Coexistence and cultural interactions. Overview of the Hungarian Scouting in Australia

Author : Levente Vardai

Abstract :Hungary is a relatively small country in Europe. It has around 10 million citizens and an additional 5 million Hungarians are currently live outside of its borders. The Hungarian diaspora is significantly large and actively preserves its cultural heritage and the transmission of its identity to future generations through various organisations. The Scout groups are the primary source of this work, along with weekend Hungarian community schools and folk dance groups. These organisations are the main ones active in the cultivation and preservation of culture. The Hungarian scouts living abroad are united under the Hungarian Scouts Association Exteris (HSAE) and organise a number of events, large and small, where they present Hungarian culture to the majority society. The situation is same in Australia, which is geographically the furthest away from Hungary. Within the Hungarian emigrant communities, there are numerous scout groups, especially in the country's largest cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, etc. Hungarian scouting in Australia was established after the Second World War, in the 1950s, and flourished for decades. Nowadays, with the ageing and assimilation of the local Hungarian population, the number of Hungarian scout troops has declined, but they still play an important role in preserving Hungarian identity. They have also organised a significant number of events where they have communicated the values of being Hungarian to the majority of Australian society. At the beginning of my presentation I will give a brief and general overview of the development and global spread of Scouting. I will then look at the history of Hungarian Scouting, including the 4th World Scout Jamboree in Hungary (1933). Finally, I will highlight the history of Hungarian Scouting in Australia through the use of primary source material. I will pay special attention to their relations with scouts from other nations, which are considered cultural diplomacy. I will also mention large-scale programmes (such as jamborees), as these are the focus of my research

Keywords :Cultural diplomacy, scout jamboree, cultural interactions, Hungarians in Australia.

Conference Name :International Conference on History and Social Development (ICHSD-25)

Conference Place Melbourne, Australia

Conference Date 14th Apr 2025