Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

Pre 1914, Western Australia, Osborne Range

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Overview

Early Commonwealth, Osborne Range, Swanbourne

Historical information

Rifle Clubs were seen as an important component of Australian Defence Policy enabling the acquisition of a useful military skill at no direct cost to the Defence budget. The National Rifle Association of West Australian (NRAWA) was formed on the 12th of July 1901 and in 1965 changed its name to the West Australian Rifle Association (WARA).
By the early 1900’s civilian rifle clubs were being established as successors to the colonial era Volunteer Corps. The NRAWA was formed to guide and coordinate the growing sport. Its first “Kings” prize meeting was held in 1902 at the Karrakatta Rifle Range. A parallel “Kings” prize meeting was held by the Goldfields Rifle Association until the competitions were merged in 1911.
A detailed review of Defence in Australia by Lord Kitchener ,in 1910 recommended a continuation of support to rifle clubs as well as the introduction of Universal Service. At the same time it was concluded that the Karrakatta rifle range , the successor to the Kings Park range, was inappropriate. Accordingly, the Osborne rifle range was built for shooting from 1913. Osborne was renamed Swanbourne from 1935. The NRAWA/WARA was settled at Swanbourne until 2014 when the Department of Defence ended civilian use of the range.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-AMWA29135

Item type

Photographs

Themes

War and Conflict

Width

138 mm

Height or length

88.5000 mm

Contextual Information