Words by Hunter Seuren
Jamboree is all about new experiences and making new friends for life. Part of that involves welcoming our fellow Scouts from overseas to our Jamboree. This year we have the largest number of international participants attending in Australian Jamboree history. We have 519 members from over 130 Scout groups across 15 countries worldwide!
We are excited to have Scouts joining us from: Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Timor Leste, Austria, Canada, Fiji, and - representing the birthplace of Scouting and our Founder, Lord Baden Powell - the United Kingdom.
International Scouts will be spread across the Jamboree site, camping and experiencing the Jamboree with Australian Scout Units. Venturer Scouts (or Explorer Scouts, as their known in the UK) can opt to help around the Jamboree as Service Leaders, working alongside other Venturer Scouts.
Before the Jamboree, some Contingents spent time travelling other parts of Australia or even other countries. The Scouts from Essex in the UK, made two stops on their pre-tour prior to arriving in Maryborough, Queensland.
“We took a 14-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and spent four days there, then we flew to Cairns via Sydney and spent a further five days exploring Cairns before catching a 23-hour train down to Maryborough,” said Kieran, FC010, UK Contingent.
All of the Contingents were given a warm welcome by our Camp Chief, Geoff Doo, in the VIP tent. They were introduced to Jamboree and given a briefing, before receiving their much-anticipated merch packs. The visiting Scouts were picked up by their host Unit to enjoy the Jamboree with their newfound friends.
We all know Aussies love to give our international visitors Vegemite. This is no different at AJ2025! So we took this opportunity to introduce a few lucky Scouts to our iconic spread. Surprisingly, other than New Zealand, most people were fans!
Reactions varied, but some of our favourites are:
“Tastes like soy sauce, it looks like chocolate spread so it doesn’t look like what you expect it to taste like. I think it would be good under eggs for example, I will have this again, it’s quite good actually.” - Ragnhild (Norway) Health and Wellbeing Team
“It’s good, it tastes better than marmite.” - Dehain (Sri Lanka) C013
“It’s Salty, I wouldn’t have it again.” - Davidianna (Papua New Guinea) T049
“It’s Delicious.” – Mr Park (South Korea) Contingent Leader
“Vegemite is the rip-off version of marmite.” – Caitlin (New Zealand) FC061
Keep an eye out for our visitors over the rest of the Jamboree, introduce yourself and make a new friend. Be sure to get your badge trading on with them too, they might have a few unique badges up their sleeves.
