Australasian Gazette: 1st Chatswood Erects a Tower and a Rope Suspension Bridge

The scouting movement began in England and was founded by Lord Baden-Powell. It didn’t take long for it to spread across many countries around the world including Australia in the early 1900s and now there is a World Scout Committee based in Geneva, Switzerland. Being based on encouraging boys’, and now boys’ and girls’, mental, physical and social development, the scouting movement has played a large role with Australian youth.

As this black-and-white newsreel is silent, intertitles are used to explain what is visible on screen.

Newsreels were an integral part of cinema programming in Australia before the advent of television in 1956. Issued on a weekly basis, the newsreels enabled people to further engage with local and national political stories and events.

Cameramen from around Australia contributed stories to the Australasian Gazette newsreel and each state distributed a version that included local interest stories. This newsreel clip is an example of a local interest story that over time provides us a valuable record of the scouting movement and its place in Australian history.

Notes by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers