40th Birthday at the Zoo

What happens to the animal poo?

The Delacombe and Sebastopol Girl Guides have spent a beautiful Sunday at the zoo as a celebration for the 40th birthday of the Delacombe Junior Guides.

This Unit was originally formed in 1982 by Wilma Douglas as the 1st Delacombe Brownie Pack. Some things have changed, including the brown uniform and wording of the Promise, but the girls still use the brown owl gifted by the 4th Ballarat Brownies 40 years ago. Current Unit Leader Cherie Brown has been part of the Delacombe Unit for 38 years and Leader-in-Training Ashleigh Goossens has progressed from 6 year old youth member to adult member.

During the term, the Delacombe Junior Guides have enjoyed working on a badge called “Just Disgusting” and as a challenge wanted to find out what the zoo does will all the animal poo. So of course, we organised a trip to the Melbourne Zoo (we now know the answer but we’ll let you find that one out yourself). The Guides will follow this up with challenges to earn the “Animal Tracks” badge.

It was an early morning start to catch the train and head to Melbourne. We had the opportunity to travel on both the country and metro lines, including a loop through the city.

At the zoo we rode the carousel (young and not-so-young) and thoroughly enjoyed walking through the butterflies and lemurs. We saw most of the animals on display including monkeys, snow leopards, giraffes, zebras and a cassowary. So much to see.

We finished the day with a ice-cream cone then boarded the train to head home. Tired legs. Tired girls. Tired Leaders. You would think the trip home would have been quiet. Well, it wasn’t.

We created a special birthday badge that is significant to the current members, including:

• a tree – for the outdoor activities enjoyed by the girls
• a unicorn using a digital device – for the many months spent Guiding via zoom
• an owl – to represent the Unit mascot that has been used at Guide meetings since 1982 (also the name used by the original Leader)
• a mug – for the many online sessions of baking recipes in a mug
• a frog – representing the chocolate frogs that were used at a gender-reveal activity during 2022

This badge is available to purchase for $2 for those who would like acknowledge the celebration on their camp blanket.

We would love to collect memories from those who have been members of the Delacombe Junior Guides over the last 40 years. Or anybody involved in Guiding in Ballarat during the last 100 years.

Happy 40th Birthday, Delacombe Junior Guides.