150th King’s Prize Series and NSW Open Championships Presentation Ceremony
Sunday, 28 June 2026
ANZAC Rifle Range, Malabar
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC
I acknowledge the Gadigal and Bidjigal of the Eora Nation, Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we meet and pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and future.
Parliamentarians, both State[1] and Federal[2]; board and members of the New South Wales Rifle Association; officials, volunteers, and sponsors; families, supporters, and most importantly, competitors in this, the 150th Annual King’s Prize Competition...
In thinking about the history of this proud Association and the annual competition we celebrate today… about the entwinement of both with the history of this State, we must cast our minds back to Sydney in the middle of the nineteenth century.
At the time, the military defence of NSW was the responsibility, as it had been since 1788, of the British Troops garrisoned here.[3]
However, the need for a local Volunteer force to supplement the British became increasingly pressing,[4] for instance in 1860, when a contingent of the British Garrison had to leave for New Zealand to take part in the Māori Wars.[5] In response, the 1st Regiment NSW Rifle Volunteers was raised, beginning with 6 rifle companies but quickly rising to as many as 20, including close to 1,700 enlistees.[6]
To support the Volunteer movement, a group of prominent Sydney men, at two meetings held in October 1860,[7] formed the NSW Rifle Association, setting out their aims as “the encouragement of [the] rifle corps, and the promotion of rifle-shooting throughout the colony.”[8] They also elected their first President – the former judge and Attorney-General, Sir William Montagu Manning[9] who I will mention again shortly – and invited the Governor, Sir William Denison, to be inaugural Patron,[10] an offer that was enthusiastically accepted.
A month later, the new Association sent £247 to England to buy 12 rifles[11] to be used as prizes in a proposed competition in which the “best shots” of the rifle corps would be invited to compete.[12]
In all this, they were following the model set down by the British National Rifle Association (NRA), formed only the year before in 1859 and holding its inaugural competition on Wimbledon Common in July 1860.[13] The opening shot of that famous tournament was made by Queen Victoria herself, pulling a silken cord attached to the trigger of a prepositioned rifle... Not surprisingly, Her Majesty scored a bullseye.[14]
In speaking of Royalty and shooting… and this Rifle Association… I should probably also mention the attempted assassination of Victoria’s second son, Prince Alfred, when he was here in Sydney in 1868. At a picnic in Clontarf, he was shot in the back, at close range, by the Irishman Henry O’Farrell… Luckily, the Prince was with Sir William Manning, the aforementioned first President of this Association, who distracted the accuracy of O’Farrell’s second, and possibly fatal, shot by lunging at him.[15]
But, back to 1860 and plans for the NSW Rifle Association’s first competition… rules were needed and it was decided to use those of the British NRA; these were sent for but did not arrive until May the following year.[16]
By this time, it had also been learned that Queen Victoria had authorised the awarding of a “Queen’s Prize” – in the form of a silver medal of the British NRA – to Colonial Volunteers adjudged best shot at local colonial rifle associations’ “annual prize meeting[s].”[17]
That medal, however, one sent out to each of the Colonies, would not arrive from England until 1862,[18] and so, at the NSW Rifle Association’s first ever competition shoot, held at the end of September 1861 at the Randwick Racecourse, only the rifles, cash, and other goods in kind, could be offered as prizes[19].
The three days of competition were described in the Press as “the most perfect success” and well attended by the public, especially on the final day.[20] Lady Young, the wife of Sir John Young, who had succeeded Sir William Denison earlier that year as both Governor and Patron of the Association – presented the prizes. The Governor then delivered a speech, in which he praised the Association for the smooth running of the event, the public for their interest, and the riflemen for their expertise in marksmanship.[21]
Today, at this the 150th King’s Prize Series, I echo the spirit of Sir John Young’s speech delivered at the 1st.
However, I do need to clarify the maths. The first competition series was held in 1861 – on a straight yearly count, this would imply that this year’s should be the 166th. However, fourteen shoots were cancelled during the First and Second World War, one was cancelled in 1890 due to safety concerns at the Paddington range, and one cancelled in 1972 to make way for the inaugural National Rifle Association of Australia’s Queen’s Series.[22]
I congratulate the NSW Rifle Association on this historic milestone – 150 annual competitions over 166 years – and commend you for continuing the extraordinarily rich heritage and tradition embodied by this sport and this Association.[23]…. I also commend your commitment to always looking to the future, of keeping abreast of the latest developments in technology and safety, as well as ensuring, through your efforts and dedication, that this sport, one of the oldest in this nation, remains open, diverse, and inclusive
To this year’s prize winners and placegetters, to all who have participated over the last few days… I quote Sir John Young from that first competition in 1861:
“All could not obtain prizes,” he said, “but [all] […] might merit them.”[24]
The warmest of congratulations… you join today the long and storied legacy of this extraordinary Association.
[1] The Honourable Michael Daley MP, Attorney General, Member for Maroubra, Parliament of NSW; Mr Roy Butler MP, Member for Barwon, Parliament of NSW
[2] The Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite MP, Member for Kingsford Smith, Parliament of Australia
[3] The complete withdrawal of British forces from New South Wales occurred in 1870.
