Malta
Scouting appeared on the island of Malta very soon after the famous camp on Brownsea Island was conducted by Robert Baden-Powell in August 1907. The 1st Sliema Scout Troop applied for recognition on the 9th of November, 1908, and this was received a year later, making it the first overseas Scout Troop of the Boy Scout Association of the United Kingdom and British Empire. At this time there were 338 Boy Scouts and 3 Scoutmasters listed as members of the Malta Boy Scouts Association
The association was formerly registered as an Overseas Branch of The Boy Scouts Association on the 15th of September, 1913.
The First World War had a significant impact on Scouting on Malta, since most of the Scoutmasters were also servicemen and were ordered to the front in Europe. Many of the Scouts also volunteered for duties as interpreters, coast watchers and messengers, as well as to serve in hospitals and other support establishments. By the end of 1915, there were 84 Scouts on war duty from the island, and only 105 Scouts and leaders on Malta. However, as the latter half of the war progressed, membership rose sharply, and the association's general meeting on the 30th November, 1917, reported 1,200 members with 28 Scout Troops on the island.
The Second World War saw similar service from the Maltese Scouts, as they supported the Allied forces throughout the aerial siege of 1940 to 1943. This resulted in the association and its members receiving a collective award of the Bronze Cross, "in recognition of their courage and devotion to duty in the face of continuous enemy action in the war for freedom".
The island of Malta became an independent state in 1964. In October of 1966, It was decided at an extraordinary general meeting of the Malta Boy Scouts Association that it should remove itself from The Scout Association of the United Kingdom and seek direct membership of the World Scout Conference. The association was recognised as an independent organisation in December of 1966, with Lady Olave Baden-Powell, acting as the Vice-President of the World Bureau, presenting the certificate to the Chief Scout of Malta.
In 2007, the association inaugurated the Beaver section.
The Scout Association of Malta is currently divided into 4 Scout Districts, and a total of 40 Scout Groups, with 2,500 members as of December, 2001. The island of Malta itself comprises three of the Districts, with the fourth being the neighbouring island of Gozo which currently has one of the Groups.
There is a Chief Scout and an Island Headquarters of around 15 leaders and administrators.