Ballarat to host Girl Guides of the world

GET ready to light the campfire, because a week-long International Girl Guides Australian Jamboree will take place on Wadawurrung Country.

Ballarat will host the large-scale Kani-Karrung conference of campers aged 10 to 17 and a team of adult volunteers in January of 2023.

Kani-Karrung is a Wadawurrung word that reflects the event’s plans – girls and women uniting to camp and yarn, as Girl Guides from across the world convene at Victoria Park for fun, friendship and adventure.

Girl Guides Victoria state commissioner Janelle Howell said her team is “jumping up and down with great excitement” after the announcement that they’ll organise the Australian Jamboree.

“We can’t wait and have ideas buzzing around everywhere of what we can jam pack into a week. Girl Guide Jamboree camping experiences are out of this world, and are what lifetime Girl Guide memories are made of,” she said.

“Victoria Park is on the lands of the Wadawurrung people, and Girl Guides Victoria acknowledges and pays our respects to the Wadawurrung elders both past and present, who nurtured and cared for Wadawurrung Country for tens of thousands of years.”

Girl Guides will be able to design their own Kani-Karrung experience, whether they’re into the environment, land and water games, sport, the visual or performing arts, literature, cooking, science, or cultural activities.

All attendees will participate in big survivor-themed and wipe-out challenges, an overnight expedition, and boating on Lake Wendouree.

Ms Howell has appointed Helen Reid the Jamboree 2023 “leader in charge.”

“Helen brings with her into this role significant experience, alongside an enduring passion and commitment to everything Girl Guides,” Ms Howell said.

“Helen will form a Jamboree 2023 Patrol to collaborate on all things adventure, logistics, food, experiences, volunteering; the whole kit and caboodle.

“The Jamboree Patrol will also include youth representation to bring the unique girl-led element into all aspects of the Jamboree creation and delivery.”