Beginnings

1st Karori scouts has been around consistently since 1926 however scouting has been in existence since before 1911/1912. At that time, the scarf was black and gold. but was changed to the current red and blue around 1930. Around this time, the scouts were meeting in the old bus depots in Gipps St under scoutmaster's Mr Jenkins, Mr Elvines and later, Mr Duncan.

In march 1926, people interested in reforming a scout group met up in St Mary's church hall, and a the group was re-formed with Mr AP Harper elected chairman. They met at the house of Mr CS Clarke, an early benefactor of 1st Karori Scouts. In 1927, Mr CS Clarke had built a public hall that the scouts used for a price of one penny per person per night. This hall is now used by the RSA as their club rooms and the scouts and venturers have been there for ANZAC day services a couple of times since.

The cub pack was formed in 1928, and a rover crew followed a few years later but soon disappeared, and still does not exist.

In 1938, the founder of 1st Karori scouts, Mr CS Clarke passed away. The group were greived to hear this news as he had been a constant helper since the group started and even had the title of honourary scoutmaster for four years.

In the 1950's a second scout troop and cub pack were formed, and so finding a place for them to meet was difficult task as all four halls were used. This then led to the acceleration of funding for the new hall which was built and opened in 1952 (and is now the teachers college marae).

The group has been represented at various jmborees, both international and national, and also at ventures.

Girls were first allowed at venturers in the 1970's and then were allowed at scouts, cubs and keas.

The group was at it's largest in 1988 when there were 257 youth and leaders on the annual report. The group currently sits around 200 youth plus leaders.

Keas

The first kea unit opened in 1986 and a second followed not long after in 1987. The second unit however did not last very long as it was hard to find leaders who were willing to meet so early. There has been at least one kea unit going strong since 1986

Cubs

Growth of the unit in 1942, meant that a second cub pack was formed, there was then even more growth resulted in a third, and then a fourth pack.

During the 1960's, '70's and '90's, there was a large number of long serving leaders.

In the 1990's, due to a lack of leaders, the number of cub packs dropped from four to one however, in 2014, a second pack was reopened and as at 2016, there are two very full cub packs.

Camping and getting outdoors has always been, and still is a vital part of the cub program.

Scouts

In 1951, due to the large influx from cubs, a second scout troop, known as Tainui was formed. This was then closely followed in 1958 by a third, known as Aotea. Girls were first allowed into Tainui scouts in 1990, and in 1999, it was dominated by females. In the 1990's, due to a lack of leaders and a decline in the number of cub packs (and youths moving up from cub's), the number of troops dropped from three to one however just a few years later, Richard, Carole and Gill Trotter reopened the Tainui troop. Unfortunutly, due to lack of leaders, Arawa troop closed in 2002, reducing the number back down to one. In 2014, Arawa was reopened alongside Tainui and in 2016, there are two very strong scout groups.

1st Karori scouts have a long, proud history of camping (which is why we have once had 12 full patrol boxes - 3 troops and four patrols in each). They have done summer camps in the past to places such as Nelson Lakes, D’Urville Island, Arapawa Islands and Waiohine Gorge and go on annual easter camps at Ruakokopatuna since the 1970's. Tramping, camping, cycling and tubing remain key parts of the scout programme with an annual tubing trip to Otaki Forks depending on weather conditions, usually around march.

Venturers

1st Karori Venturers was formed in early 1948 by a group of scouts that had returned from Jamboree in France. Many of the leaders of First Karori have come up through venturers, including many who have acheived their Queens scout (the heighest award in Scouting). To add to the fact that many have acheived the queens scout, many have acheived their Gold Duke of Ed (as well as Bronze and Silver).

In 1974, 1st Karori Venturers allowed females to join, making them one of the first to do so in the country.

The biennial Christmas tramps, or Summer tramps have been (and still are) a major aspect of the Venturers calender and they often involve spending a week (seven days) in incredible country. They have seen venturers going to Stewart Is, Arthurs Pass, Aspiring, Kahurangi and Nelson Lakes frequently. In the 1970s the venturers built their own kayaks to canoe down the Whanganui River and these canoes were a feature of the hall until 2016. Canoeing down the Whanganui River is very much still a big part of the venturer calender, however in plastic canoes as opposed to canvas stretched over a wooden frame, or an entirely wooden hull. It has been done in every second year, in the opposite year to the summer tramp since around 2000.

The venturers get away on tramps, or other trips such as white-water/black water rafting, caving and biking trips, very very frequently, some terms it is even every second weekend. They also do an annual trip down to the local Methven scout hall (in South Cantebury) to ski at Mt Hutt and they have been doing so since the mid 1970's along with the biannual ski trips with senior scouts to the scout lodge on Whakapapa.

