Lone Scouts have been around since Scouting first commenced in South Australia in July 1908.  These “Lones” were boys who did not belong to a Patrol or Troop, but wanted to be Scouts.  They were administered by Scout Headquarters until an official dedicated Group, ‘SA Lone Scouts’ were registered with their own Leaders in 1913.

The first Lone Scout Commissioner was appointed in 1925, prior to that the ‘Lones Group’ came under the guide of the Country Commissioner.

S.A. Lone Scouts wore the same Boy Scout Uniform as other Scouts, but with their own colour tapes and name tag.  Today we still wear the current navy Scout uniform, with our Lone Scout name tape, but District Badges have replaced the coloured tapes.

It has been very difficult to confirm exactly when the “distinctive” Lone Scout Neckerchief was first worn, references to it date back to May 1933 (or earlier), and what colour or what it was that made it ‘distinctive’  has not yet been determined.

However, for at least the last 50 years, the ‘distinctive’ Lone Scout Scarf (Neckerchief) has been Royal Blue with the Lone Scout Badge worn on the back.  This royal blue Lones Scarf is an international scarf and recognised widely as being “LONES”.

The Lone Scout Badge, which dates from (at least) WWI, is a white fleur de lis with ‘Lone Scouts’ in a scroll across the fleur de lis on a royal blue background.  One very early modification appearing briefly was a royal blue fleur de lis on a white background, but all other versions are a royal blue backing and white fleur de lis.

S.A. Lone Scouts, in all Scout Units, operate under the same National Scout Badge Award scheme, with various adaptations as required to suit the unusual situations some Lone Scouts find themselves in.  For example, a Scout may be required to do a certain activity with the Unit.  The Unit may consist of 5 other Scouts scattered across many hundreds of kilometres, whom they may see once a year, if they are lucky, so the Unit then becomes that youth member’s ‘Scout family’, for those on isolated Stations, or in their school class at their local school.

S.A. Lone Scouts have a proud “heritage” of earning the highest award possible in their own Unit, with some earning the award for each Unit they have participated in.  Our first documented recipient of such an achievement was back in 1910 with the King Scout Award.

Communication is and always has been a very large and important part of S.A. Lone Scouts as this is what keeps us together as the ‘Lone Scout family’ and enables the youth member and the Group to achieve so much.  The way we communicate has changed since 1908, from hand written posted letters, to radio through school of the air, then moving forward to emailing and social media platforms.

The Lone Scout Motto “Monthly Communication” is promoted by Lones Leaders as this enables the youth member and their Unit Leader to work through the award scheme despite being many kilometres apart and never or rarely seeing each other ‘face to face’.  A quarterly Group newsletter “The Lone Trail” is also part of Lones’ communication and has been around in a few versions since at least 1931.

Lone Scouts bridges the gap to provide an opportunity to experience Scouting and Scouting provides to our youth members when they cannot access mainstream Scouting opportunities.  

Lone Scout official emblem is the National Lone Scout emblem as worn on our scarf.  The other official Badge Lone Scouts has is the district Badge as worn on our uniform.

S.A. Lone Scouts is the only Lone Scout Group to have continual service to its youth members since Lone Scouts in Australia began.

2019 Annual Camp Group Photo – Scout Activity Centre, Woodhouse