About Us
Our History
1st Balcombe Heights Scout Group was formed on the 29th March 1998 when 4th Baulkham Hills and 5th Baulkham Hills groups were joined.
At that time both groups were based at the Balcombe Heights Estate near Jasper Road.
The newly formed 1st Balcombe Heights Scout Group continued to meet at the Balcombe Heights Estate for the next few years.
In 2004/2005, the buildings were decommissioned due to asbestos concerns and the group moved to the current-day hall at Col Sutton Reserve, formerly occupied by 1st Astoria Park.
1st Balcombe Heights has resided at Col Sutton Reserve, Baulkham Hills Rd since 2005.
Our Colours
Our scarf colours are sky blue and black stripes, on a royal blue scarf.
These colours were chosen from:
4th Baulkham Hills, whose colours were sky blue and red on a royal blue background,
5th Baulkham Hills, whose colours were black and red on a royal blue background.
The royal blue background is the official colour for the Greater Western Sydney Region Scouts.
Greater Western Sydney Region
1st Balcombe Heights is part of the Greater Western Sydney Region, and covers a huge area from Parramatta to the Blue Mountains.
The edge of our GWS Region badge is dark blue and matches our scarf background. The picture on our badge is the Waratah flower, which is also the NSW state floral emblem.
Name History
The Balcombe Heights Estate name was first attributed to Masonic Lodge member William Thompson who built the “William Thompson Masonic School”, an orphanage and school to cater for the many Freemason's children left parentless by WWI.
International Connections
History suggests that Balcombe Heights was named after the town of Balcombe in West Sussex, United Kingdom, where William Thompson grew up.
The name Balcombe may mean "Mining Place Camp".
Bal is a Cornish word meaning a “mining place”, as in Bal Maidens.
Coombe or Combe can mean a “valley”, but it can also mean the Roman word for "camp".
Balcombe (UK) could have once been a Romano-British mining settlement.
At the 2023 World Scout Jamboree in South Korea, we met up with our namesakes from the UK to swap a Group Scarf & Badge kit.
1st Balcombe Heights (AU)
⚜️with⚜️
1st Balcombe (UK)
https://crawleydistrictscouts.co.uk/groups/1st-balcombe-scout-group/
