Almost 300 members of the cub packs of Sutherland Shire descended on the Cronulla Cinema earlier this month for a special screening of the Jungle Book movie.
Cubs have a close association with the original writings of Rudyard Kipling, particularly his Jungle Book story.
Attending the Jungle Book screening was seen as a fitting tribute to Kipling to mark the Centenary of Cub Scouts in 2016.
Robert Baden-Powell the founder of the Scouting movement was a close friend of Rudyard Kipling and asked if he could use the Jungle Book stories as a basis for the cub movement as they were fun and encouraged an interest in nature and outdoor activities.
Baden-Powell also said the stories showed the characters’ strict code of behaviour and loyalty, fair play and clean living which he said would serve as a pattern for everyday life.
An extract from a Cub handbook says, “Baden-Powell liked the stories in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and he thought many of the characters were fun and playful, just like Cub Scouts. He also knew it was important for the boys to have a wise leader like Akela, the wolf. Akela lets Mowgli, the boy, join the wolf pack. Maybe you also know about Baloo the bear, who helps teach Mowgli the laws of the jungle so he can live among the animals. To this day, we have names like Akela and Baloo, and words like den and pack, in Cub Scouting. That’s our way of remembering how Cub Scouting began with The Jungle Book.”
In total, 282 cubs and cub leaders attending the screen, so many that they had to spread over two cinemas.
