|
The story of the Queensland military organisation is about the maintenance of a volunteer or militia force during peacetime. For almost forty years from when it was created in 1860, the force received varying levels of support from the colonial government.
During this period, particularly in the first decade, it's fortunes fluctuated wildly, effected by the economic prosperity, or rather poverty, of the colony. Attempts were made by its Officers and supporters to keep the force adequate for its prescribed task of defending the colony. It would appear that always at the back of the minds of those with the power to disperse funds to the colonial military, was the thought that ultimately Great Britain, or at least its Royal Navy, would rescue the Australian colonies if any real danger of foreign aggression were to manifest itself.
There were war scares over the years, and on occasions the colonial military aided the civil authorities, but generally there was little sense of pressing danger. Queensland soldiers never battled to defend their own shores against a foreign foe. The force was first called out to aid the civil powers during the so-called Bread Riots of September 1866. In 1878 when Great Britain appeared on the verge of war with Russia, and the Queensland Government feared a raiding force might suddenly descend on the capital or major provincial towns, the Force was mobilised.
Again in 1885, fearing an imminent war with the Russian Empire, the Defence Force was called out for active service. In 1891, as a result of wide-spread civil disturbances in the western districts of Queensland, the Force was again mobilised on active service. This was the largest action undertaken by the military to that date, and like previous policing action, did not result in any bloodshed.
In the period 1885 To 1902, approximately 20,000 men are believed to have served in the force. This does not include those who volunteered for active service in South Africa. In the South African war of 1899-1902, Queensland despatched six volunteer contingents of mounted infantry, staffed largely by Officers and NCOs of the Queensland Defence Force, and containing a large percentage of men who had served in the local military.
|
On Saturday afternoon about sixty Volunteers went to Lytton for rifle shooting in the required annual course of class-firing. The Brisbane Volunteers mustered about thirty men, under the command of lieutenants Byrne and Craig, and there were also about twenty-five members af A, B and D Companies of the Queensland Scottish, under the command of Lieutenant Strong.