My first experience of camp was as an 11 year old Girl Guide and I’ve been hooked ever since! As a Secondary teacher I organised camps for all year levels and then I went to Oregon, USA, to study and eventually bought a camp which I ran for 10 years. Although primarily a Girls’ Summer Camp, Camp Tamarack served children and adults of all ages and received an award in 1979 from the Fund for Advancement of Camping (USA) for its Senior Adult Camp.

I was particularly interested in the development and assessment of standards for quality camp experiences and as a result was an Accreditation Consultant in the US and Australia for over 30 years.in 1990, on my return to Australia, I began teaching Outdoor Education students about the residential camp experience and helped them organise camps for Primary School children.


I also rejoined the Camping Association of Victoria and had the privilege of being on the Committee of Management as the state camping associations went through the amalgamation process. I am proud that I was able to be President of the new Australian Camps Association for its first three years.

I have spent 28 years working in the camping sector. Roles have included: Director of Outdoor Education for a school, local government providing community camping, owner/operator of a camp, running a ropes course training company and now as the Director of Camping for the Uniting Church.

I am a strong advocate for the importance and value of a vibrant association. When a Director of the CAV and the inaugural ACA I held positions of Treasurer and chaired sub-committees.

ACA serves and represents independent camp operators, not for profits, church camps, large and small operations and activity/program providers. I believe I am one of a few people with experience across all these constituent. I hold several tertiary qualifications including Bachelor of Physical Education (Outdoor Rec.), and a Masters of Business.

Brian has volunteered his time and expertise in ongoing ways, much to the betterment of the outdoor community. He has actively worked to develop and deliver high quality, safe programs, has been a member of QORF, the Australian Camps Association, and the Outdoor Educators Association of Queensland and of course Adventist Outdoors which is responsible for managing the delivery of outdoor adventure activities within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the Trans-Tasman and Trans Australian Union Conferences.

In recent years Brian has worked with QORF to investigate how Adventists Pathfinders leaders can be NOLRS registered, and he has continued to be involved, learning, contributing and leading by example as a volunteer who is committed to better outcomes for the outdoor community. Brian has devoted a significant amount of his personal time, energy and knowledge to make a valued contribution over many years and he continues to do so.

Brian is at present Chairperson of the South Queensland branch of Adventist Outdoors and has held this position for over 11 years. Adventist Outdoors is responsible for managing the delivery of outdoor adventure activities within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the Trans-Tasman and Trans Australian Union Conferences. Adventist Outdoors was one of the first organisations with volunteer leaders to introduce training programs which met the requirements of the National Outdoor Leader Registration Scheme. A large part of Brians efforts over the past 11 years with Adventist Outdoors has been to ensure that our outdoor programs are safe and meet industry standards.

Brian is also a District Director of the Pathfinder Club which caters for our 10 to 16 year olds within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. He has been a leader within the Pathfinder Club continuously since 1969.

Brian was a member of the QORF Management Committee in its formative years, representing the Queensland Camping Association he has maintained membership of QORF, the Australian Camps Association and the Outdoor Educators Association of Queensland.

Bill Harback

Bill was born March 1948, he is married to Pam Harback and has three children and six grand children.
Education: Sorell Area School Tasmania and Hobart Technical college
Tasmanian buildings Trade apprentice of the year 1969
Theological studies New Zealand

Experience:
Wide building experience in joinery cottage work commercial ,cyclone construction in Fiji and accommodation facility in New Zealand

Trained apprentices ,volunteers and camp staff Former Member of the Australian institute of Training and Development (M.A.I.T.D.)

Pioneered Woodfield Lodge Christian Camp, Pioneer Valley Wagon Camp, serving in various capacities for over 30 years.

Foundation Member of the Camping Association of Tasmania, till its amalgamation into the National body, Australian Camps Association.

Advocate and former member of Christian Camping International and International Camping Fellowship

Recent papers include Camps and Spirituality and a submission to the Southern Tasmanian councils on the current Land use Strategy.

Currently Chief Executive Officer of Woodfield Lodge Incorporated, serves on Parish Council at Edge Anglican, assists with Residential Camp site Consultancy. As a grey nomad he seeks to support Mission under flop ministry in the motorhome with Pam and enjoys fishing when possible.
Looking forward to the next chapter...