[4] In 1851, the British Government authorised the formation of local volunteer corps in NSW, but little came of it. In 1854, with the outbreak of the Crimean War, and fearing Russian invasion, 6 rifle companies known as the Volunteer Sydney Rifle Corps was raised, with a peak size of 389 men. With the cessation of that conflict, however, the corps dwindled: The Lineage of 1st Battalion – the Royal New South Wales Regiment, 2015, available here, p.1; ‘Other Ranks Belt Buckle: New South Wales Military Forces’, Australian War Memorial website, available here; Andrew Kilsby, The Rifle Club Movement and Australian Defence 1860-1941, PhD thesis, University of NSW, 2014, available here
[5] The contingent consisted of elements of the 12th (Suffolk) Regiment of Foot and the Royal Artillery: The Lineage of 1st Battalion, op. cit., p.1; ‘Other Ranks Belt Buckle’, op. cit., available here
[6] The Lineage of 1st Battalion, op. cit., p.1
[7] The meetings were held on the 5th and 15th of October, both at the Sydney Exchange, the first to propose and name the Association, the second to vote for office bearers: ‘‘NEW SOUTH WALES RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Empire, 6 October 1860, p.4, available here; ‘NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October 1860, p.5, available here; ‘NEW SOUTH WALES VOLUNTEER RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Empire, 16 October 1860, p.5, available here
[9] Sir William Manning, as Attorney-General, was also heavily involved in setting up the administrative framework for Responsible Government: Martha Rutledge, ‘Sir William Montagu Manning’, Australian Dictionary of Biography online, available here
[10] ‘NEW SOUTH WALES RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 February 1862, p.5, available here
[11] “By the November (1860) mail a sum of money was transmitted to England, through Captain Ward, for the purchase of twelve prize rifles. The order was most satisfactorily executed by Captain Clark, B.E., for whose kindness in giving them the benefit of his great experience in these matters, and for the trouble taken in procuring and despatching the rifles. the committee feel themselves deeply indented:” ‘NEW SOUTH WALES RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 February 1862, p.5, available here. The prize rifles were “of the aggregate value of £247, and consist[ed] of two Whitworth s, four of Westly Richard's breech-loading rifles, one of Wilson’s patent breech-loading rifles, one Lancaster rifle, one sea-service prise rifle, one rifle corps rifle, one of General Hay’s pattern, and one long Enfield:” ‘RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 1861, p.2, available here
[12] “Meetings of the association shall be held periodically on some convenient ground in the neighbourhood of Sydney, to which the several volunteer corps shall be invited to send a certain number of their best shots, who will compete for prizes:” ‘‘NEW SOUTH WALES RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Empire, 6 October 1860, p.4, available here
[13] Kilsby, The Rifle Club Movement and Australian Defence 1860-1941, op. cit., p.3
[14] ibid
[15] “Sir William Manning, hearing the discharge, and seeing his Royal Highness fall, turned and sprang at the would be assassin, who then jumped back and aimed the murderous weapon at Sir William. Seeing the pistol directed towards him, Sir William stooped to evade the shot, and losing his balance, fell. Fortunately, the charge did not explode; but as Sir William Manning was in the act of rising, the ruffian took aim a third time; just at that moment Mr. Vial (of Castlereagh-street), who happened to be behind, sprang upon the dastardly assailant, pinioned his arms to his side, and thus the aim of the pistol was diverted from the body of Sir William Manning to the ground:” ‘THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH’, The Ararat and Pleasant Creek Advertiser, 20 March 1868, p.3, available here. “[Manning] believed that he had saved the prince's life by diving for Henry O'Farrell’s pistol. He claimed his own escape from death 'almost to have been miraculous’.” Martha Rutledge, ‘Sir William Montagu Manning’, Australian Dictionary of Biography online, available here
[16] “It having been decided to take the London Association’s rules for a guide, some delay occurred in obtaining them from England, and it was not until the 17th May [1861] […] that the rules (vide Appendix A) were finally adapted by the association, at a special meeting convened for that purpose”: ‘NEW SOUTH WALES RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 February 1862, p.5, available here
[17] “The Administrator of the Government [Sir John Young] has directed the publication, for general information, of the following copy of a Despatch from the Secretary of State, enclosing a copy of. a letter from the Chairman of the Council of the National Rifle Association [of England], stating that Colonial Volunteers will be entitled to compete for the Queen’s Prize at their annual prize meeting, and intimating the intention of the Association to give one silver medal to colonial rifle associations:” ‘RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 April 1861, p.7, available here
[18] “The committee, before closing this report have to express their grateful acknowledgment of the good feeling evinced by the National Rifle Association [of England], in presenting their silver medal to the different Colonial Rifle Associations. The medal for this association [the NSWRA] has now arrived, and will be offered as a prize at the next meeting”: ‘NEW SOUTH WALES RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 February 1862, p.5, available here
[19] In the list of winners in the first competition series, the medal is described as “gold”. Also offered as prizes in various categories were a “Cup of the Association”, a “distance-judging telescope”, and cash prizes varying from ₤2 – ₤50: ‘RIFLE ASSOCIATION’, Freeman’s Journal, 2 October 1861, p.5, available here
[22] Jim Richardson, 150th Anniversary New South Wales Rifle Association Incorporated 1860-2010: A ‘Bullet-Point’ History’, 2010, available here
[23] For instance the chairing ceremony beginning today’s proceedings, and which was first used to bring in the winner of the King’s Prize in 1907; that ceremony will be repeated at the beginning of this year’s presentation: ‘Rifle Shooting at Randwick’, Australian Town and Country Journal, 30 October 1907, p.20, available here