Minister for Customer Services and Open Data and Minister for Small and Family Business, the Honourable Steven Minnikin MP; National Rifle Association of Australia President, Brigadier Bruce Scott CSC ADC (Retd); Queensland Rifle Association Life Member, Mr Gordon Duncan; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.
I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people with us this afternoon.
As Patron of the Queensland Rifle Association, I was honoured to accept the invitation of your Chairman to be here to present prizes in the 2025 King’s Prize Shoot.
Maintaining concentration for three days, over distances from 300 to a thousand yards, whatever the weather, can be a challenge for even the most seasoned shooter and I take this opportunity at the outset to congratulate the overall winner as well as each of the discipline winners on their success.
This is the first time I have been able to present these highly coveted awards since I accepted the role of Patron.
Of course, that means it is also the first time I have experienced the time-honoured ceremony of the overall winner being chaired and piped into the presentation. What a marvellous tradition!
When Queen Victoria established the original Queen’s Prize in 1859 – the very year in which Queensland became a separate colony, I doubt that even she could have envisaged that the Prize would one day be competed for around the world––or that, here in a State named after her, men and women in 2025 would be vying for prizes in the name of her great-great-great-grandson, King Charles III.
It is now more years than I care to admit to since I sighted a target here on the Belmont Range, as a member of the University of Queensland Rifle Club.
Back then, Australia’s involvement in the war in Vietnam was still a very recent and difficult memory, and the faithful SLR was the firearm of choice here on the range, but as young men (and occasional young women), we knew little of the vital role that rifle clubs and associations such as this had played in Queensland’s history.
The rifle club at the university was first gazetted in 1912 and within less than three years, found itself at the centre of Queensland’s efforts to support Australia’s involvement in World War I.
A University War Committee was formed which saw the rifle club as a way to train a reserve of officers for military purposes.
A newspaper at the time reported that “troops for the field [had] to be ‘licked into shape’” and that involving the Rifle Club would be a ready means of finding “a sufficient number of officers to give practical instruction to the volunteers”.
A program of collective training was swiftly organised, supplemented by a series of occasional lectures on such subjects as military history.
The public was also invited to these lectures and every Saturday afternoon, rifle club members practised squad drill and skirmishing and studied special subjects such as musketry and signalling.
A century on, it’s almost impossible to imagine rifle clubs and associations being involved in such an effort, but what is still recognised is the important role that shooting as a sport plays, not only for individuals by improving their coordination, concentration, and self-control, but for society as a whole by fostering social interactions.
I once again congratulate the winners and thank all those who entered the competition and the supporting members who do so much to foster the continued growth and popularity of this sport and of the Association.
As the 2032 Olympic Games approach, your enthusiasm and advocacy will be even more important.
Thank you.
