1918: Brownies
January 11, 2024
By AHNZ
Hundreds of thousands of Kiwi women have been Brownies over the years. What they did not know, until now, that their very identity was “racist” and “offensive.” That is, according to Girl Guides of Canada who changed the name in early 2023 to ‘Embers’. Scouting New Zealand already renamed itself Scouts Aotearoa New Zealand . The seperate organisation of Girl Guiding New Zealand has so far held fast so hopefully will not stoop to pander and cancel Brownies. Were they to do so it would be another case of cutting out our British heritage for the sake of privileging current sentimentality toward black fragility. The idea being that “black lives” are triggered by anyone using the word ‘brown’ because it “feels” racist or something.
The Brownie was the traditional indigenous fairy of English folklore. It was not the first name for the intermediate Girl Guides but the title settled into after 2 prior attempts at a good name.
“The Canadian equivalent of the Girl Scouts is dropping the name “Brownie,” the membership branch of some of its youngest scouts, after current and former scouts raised concern that it could harm Black members and girls of color. Now, 7- and 8-year-old members of the Girl Guides of Canada will be called Embers, a name chosen with the help of current scouts and adult alumni. Other scouting organizations, including Girl Scouts of the USA, still use the name Brownies, but the origin of the word itself is less important than the way it made girls feel, Girl Guides of Canada CEO Jill Zelmanovits said in a statement.” – Girl Guides of Canada rename ‘Brownies’ to be more inclusive, CNN (2023)
Brownies kicked off in 1914 in Britain. Initially they were called Rosebuds but the kids rejected that name; It had the wrong ethic for what they wanted to be. In the early days, including in New Zealand, the girl’s version of Scouting was called Peace Scouts (est. 1908 in NZ.) So, the next age group down (7-10yo) was logically called Fairy Scouts which was the considered improvement on Rosebuds. They wore white dresses with sailor collars and Peter Pan style hats. “For successful recruitment into the Fairy Scouts girls were expected to be able to lace their boots, tell the time and skip on both the left and right feet.” Ref. New Zealand Encyclopedia, David Bateman (2005)
The founder of Scouting in New Zealand, David Cosgrove, was a teacher at Tuahiwi, Canterbury, and knew his Maori myths and legends. He used them to found Brownies which was, as we have seen, initially called Fairy Scouts. In 1918 Cosgrove published a handbook called Nga toro turehu: The Fairy Scouts of New Zealand that used Maori folk tales to inform the Brownie story. Ref. Dollery thesis (2012)
“In 1959 Guiding and Scouting annual reports recorded that one in eight, or 12.5%, of New Zealand girls aged 7-11 were Brownies” – Dollery thesis (2012)
“A High brings renaissance to community life…a desire for investment, growth, and strength…commercial prosperity, institutional solidarity, and political stability. The big public arguments are over means, not ends.” – The First Turning, p101 The Fourth Turning, Strauss and Howe (1997)
1. I must always speak the truth
2. I must make myself useful to others
3. I must be gentle and kind to everyone
4. I must be kind to animals
5. I must not make money for doing a good turn
6. I must always smile and look pleasant
– Sun (1920,) Papers Past“We heard from members and former members that the name Brownies caused them harm as racialized (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) girls and women. Some expressed not wanting to be part of this branch because of the name. Some girls said they skipped this branch altogether or delayed joining Girl Guides until after this branch. The old branch name was a barrier to racialized girls and women feeling part of the Guiding sisterhood and we could not continue to use a word that causes any girl harm. Part of the Girl Guide Promise is to ‘take action for a better world.’ Taking action by updating this branch name was an important step in creating a space where every girl feels that she belongs in Girl Guides.” – Girl Guides Canada (2023)
Brownies, and Scouting itself, is very much the product of New Zealand’s Fourth Turning: Crisis era 1912-1935. According to Strauss and Howe (2000) who came up with this template for viewing history a Fourth Turning has some particular characteristics. High public order, strong families, loosening protection on children, clear gender identities, unified social structure, maximum community, bright view of the future. The Girl Guide was the girls girl; The Brownie was the young girl’s girl. They were the very model of the modern New Zealand kid. Strong, civically minded Kiwis that are very much an endangered species in the 2020s.
For Canada, and perhaps New Zealand, to want to yield institutions and traditions like Brownies to “feelings” about “diversity” indicates behavior inconsistent with the Fourth Turning that Scouting’s foundation belonged to. We are in a Third Turning: Unravelling era. We’re coming apart. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Old names and titles and statues are toppled, old heroes turned on viciously. Even New Zealand becomes ‘Aotearoa’. Even Captain Cook, discoverer of New Zealand, has his name and statues struck from the record while a giant ‘State of Liberty’ Maori monument is developed for the entry to Auckland Harbor. Ref. Giant statue of Papatūānuku the Earth Mother proposed for Bastion Point, NZ Herald (2018)
Social Capital was very high back in the First Turning era that created Brownies. As we have seen, 1920s kids didn’t even need bicycle locks except in the abstract sense of mutual trust within the community. Up to and including Generation X it was normal even for Kiwi children to carry knives. For Girl Guides a knife was part of their uniform and this probably included Brownies too as it certainly did for other countries (eg. USA.) Now in our Unravelling phase even grown men are not allowed to carry knives for fear they will use them to attack the public.
Eventually this Unravelling we’re going through will become so acute that we, as a people, will be in Crisis. During this time we will set down a new foundation for who we’re going to be for the next 80 years or so. It’s still in flux. Unlike Canada, it appears that Brownies might yet survive this process here in New Zealand. If that particular institution doesn’t endure then it will be replaced from scratch anyway by a new version with similar features.
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Image ref. Pencarrow Brownie Pack, Upper Hutt Girl Guides in 1984. Upper Hutt City Library Heritage Collections
Image ref. Girl Guide gate, Cambridge. AHNZ Archives (2018)
Ref. The Fourth Turning, Neil Howe and William Strauss (2000)
Update 2024: Brownies is part of Girl Guiding NZ, not part of Scouting Aotearoa. Two separate organizations. Thanks to Hadyn Nicholls. Have made that clear in post now.
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