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2nd Mornington welcomes you and your family to the Group and to the worldwide fellowship of scouting. This year the Group is celebrating fifty years of scouting. Throughout its history 2nd Mornington has made an essential contribution to the development of its members.

HISTORY OF SCOUTING Scouting is a youth movement for the 21st century yet started almost 100 years ago. The Founder of Scouting was Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell. He served in the British Army when he first used his ideas of training soldiers in scouting. He taught them to be observant and resourceful. He set down his ideas in his book "Aids to Scouting", which was used as an Army textbook for many years. When he returned to England he applied these methods to the training of boys. The first camp was in 1907 and Baden-Powell wrote "Scouting for Boys" in 1908 and the Scouting Movement was born. Scouting in Australia began in 1908.

SCOUTING IN MORNINGTON Scouting has always been important in Mornington. The first Boy Scouts Troop in Mornington was Mornington Kangaroo Boy Scouts formed in 1916. This troop became 1st Mornington Boy Scout Troop in 1921. The first proposal to start a Sea Scout troop in Mornington was in 1925 but 2nd Mornington was not founded until 14th May 1953. In those early days the Troop met at St. Peter's Hall each Thursday and soon became popular with the boys of Mornington. Four months later 2nd Mornington formed a Cub Pack. The Troop had no equipment and appealed to the public for donations. The people of Mornington responded generously supporting the group. So did the then Australian and New Zealand Bank Limited, now the ANZ Banking group Limited, which, learning that the Troop had no meeting place of its own, donated a hut that the Bank was planning to sell. The hut was moved from Main Street to the Mornington Foreshore and became the first S.S.S. Seafire in April 1954. Since then that part of the Foreshore has been called Scout Beach. By 1958 the hut was too small for the scouts and cubs. The Mornington Foreshore Committee granted more land for a new Scout Hall and the current two-storey building was opened for meetings in 1960.

THE GROUP SCARF The blue and white scarf is worn by all Sections to show that you are a member of 2nd Mornington Sea Scouts. When the new member is invested the Group presents him with the scarf, the woggle and the investiture badges. The colours of the scarf are from the sea, the blue represents the waves and the white edging represents the whitecaps of the waves. Wear the scarf with pride.