Australia’s first Olympic pistol team

Looking at the popularity pistol shooting enjoys today, it is hard to believe that only 40 some years ago Australia had difficulty fielding an Olympic Team. Only a few states had individual pistol organisations and Customs prohibited the importation of pistols - this, combined with a number of other factors, made the pistol Olympic trail rugged.

Victoria was the catalyst in the formation of the national body required to field an Olympic Team, despite the fact that its state laws prevented the registration of .22 calibre pistols as used in Olympic competition. The ‘toe-hold’ for those working to start up pistol shooting in Victoria and see the amalgamation of pistol shooters in Australia was that Melbourne was to host the Olympic Games in November 1956. Throughout the years, Victoria had made several attempts to get pistol shooting recognised as a sport - with no success.

Major-General Selwyn Porter, new Chief Commissioner of Police in Melbourne, Victoria, proved to be an additional advantage in the crusade to create a nationwide pistol organisation and enter a pistol team into the Games.

In 1955, George Rogers, President of the Victorian Sporting Shooters Association (VSSA), approached Major-General Porter for permission to form a pistol club with a view to field competitors in the upcoming Olympic Games. The great Olympic fever felt in the host city was a powerful edge for Mr Rogers and Major-General Porter granted him his wish. Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived, as it was discovered that a national body consisting of at least three states, each with a minimum of three member clubs, had to exist in order to send a team to the Olympics. With a great deal of effort from Victorian shooters, it wasn’t long before Victoria had its three clubs. Mr Rogers then went on to gain the support of two other states, namely South Australia and Tasmania, as both had had more than 15 years of pistol shooting history.

With the Games less than 12 months away, time was running out. After an initial attempt on January 28, 1956, the Amateur Pistol Shooting Union of Australia was finally formed on June 16, 1956, but only after hundreds of hours of correspondence and negotiations between Mr Rogers and South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales.

The efforts of Mr Rogers and numerous other individuals such as Peter Garrett, Jack Doherty, Brigadier Grant, Edgar Tanner (Secretary of the Australian Olympic Federation), Major-General Porter, Bob Morgan of Tasmania and Fred Bott (the first president of the Amateur Pistol Shooting Union of Australia) saw the creation of a nationwide pistol organisation, out of which came the following members of the 1956 Australian Olympic Pistol Team:
Rod Johnson and Len Tolhurst - Free Pistol
John Maitland and Peter Papps - Silhouette
Fred Bott - Arena Manager
George Rogers - Chief Range Officer

One other person who must be named as a contributor in this ‘Olympic campaign’ is the late Harry Scott. Mr Scott lobbied untiringly with politicians and his work was deemed invaluable. One not-to-be-forgotten incident, arranged by Mr Scott, was when Mr Rogers and Rod Johnson fronted-up in Parliament during the debate on the new Firearms Act and showed just how different target pistol shooting was to the shooting done in the movies. They made their point by passing a Hammerli Free Pistol around the floor.

Today there are 17 different shooting events in the Olympic Games and fielding a Team requires a great deal less effort than it did in 1956.