On Sunday we; a few good friends and I, went to the riverside HQ of the 1st Fremantle Sea Scouts. The occasion was a celebration of 100 years of service to the local community. It was a big gathering, maybe three hundred people.
I started at the 1st Fremantle (then named the 69th Fremantle) sea scouts as a Cub Scout aged 11 and finished as a Rover Scout at the age of 21, just prior to heading off to New Guinea to start a teaching career.
The scout group had a campsite at Garden Island and every holiday we sailed to Garden Island in open cutters in any weather. I don't understand how parents let their young kids go to sea in bad weather with inadequate safety gear. We didn't lose any kids in all those years. Many got terribly seasick and felt like jumping overboard and no doubt some had upset tummies because of the food we prepared. Good character building stuff.
There are no private campsites on Garden Island now as the Royal Australian Navy has commandeered the whole Island as a base.
At the gathering, memories were tested as oldies debated events and argued over who did what.
I felt my age as the younger people talked about their experiences and we bored them with tales of adventures from long ago.
It was a great day!
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