Den Adaptions: From Scouting to Wood Turning
What sort of lives do old scout dens lead ? What do these community buildings become when there’s no longer a scout or guide group?
Last week on our morning walk, my husband, Paul, and I dropped in on the Qld Wood Turners situated on the Norman Creek park near Juliette Street. It’s at the bottom of Dunnellan Street where it turns into Pine.
The building was absolutely bursting with people working lathes, saws, and planers, creating all manner of objects from all sorts of timber.
Downstairs were the toy makers, experts in tiny.
If you have an interest in wood turning, this is the place to be – check it out here.
Our guide on the day was Brian Dodson, member since 2002. Brian proudly explained the building was a former scout den. He wasn’t sure of the company.
The wood turners had added a large meeting room, almost doubling it in size, but at its core was a den.
I looked back across the creek to the former Stephen’s guide hut in Baron Street — now home to the Norman Creek Catchment committee.
I emailed a girl friend who used to be a Stephen’s Girl Guide. Yes, she did remember a scout den ‘across the ditch’, the ditch being Norman Creek. She couldn’t remember if the scout group was Stephens though.
There had been a Stephens Scout den in Annerley – in Waldheim Street. Could this Pine Street den have been a second one?
I followed up the Scout Archive – the Queensland Scouts Heritage Centre situated at Samford. They kindly tracked the den down to being part of the Buranda Scout group.