Ever since Zac Pearson retired from being Venturer leader in 2000, after being a leader since 1972, Richard and Carole took on the role and have been the Venturer leader alongside being the Scout leader ever since. They dedicate so much of their time to 1st Karori, and very rarely have a weekend in Wellington. Neither the Tainui scout troop, nor the Venturer units would exist if it were not for Richard and Carole.

Although Zac was effectivly the founder of the Unit and many teenagers got a great deal out of all his efforts he was ably assisted over those years by assistant leaders such as Don Bowie and Peter Amos.

The 1st Karori Venturer Unit remains one of the largest in New Zealand.

Rovers

There are not many records around the Karori Rover Crew and so the records are a bit sketchy. However, what we do know is that there was a crew in existence since in 1934 and one from circa 1948 to circa 1957. The 1948 to 1957 crew was an offshoot of the 1st Kelburn crew, however it did not last very long at all.

Gang-show

The first Wellington gang show was held in 1958 of which there were members of 1st Karori involved in. Since the maiden show, there have been shows run with other groups such as Britannia Sea Scouts and Karori West Scout Group. 1st Karori also ran shows on it's own, including a 50th Jubilee show in 1976. Wellington west ran shows in 1980, 1984 and 1987 wellington west district ran gang shows at the Victoria University Memorial theatre. More recently, however, members have been involved in the Hutt Valley Gang Sho in Little Theatre, Lower Hutt.

History Of the Hall

The current hall is the third hall and was built and opened in 1977.

The First Hall

The first hall was built in 1927 by scout master Mr Clark behind his house. It was a public hall used by the scouts for a few pennys per head per night. This hall was later offered to the scouts to buy, but as they were already using, they did not want to buy it. The RSA (Returned and Services Association, Soldiers from WWI) bought the the hall in the 1933 and it has remained the RSA hall ever since.

At the time that the second hall was opened, the group was split between the RSA hall, the old army barracks, St Marys church hall and St Ninians church hall.

The Second Hall

In August 1949, The council handed the site of a second hall over to 1st Karori Scouts. In late 1950, after the site was cleared, work started on the hall itself. These works were held up in the 1951 industrial crisis on the waterfront. The hall's structure was completed in late 1951 by the builder and in 1952 venturers , leaders and committee memebers finished the interioir lining, painting and wiring. the hallwas officially opened on 18 October 1952. The hall was extended in 1962 to store gear (you can never have too much gear). The hall was then taken over by the Wellington Teachers College and was initially used as storage before being the converted into the Marae. During this time, Mr Bruce Johnston (BJ), a Scout Leader by night, was the facilities Director at Teachers College. BJ then went on to become District Commisioner.

1st Karori Scouts needed a new hall in 1970, when they were advised that the location of the old hall was going to be needed for the Teachers College.

The Third Hall (Williams Hall)

The committee, along with Wellington City Corporation, examined many sites in 1971 including the corner of Campbell and Lewer St and Ian Galloway park all of which were rejected. In 1974, the City Corporation designated a section of the waterworks reserve as recreational reserve and in doing so leased the land out to scouts to build their hall. The Architect, Bill Allington, drafted up a number of designs that were put before the committee. The current layout is in fact a mirror image of the so-called final design. Important considerations during the design phase included having breakout rooms for the cub sixes and scout patrols, plenty of storage space, a separate venturer room and a printing room (as they had their own printer for notices). Construction of the final hall began in August 1976 an planned completion date of December the same year. Progress was slow in the first three months of the build due to disputes and problems with the block laying firm (the initial firm was replaced).

To save money, one of the leaders, BJ (Bruce Johnston), completed all the wiring which involved making sure wire ran through the walls and fitting the lights (from a ladder of course, what's scaffolding for?!).

When the hall was built, the dams, that now form Zealandia were still in operation, and as a result there was a fence that went around the hall and up the hill, as well as large pine trees around the hall. The hall was opened in April 1977 as part of the Jubilee Celebrations however there was still lot's of work to be done. This work involved putting another chimney in, installing guards around the lights, adding the mantle piece above the fire and adding in a fire guard. Carpet was also put in in the leaders room, the patrol rooms and the Venturer room and the kitchen was tiled.

The pine trees were an asset in that the area under them was a great area to use, but were also a problem in that the needles got everywhere, including into the guttering causing it to rust and in between roofing sheets, causing rust. The roofing problem was also partly due to inadequate overlapping of sheets and so was fixed in 2000 when the entire roof was replaced. Also since opening, the floor has been re-varnished many times over the years.

The hall is called Williams hall after group leader A.F "Skip Williams" and was paid off in 1978 after a massive fundraising effort.

For more information of the history of the hall, see the below documents (courtesy of leader Richard Hawke).