90 
G.B. Trottet- 
than a report in 1901 which stated that their 
"rifles" had arrived by train. 127 
The York Rifle Volunteers were raised in 1878, 
after an extended period of uncertainty beset with 
financial and other problems. Wieck says in the 
preliminary stages of their establishment, 
"tentative approval was given for the loan of the 
muskets". 128 In 1878 or 1879 they evidently received 
the handed down Enfields of the Metropolitan 
Rifle Volunteers as initially proposed by Harvest in 
his letter of November 1875, because in the 1879 
Returns they are armed with 41 Enfields. In 1884 
their stores are listed as including "18 Muskets. 55 
Rifles, Enfield, and 13 Rifles, Snider''. 129 The 
Returns of 1885 list them with 33 Sniders, part of 
about 50 they received in 1884 from the 
Metropolitan Rifle Volunteers when this latter 
corps received its new Martini-Henrys. 130 They 
disbanded in 1886 before being issued with any of 
the Martini-Henrys. After a hiatus of seven years 
the York Infantry Volunteers were raised in 1893. 
They are shown in the 1893 Returns as being armed 
with 67 Snider Rifles, 131 and in 1895 they were 
armed with 70 Martini-Metford rifles. They were 
re-named the York Infantry in 1899 and in 1900 
they became D Company, 3rd Battalion, W.A. 
Infantry Brigade still armed with 60 Martini- 
Metford rifles. 132 
The Naval Artillery Volunteers as they were 
known were raised as the Fremantle Naval 
Artillery Volunteers in 1879. They were reported to 
be armed with "carbines". Halls states that they 
were issued with Snider-Enfield two band Artillery 
Carbines in the 1880's, 133 while Skennerton states 
that the Snider-Enfield Naval Rifle was issued in 
Western Australia "to naval units". 134 The records 
show that on 1st December 1879 a requisition was 
forwarded to England to acquire "25 Carbines or 
Rifles, Naval Pattern 1858, Complete with sword 
bayonets, scabbards etc.". 135 These naval rifles, 
which are very similar to the army short rifle, were 
received and were issued. The corps is listed in the 
Commandants 1881 Report as being armed with 
"Snider Rifle, 58. Naval Pattern." 136 This list is 
clarified further in 1884 when the corps is recorded 
as having in store "25 Rifles, Naval, 25 Cutlass 
bayonets'', 137 and interestingly, under "Old Stores" 
were listed "25 Percussion Muskets with 
bayonets". This latter notation indicates that these 
old muskets and bayonets were issued at the time 
of raising and were their issue arms until replaced 
by the Sniders. Other archival evidence of arms 
which was found for this corps states that on 10th 
May 1881, Lt. Forsyth purchased four Sergeants 
swords at Lionel Samson's auction of the Enrolled 
Pensioner Guard stores. On the 12th May, Lt. 
Forsyth applied to the authorities to have the cost 
waived as he intended that they be used by the 
F.N.A.V. (Fremantle Naval Artillery Volunteers). 138 
A Naval sword bearing his name and "Fremantle 
N.A.V." is in the W.A. Museum Collection 
(W75.50). In 1888 this corps which had been run on 
naval lines, was re-titled the Fremantle Artillery 
Volunteers, re-issued with army uniforms 139 and 
thenceforth run on army lines. On 30th May 1891 
they were issued Martini-Henry rifles. 140 They 
became the No. 2 (Fremantle) Battery, Field 
Artillery in 1897. In 1898, according to Halls they 
were issued with "Martini-Enfield Carbines" and 
in 1900 received "Martini-Enfield Artillery 
Carbines Mark I". 141 Skennerton states that "small 
numbers" of Martini-Enfield Artillery Carbines 
Mark I were used in Western Australia. 142 No arms 
of the types described have been noted by the 
author as yet. The markings of all of these arms are 
also unknown. According to the 1900 Returns this 
unit entered the Commonwealth with 79 men os 
the roll. 
The Bunbury Rifle Volunteers were raised is 
1892 and according to the Returns of 1893 - 1894 
were issued with 45 Martini-Henry rifles. 143 They 
received 74 Martini-Metfords in 1896 rising to 237 
in 1900. This large issue of rifles included 133 for 
the four Divisions of the South-west Mounted 
Infantry, raised in that year. A contemporary 
newspaper account states that the Mounted Rifles 
had been armed with "...antiquated Snider rifles". 111 
The B.R.V. became C Company, 3rd Battalion, 
W.A. Infantry Brigade on 3rd September 1900. 145 
The Perth Mounted Rifle Volunteers were 
raised in 1894 and are noted as having 42 men is 
May of that year. 146 It is possible that this corps 
was also armed with "...antiquated Snider rifles", 
They are noted in the 1895 Returns as being issued 
with 31 Martini-Metford rifles. They do not appear 
again in the Returns and were disbanded in 1897- 
The Metropolitan Civil Service Battalion was 
raised in December 1899. This unit seems to have 
suffered from some neglect, due to the raising and 
equipping of the various contingents to the Boer 
War. It was initially issued with W.A. Defence 
Force Martini-Henry Rifles converted locally to 
become .303 inch "Unofficial Conversion" Martini- 
Enfield Mark I rifles, W.A. Pattern, (see Figure 19). 
As the number of men in this corps in 1900 totalled 
284, it is reasonable to assume that the Unofficial 
Conversions issued to them also totalled 284. 14 
Specimens of these conversions noted were still 
marked on the butt with their original W.A.D.F 
initials and stand numbers, no additional mark 
being applied at the time of conversion. The mark 
thought to have been put on the original Martini- 
Henrys in 1893 when the W.A. Volunteer Force 
became the W.A. Defence Force, consists of the 
letters "W A D F" within a 2 cm circle (see Figure 
18). 
A contemporary Australian Advertiser newspaper 
account (of the receipt of the new Martini-Metford 
