Two Scouts from 1st Surry Hills Troop. Barry Williams and Garry Wilson

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Type: Photographs
Place: Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Materials: Paper, Photographic emulsion
Collection: Barry Williams collection
Accession number: 2002.0059.0045

Description

Black and white photograph of two Scouts from 1st Surry Hills Troop. Barry Williams, the one on the proper left side of the photograph, has his arm around the shoulders of his friend. "LEFT GARRY RIGHT BARRY" is written on the back in blue ink, and there is also a kiss in red lipstick.

About the collection

The Barry Williams collection comprises 53 items of 1940s scout memorabilia, including awards and items of uniform from the Surry Hills scout troop, Sydney. Awards such as badges, cords, shoulder tabs and dated certificates are a complete material record of the donor's progress from scout to king's scout. The collection contains the full range of awards available to scouts in the 1940s, except for two awards. This collection records a scouting experience that is typically Australian. The 1940s marks a stage of great popularity for the Scouting movement when they were a very visible presence in Australia. The Surry Hills scout troop was disbanded in the 1990s, the demise of the group was probably caused by the changing demographic and social values, of the people living in Surry Hills. This collection is a record of a past urban scouting experience in Australia. It is also evocative of some of the social changes that have taken place in Australia, that have contributed to the decrease in popularity, of the scouting movement.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 4:58:34 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-09-30. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.