Rob Armstrong, 63, has been a scout since he was eight years old.
By Sally Zou
PUT him out in the bush, throw in a tent and a four-wheel drive, and Rob Armstrong is a happy man.
At 63 years of age, the chairman of the management committee at GWS Anderson Scout Camp in Officer feels as though he’s still in his forties.
Rob has been involved in scouts for more than 50 years, starting out as a cub when he was a child living in South Africa. Since then, Scouting has taught him a few valuable lessons in life that continue to stick with him.
“You learn about self-reliance, discipline, and how to respect other people and the environment,” Rob said.
“You also come to realise that there’s nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it.”
His belt of outdoor skills and cool demeanour have come in handy day-to-day and on family camping trips, and his ability to work with ropes was particularly useful when he worked as a truck driver.
Rob’s proudest moments in Scouts was earning the Queen’s Scout award, the highest Scouting award achievable, and becoming a Scouts leader for several years.
Although he no longer leads any teams, he spends his time outside of his regular sales and marketing job maintaining the park and camping grounds in Officer and making sure that the facilities are there for Scout groups.
Rob and his colleague do most of the work themselves, along with a few volunteers, as most of the funding for the Scout park comes from donations and grants.
“The reason why I’m doing what I do is because I had such a great time as a kid doing Scouts,” he said.
Rob said many kids today didn’t know what they were missing out on.
“It’s a lot harder to get kids into scouts now because they’d rather play video games and go on the computer,” he said.
However, he also believes that another reason why not as many kids do Scouts today is because it is in competition with sports, such as football and netball.
“The difference with Scouts to other sports is that you’re very much out in the elements – you can’t just run home to mum.”
Rob said it was harder than ever to spread the message about what Scouts could offer to kids.
“The problem is that Scouts already have that interest in the outdoors so I don’t know how to get the message out to those who aren’t,” he said.
“I personally think Scouts Victoria should become more proactive.”
Rob has five adult daughters and said he didn’t raise any Scouts but that they were more interested in basketball and callisthenics instead.
“Parents are too easy on their kids and we as adults wrap them up so they don’t ever have that drive to explore,” he said.
“People are too scared of litigation, not letting their children climb trees or ride a bike because they might hurt themselves. Kids should be allowed to hurt themselves. Let kids be kids.”
Rob said he wasn’t going to retire any time soon but that he would love to take a trip to Ireland to see where his grandparents grew up and also get out and explore the rest of Australia.
“Get into the 4WD with a compass and map, and just go north,” he said.
