Orange’s Caitlin Mackenzie among first King’s Scouts in 73 years

Orange’s Caitlin Mackenzie has made scouting history, being among the state’s first 21 King’s Scouts in more than seven decades.

Caitlin was presented with the prestigious award by Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales and Chief Scout of NSW at a recent ceremony at Government House in Sydney.

Formerly the Queen’s Scout Award, the honour was renamed in September after His Majesty, King Charles III, confirmed his Patronage of the Scout Association of Australia.

The King’s Scout Award is the peak award for Venturer Scouts. To achieve it, a Venturer Scout must complete achievements across a broad range of disciplines, including Outdoor Adventure Skills (such as camping, hiking, paddling or abseiling), Special Interest Area projects (such as environment, STEM, arts and literature, community), leadership courses, as well as plan a significant, multi-day Adventurous Journey.

For 18-year-old Caitlin, from 3rd Orange Scout Group, this involved completing a four-day canoe trip from Wellington to Dubbo.

“I chose to do a canoe trip because I had done a hike for my Grey Wolf Award (Cub Scout peak award) and a bike journey for my Australian Scout Award (Scout peak award), and I wanted to do something different and challenging,” she said.

Joining Caitlin on her canoe adventure were Claire, Jasmine, Georgia, Flynn, Balian and Kaleb from the 3rd Orange Scout Group and Seb from the 2nd Orange Scout Group.

“We were all surprised at how physically challenging it was, but also how boring it could be at times. We were also shocked about the amount of rubbish in the river – one of the items we found was an inflatable turtle, which we adopted as our mascot for the remainder of the journey,” Caitlin said

“We collected as much rubbish as possible and put it in the bins at our overnight stops.”

From Wellington, the team camped the first night at Ponto Falls, the second just downstream from Brilbral Reserve, and the third at Butlers Falls before finishing in Dubbo.

“We had some memorable stops, including afternoon tea at a slide someone had put on the

riverbank, and several rope swings throughout the second and third days,” Caitlin said.

The King’s Scout Award is a significant achievement for a young person within Scouting, often taking three to four years to complete, Scouts NSW Deputy Chief Commissioner

Niamh Hitchman said.

Designed to be challenging and encouraging, the award broadens the interests and knowledge of participating Venturer Scouts in leadership, resilience, goal setting and planning.

“For our Scouts, a peak award is representative of so much more than just earning a uniform

badge and a special certificate – they are a reflection of countless hours of personal

development and contributions to the community,” Ms Hitchman said.

“It’s incredible to watch these teenagers challenge themselves beyond stereotypical

limitations. They are hiking unaccompanied by adults in our national parks, stepping up into

major leadership roles, learning how to conduct in-depth risk assessments – the list of their

achievements is endless!

“My sincere congratulations to the recipients on their awards, and my thanks to those families, friends and Scouting members, who helped support them along the way.”