The Australian Scout Jamboree is a national jamboree overseen by Scouts Australia. They have been held regularly since 1934, except for 1942 and 1945 due to World War II, and in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jamborees are generally held early in January and typically runs for ten nights.

The first jamboree in 1934 was held in Frankston, Victoria, and was attended by the World Chief Scout, Robert Baden-Powell. The Frankston district still uses the original Jamboree logo as its district emblem.

Early events

The 1st World Scout Jamboree was at Olympia London in July/August 1920, and there were Australian and Australian state contingents to this and the subsequent international jamborees. Whilst the 1934 Frankston jamboree was designated the 'first' Australian Jamboree, there were earlier events. Australians also attended a jamboree in Dunedin, New Zealand, in January 1926.

The January 1922 Scout corroboree at the Sydney Showgrounds totalled over 540 youth members (with a Victorian contingent of 90 scouts, South Australia with 100, Queensland with 100, and Sydney northern district between 250 and 300 scouts). The January 1923 Scout corroboree in Melbourne saw a NSW contingent of 920 scouts. The 'all-Australian Scout Corroboree' of January 1924 in Adelaide expected about 1500 scouts, with a NSW contingent of 500 scouts, Victoria of 400, Queensland of 50, a first time with Western Australia of 30, and Tasmania of 25 scouts. Activities included tent pitching, fire lighting, billy boiling, trek card obstacle race, and cyclist stretcher races.

From 15 January 1927, the Lake Sorrell reservoir, from Hobart, Tasmania was the site of an all-Australian 'jamboree' with about 300 Scouts. Limited to First Class (award) scouts, after the event it was also referred to as the 'all Australian Corroboree', the New South Wales contingent having 151 participants. By this time, the word 'jamboree' was becoming more known.

Corroborees continued with the Seventh 'All-Australian' Scout Corroboree at coastal Lake Illawarra, NSW in January 1930, with the 1936 Australian Scout Corroboree looking like a national jamboree: 26 December 1936 to 4 January 1937, Belair National Park, South Australia, of 4000 scouts with contingents including all Australian states, Ceylon, Nauru, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Administration

Traditionally, Australian Jamborees were hosted on a rotational basis, with the order of hosting being South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales.

Each Scouting Branch (State) is the effective host of the jamboree and takes responsibility for its management. The host for the next jamboree has been opened to a tendering process.

Australian jamborees are held on a triennial basis. Following AJ2025, Scouts Australia planned to move to a quadrennial basis, however this decision was reversed. The next Australian jamboree will be held in January 2028.

By world standards, Australian jamborees are medium-sized, with the largest jamborees being held in Europe and North America and generally hosting between 35,000 and 40,000 participants.

Organisational structure

Committee

The Jamboree Executive Committee (JEC) has the primary task of organising and running the event. The host state takes the responsibility for forming a JEC from local scouts and scouters.

Contingents The largest organisational unit of the jamboree is a contingent. There is one contingent for each of the Australian States and Territories, a contingent representing the national leadership of Scouts Australia, as well as New Zealand and other international contingents.

A unit consists of about 36 Scouts, six patrols of youth members and six to seven leaders. Each unit shares a common camping area where they will cook, sleep and socialise for the duration of the jamboree. Units are generally made up of members of the same state contingent, and overseas contingents are mixed into domestic units.

Youth members in units are further subdivided into patrols of five or six Scouts. The most experienced Scout is generally given the task of being 'patrol leader' ('PL'), and another experienced Scout is assigned as 'assistant patrol leader' ('APL'). Scouts work in patrols for all activities and tasks during the jamboree. PLs are given special prizes and a special lunch to acknowledge the important task they carry out.

Scouts must be between the age of 11 and 14; although in AJ2025, this included Venturer Scouts. Typically, attendees must also have earned badges for Milestone 1, Outdoor Adventure Skills Stage 3 in Bushcraft, Bushwalking, and Camping, and slept ten nights under canvas at scout activities. Participants are expected to cook for themselves, keeping their sleeping area and campsite clean and tidy, participate in their assigned activities, and cope with the experience of being away from home for the period of the jamboree.

Subcamps

A jamboree campsite may be broken up into several subcamps. Each subcamp will contain troop-lines of units from various contingents, each site usually having a decorated gateway. The subcamps are named according to the jamboree. For instance, the service leaders subcamp at the 13th Jamboree at Collingwood Park was named Nyeri, the home of Scouting's founder.

For AJ2025 in Queensland, the three youth subcamps were Fraser Coast (region), Tuan (state forest), Cheeli (named for lagoon), and two service leader subcamps were Wook-Koo (nearby First Nations park) and Mungomery (vine forest). An additional subcamp informally named K'Gari (island) hosted members of the Jamboree Executive Committee.

List of jamborees