In 1978 Jenny and Bill Bowker built and opened Kangaroobie, one of Australia’s first privately owned school camps. From the outset Jenny insisted that all of the camp buildings were accessible to all, with accesses ramped and all bathrooms equipped with handrails. For five years Jenny operated the camp while Bill worked as a lecturer in Geelong to ensure the money kept rolling in! As founding members of the Camping Association of Victoria, both Jenny and Bill believed strongly in a robust industry to support camping and tourism and both took a very much hands on role in a number of organisations. As President of the Host Farms Association, Australian Farm and Country Tourism and the Great Ocean Road Tourism Association, Jenny drove the direction of these organisations for a total of 15 years, while at the same time supporting Bill in his role as the President of the CAV.

The connections of camps and camping industries throughout the world became an increasing interest and Jenny was involved in the setting up of the International Camping Fellowship. In 2003 she was elected to the role of president and in six years visited camps in places as varied as Russia, Canada, USA, Mongolia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Taiwan, Cyprus, Greece, England, Ireland and Turkey. Jenny is now the CEO of the Cape Otway Lightstation and is still involved around Kangaroobie. She also still maintains an active advisory role within the ICF, meaning she can still enjoy her travels around the world!

Tom became the founding president of the Camping Association of Victoria in 1983. Having begun as a volunteer camp leader as a teenager, he became a teacher, but resigned from teaching in 1969 to work full-time in camping with Scripture Union. This included setting up the year-round school camping program at Camp Coolamatong in East Gippsland. He is the author of The Camping Book (1976), The Temporary Community (1984) and The New Camping Book (1990).

His involvement with the Camping Associations has included service on the CAV Committee, the Accreditation Working Group, the organising committee for the Sixth International Camping Congress, the steering committee for the International Camping Fellowship; and later chairing the annual meetings of the state associations that led to the formation of the ACA. He also had a highly enjoyable six-month period working for the Camping Association of Tasmania in 1996.

Tom regards the appointment of Don MacDowall as the long-serving first CEO of the Camping Association of Victoria as the key to the success of the CAV, and ultimately the ACA. He says the Association owes more to Don than any other person.

Now in retirement he is still involved at Camp Coolamatong, with a particular focus on environmental management of the 80-hectare property. He also has an active interest in the issues facing Indigenous Australians. He has a wife of 43 years, June, and two children and five grandchildren.

Bill developed his interest in camping through lifelong involvement with the Scouts, which still continues. Bill attended the conference convened by SRV in the early 1980s which was attended by Armand Ball, then National Director of the American Camping Association, and which sparked the formation of the Camping Association of Victoria. Bill was inaugural Vice President of the CAV. He moved to NSW in the mid 1980s to become secretary for the organising committees for the World Scout Jamboree held in Sydney in 1988. During this time in NSW he helped organise a tour of Australia by Karl Rhonke which resulted in the development of Project Adventure Australia (PAA). Bill organised 180 training courses for Telstra in NSW using the Scouts main NSW camp at Pennant Hills as the venue, and PAA staff from Victoria and Queensland to run the program.

Bill returned to Victoria in the early 1990s where he took up with Scouts in Victoria and was Executive Officer for the National Scout Jamboree in Ballarat in 1991. He re-joined the board of CAV, and also joined the International Camping Fellowship to support Bill Bowker, who was then Vice President. Following Bill Bowker's untimely death, Bill and Don MacDowall were instrumental in bringing the Sixth International Camping Congress to Melbourne, in part as a tribute to Bill Bowker's contribution to the International Camping Movement.

Bill is currently Treasurer for the ACA and is on the Steering Committees of both the International Camping Fellowship, and the Asian and Oceanic Camping Fellowship.

Nigel Anderson

Nina Arnott

Nina was first involved in camping organisations through CASA (the Camping Association of SA) as a member of the Executive, and then as President for a number of years. She headed up their accreditation committee for 10+ years, at a time when CASA was running a parallel site accreditation scheme to the CAV one, and she served on the national ACA committee during that period.

Following the amalgamation of the state and national groups, she served as the SA liaison person between the Australian Camps Association and its SA members. Along with people from other campsites, Nina helped set up Horse Safety Australia in the early 1990s, and has been passionate about promoting safety in horse activities through that group, and other means.

She has been co-manager of Wirraway Homestead residential campsite in SA since it began in 1975. Wirraway is run by a non denominational Christian group and runs programmed camps of outdoor activities including horseriding. It also has a Registered Training Organisation which delivers Certificates II, III and IV in Outdoor Recreation. Wirraway has had its site accredited with the national camping associations and Horse Safety Australia for many years. In 1997 both Nina, and her husband Peter, were awarded the OAM for their work with youth in SA.

Trevor Mildenhall