SSAA Sydney Branch

New South Wales Club Profile

The history of the SSAA (NSW) Sydney Branch is, in fact, the history of the SSAA in Australia. The foundation for the SSAA was formed in Sydney at a meeting held in the Railway Institute Building, Elizabeth Street on April 15, 1948. Shooters were unhappy with restrictive gun laws and proposals for stricter laws enforced by the government of the day. Shooters held a meeting to discuss the situation, which turned into regular meetings, and the beginning of the SSAA was formed.

A good resource on the history of the SSAA - from its formation and its first 50 years - can be found in the February 1998 edition of the Australian Shooter’s Journal. It states that the first President of the Sydney Branch of SSAA was Bill Sharker, who held the position until 1953. Mr Sharker was instrumental in the struggle for legalising firearms to responsible citizens for sporting purposes. If you believe the situation is difficult now, in Mr Sharker’s era there were no pistol clubs, military calibre rifles were prohibited and keen shooters had to reload by pulling apart military ammunition. Backyard manufacture of barrels and components was also common. Newspapers of the time were filled with reports of armed hold-ups - things were grim.

One of the first members of the Sydney Branch was a young Bill Shelton - our current NSW and National President. Bill, with his like-minded colleagues, formed the Sporting Shooters’ Association and worked hard to develop the Association to what it is. Now we are bigger than ever, with more people actively pursuing our sport. It is an association that has grown beyond Sydney to a national organisation of more than 130,000 members.

The Sydney Branch, until the early 1990s, was also the NSW Branch and its current President, Roy Smith was a driving force in the restructure. The Sydney Branch boasts some 22,000 members and shares the ownership of the largest indoor shooting centre in the Southern hemisphere at St Marys, which is also home to: SSAA (NSW) Office, National Membership Office, SSAA National Firearms Museum and St Marys Pistol Club. The Sydney Branch owns and operates the Silverdale Range and also has lease access to the Anzac and Hornsby Big Bore Ranges and Greystanes and Hurstville Small Bore Ranges. From humble beginnings at Baulkham Hills and Narrabeen these present ranges are a big step forward for the SSAA and the results of a great deal of hard work by our core force of volunteers who make the SSAA.

For many years the Sydney Branch focused on a limited number of disciplines - in particular benchrest - while at the same time continuing to work against unnecessary legislation or ‘gun control’ which culminated in the downfall of Barry Unsworth and the Labor Government in 1989. Since that time, the struggle has been somewhat subdued and the Sydney Branch has expanded into more disciplines of shooting and resource development as the state branch and the national organisation have taken up the battle.

The Sydney Branch ranges are now hosting more state championships and open days - encouraging and supporting shooting as a sport within the great metropolis of Sydney.