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Governor
Resigns as Chief Scout
The Governor of Queensland, Sir Leslie Orne Wilson resigned
as Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association, Queensland
Branch in 1942. Sir Leslie, an enthusiastic supporter of
the Scouts, had been Chief Scout since 1932 but by the
early 1940s his relations with The Boy Scouts Association
was severely strained by its attempts to control the Scout
Movement.
In their visits The Boy Scouts Association Imperial H.Q.
Commissioners Sir Alfred Pickford and Lt. Col. Granville
Walton and Baden-Powell, in visits in 1931 and 1934, had
encouraged the branches of The Boy ScoUts Association to
seek complete control of the Scout Movement including by
obtaining statutory monopolies from the governments. In
1934 Scout Groups registered with The Boy Scouts
Association were incensed by changes to its constitution
which removed elected local representatives from its State
Council. In 1934 The Boy Scouts Association attempted to
gain control of Scout Groups' properties by insisting that
the properties be registered in The Boy Scouts
Association's name. Many Scout Groups resisted these
efforts but The Boy Scouts Association used the
circumstance of the war from 1939 to further cenralize its
control.
Sir Leslie knew Benjamin Gilmore Patterson of the Mount
Morgan Scouts. Patterson had been in the militia unit - the
Sydney University Scouts (now Sydney University Regiment)
Between 1900 and 1904. The first Boy Scouts in Mount Morgan
formed on 23 November, 1908 with Patterson as the leader.
In 1910 Patterson's Scouts registered as the 1st Mount
Morgan Company with the Boys' Brigade which had run Scouts
since 1906. Later the Mount Morgan Scouts also affiliated
with the League of Boy Scouts, Queensland which became the
League of Baden-Powell Boy Scouts when it affiliated with
Baden-Powell Boy Scouts (as The Boy Scouts Association was
then known). The League merged with The Boy Scouts
Association in 1926. The Mount Morgan Scouts' dual
affiliation continued until 1927 when the Boys' Brigade
discontinued its Scout Scheme. Patterson had become a
District Commissioner of The Boy Scouts Association and, in
1921, had been the second Queensland recipient of its
highest award - the Silver Wolf. In 1924 his efforts with
the Mount MOrgan Scouts were praised in the Commonwealth
Parliament. Despite the long association, in 1939 Patterson
disaffiliated from The Boy Scouts Association over the
increasing centralization of tis control.
The Governor was aware of these problems and the Mount
Morgan Scouts' disaffiliation. Despite his calls for reform
and threats to resign as Chief Scout, The Boy Scouts
Association did not back off from its centralization.
The Mount Morgan Scouts continued independently until 1957
- two years after Patterson's death. They maintained their
B.B. (Boys' Brigade) heritage as the "Blue" Boy Scouts,
wearing blue uniforms.
In 1975 The Scout Association suceeded in its desire for
complete control over Scout groups with The Scout
Association of Australia Queensland Branch Act (Qld)(No. 24
of 1975) which forcibly vested Scout group's property in
the Scout Association's Queensland branch
© 1996 Research by Keith Young, Archivist, Boys' Brigade
Queensland & Robert Campbell, Scouts of Australia
