, whether it be a virtue or a vice.  His mannerisms become theirs, the amount of courtesy he shows, his irritations, his sunny happiness, or his impatient glower, his willing self-discipline or his occasional moral lapses-all are not only noticed, but adopted by his followers.

Therefore, to get them to carry out the Scout Law and all that underlies it, the Scoutmaster himself should scrupulously carry out its professions in every detail of his life.  With scarcely a word of instruction his boys will follow him."

My apologies for the male-orientated language, obviously in BP's time, girls and women were not allowed in Scouts. Happily, as the father of a girl-scout, I can say that today this is not so.

Our motto is "be prepared".

We shake hands with the left hand because folklore has it that BP, on meeting a chief of the Ashanti people in 1896 in Africa, held out his right hand to which the chief replied, "no, in my country the bravest of the brave shake with the left hand". So began the practice of the left-hand shake to signify our aspiration to be brave and useful to society.

We wear a uniform. Smartness in uniform and correctness in detail may seem a small matter, but has, its value in the development of self-respect, and means an immense deal to the reputation of the Movement among outsiders who judge by what they see.

Both youth and adult members live by the Scout Law, of which you will hear more, and on which you will base many of your yarns and skits in the future.

The first duty of a leader in scouting is to create a safe and secure environment within which children may grow physically, spiritually, mentally and socially, and feel safe and protected and not fall prey to undesirable elements within the community, namely drugs, pedophilia and other nasties