Topic: MilitiaRC - Tas
Tasmanian Militia - Rifle Clubs
1910
Tasmanian Rifle Club List, 1910
One of the most important adjuncts to the militia system from 1903 to the re-organisation of 1912 was the role played by the Rifle Club movement in Australia. At the time, these clubs were seen as the reservoir of manpower for a potential guerrilla force should any invasion occur. The doctrine was almost a copy of that pursued by the Boer forces in South Africa which successfully held the Imperial Army at bay for nearly three years. For Australia, the invasion fear was uppermost in the minds of the population. This fear found its articulation in a novel written by Charles H Kirmess (the nom de plume for Frank Fox) called "Commonwealth in Crisis" which was first serialised in the "Lone Hand" magazine which was largely funded by the Commonwealth Government via Alfred Deakin. The story was about a Japanese invasion of the Northern Territory in 1912 requiring the Commonwealth to resist with a guerrilla force of irregulars trained through the rifle clubs.
So important were the rifle clubs for the defence of Australia that the Commonwealth provided the training staff, rifles and ammunition so the clubs could function. Members were drilled, wore uniforms and practised all the basic skills of soldiering as well as target shooting.
Below is the list of Rifle Clubs which existed in every town throughout Tasmania in 1910. The towns and cities are in alphabetical order. This particular date is the high point of the Rifle Club movement in Australia. With the coming of universal military training in 1912 and the Great War in 1914, the Rifle Clubs saw a decline in their importance within the Australian defence scheme.
B
Beaconsfield - Rifle Club
Bellerive - Rifle Club
Bothwell - Rifle Club
Bransholm - Rifle Club
Burnie - Rifle Club
C
Campbell Town - Rifle Club
D
Deloraine - Rifle Club
Devonport - Rifle Club
F
Fingal - Rifle Club
Franklin - Rifle Club
G
George Town - Rifle Club
Glenora - Rifle Club
H
Hastings - Rifle Club
Hobart - Australian Natives Association Rifle Club
Hobart - Metropolitan Rifle Club
Hobart - Police Rifle Club
Hobart - Tasmanian University Rifle Club
Hollow Tree - Rifle Club
Huonville - Rifle Club
K
Kempton - Rifle Club
Kindred - Rifle Club
King Island - Rifle Club
L
Launceston - Rifle Club
Linda - Rifle Club
M
Macquarie Plains - Rifle Club
Magnet - Rifle Club
Mole Creek - Chudleigh and Mole Creek Rifle Club
N
Nook - Sheffield Rifle Club
Nubesna - Rifle Club
O
Oatlands - Rifle Club
P
Penguin - Rifle Club
Pontville - Brighton Rifle Club
Preston - Rifle Club
Q
Queenstown - Mount Lyall Rifle Club
R
Railton - Rifle Club
Richmond - Rifle Club
S
Smithton - Rifle Club
St Mary's - Rifle Club
St Patrick's River - Rifle Club
Stanley - Circular Head Rifle Club
Strahan - Rifle Club
W
Waratah - Rifle Club
Wynyard - Rifle Club
Further Reading:
Tasmanian Militia - Rifle ClubsAustralian Rifle Clubs
Citation: Tasmanian Rifle Clubs 1910
