NOTES OF THE FORMATION OF RIFLE CLUBS 1884 AUSTRALIA J.A. CHRISTOPHERSON

Description:

RARE SMALL SOFTCOVER BOOK 28 PAGES -WATER STAIN
125 X 180 X 3mm
PRINTED 1884
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Firearms were an integral part of Australian colonial and early Federation culture. Whether for
military purposes, represented by British Imperial garrison regiments and, after 1870, by local
Volunteers and then Militia, or for policing, for self-defence or game and bird sport, a great number
of the adult population (and many juveniles) owned a firearm or knew someone who did. In the
19th and early 20th centuries, rifle shooting as sport was an ‘every man’s’ pastime, which most people
could afford to enjoy. In many regards, however, rifle shooting became more than a sport. There
was one major reason for this development and one major consequence. War scares in the 19th
century, of which there were many, drove the development of a popular Volunteer military
movement where musketry was a primary focus. This led to the development of rifle associations
from 1860, created to promote rifle shooting among Volunteers. Rifle shooting for defence
purposes evolved, albeit somewhat differently in each colony, into a powerful and militarised rifle
club movement by the time of Federation, accelerated by patriotic feelings during the Boer War.1

What became known as the ‘rifle club movement’ by the time of Federation in 1901 had already
been a long time in gestation.