80 YEARS OF PUTTING YOUNG PEOPLE FIRST
CRU Camps is a division of Crusaders - a non profit, interdenominational, Christian youth organisation.
Strong Foundations
Crusaders was founded in 1930 by the Rev. Dr Howard Guinness. The first Crusader Camp was held at Katoomba in the Easter of 1930, with 13 young boys in attendance. From this small beginning, CRU Camps has now grown to become the largest provider of Christian holiday camps in Australia, offering over 50 camps in the school holidays to students from years 3-12.
Our conference centres
Crusaders owns two camp/conference centres –
i) The
Galston Gorge Conference & Recreation Centre and
ii) The
Lake Mac Outdoor Recreation Centre
The land for these campsites was donated to Crusaders by men of farsighted vision and generosity. The Lake Macquarie site was donated by Dr Leslie Parr in 1946, and the acquisition of the Galston Gorge campsite came in the 1950’s thanks to Dr Paul White (“The Jungle Doctor”) who mortgaged his own home in order to purchase the site. Before then, the very first Crusader camps were held in rented properties or in boarding houses.
In addition to using our two camp sites, CRU Camps also utilise the fantastic facilities of over 16 other conference centres & campsites around NSW & VIC in order to run our large number of activity camps throughout the year.
Christian Values
CRU Camps excel at engaging the imagination whilst feeding the soul! Since inception, Crusaders has sought to clearly present the Christian faith and person of Jesus to campers in an age appropriate and culturally relevant way.