Summary

Cloth badge issued by the Australian Boys Scout Association to commemorate the Boy Scouts Jamborette held at Inverell, New South Wales, in 1960, by the Warrungen (QLD) regional chapter. Its imagery includes a stereotypical figure of an indigenous man to symbolise the outdoor activities of the Jamborette.

A Jamborette is a regional gathering of scouts held during the period between the triannual Australian Scout Jamborees. The Australian Scout Jamboree is a major gathering of scouts from throughout Australia, with other international visitors, held every three years by Scouts Australia, and hosted by a different scouting region on each occasion, with locations rotating between the various Australian mainland states. The Jamboree is traditionally held in early January and runs for 12-13 days. The first Australian Scout Jamboree was held in 1934 at Frankston, Victoria and was the only Australian Jamboree attended by the founder of the Scouting movement Chief Scout, Robert Baden-Powell.

Badges like this were issued to each scout attending the an event, both as a memento and for the purpose of swapping with scouts from other districts, each of which had their own distinctive badges for the occasion. The various badges obtained by each scout are often sewn on a camp blanket, shirt or coat. They are not intended to be used as uniform badges.

Physical Description

White textile badge with a black almost naked Aboriginal man fanning smoke from a campfire, coloured red and grey. Above the fire is a boomerang.

Significance

These badges are significant because they show the way that the Scout movement continued to use stereotypical images of indigenous people on their official insignia from the 1960s to the 2000s. This object forms part of a small collection of objects which demonstrate the various ways Indigenous imagery, designs and materials have been referenced, appropriated and even exploited to produce popular consumer products which at times are branded in inappropriate and even offensive ways.

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