Military firearms in colonial Western Australia 
97 
Figure 26 The ownership marks of the W.A. Defence Force, 1900 - 1901. The mark is on the right side of the butt of a 
Martini-Enfield Mark II, W.A. Pattern. This mark does not include the suffix "D", found on the earlier 
Martini-Enfields. It is not known to whom these arms were issued. (Photo D. Elford). 
some are known to have been subsequently issued 
to the Boer War Contingents. 
The Boer War demand on the Volunteer Force's 
supply of arms was intense, with many of the 
volunteer corps finding it difficult to maintain their 
own arms needs. By early 1900 it was reported that: 
"Consequent on the distribution of rifles amongst the 
different Western Australian contingents, the local 
defence force has found it necessary to replenish its 
stock of firearms. The Premier recently despatched an 
order to England for a supply of rifles.' M7< 
This order for the local defence force included 
1000 Magazine Lee-Speed rifles which arrived in 
1900, and also the 200 Martini-Enfields of 1900. By 
December 1900, 821 Lee-Speeds were on issue to 
the W.A. Infantry Battalion. The First Battalion at 
Perth had 229, the Second at Fremantle had 249, 
the Third, (one company), at Guildford had 59 and 
the Fourth (Civil Service) Battalion of four 
companies had 284 rifles on issue in Perth. 175 
Perhaps the very last of the purely colonial arms 
purchases were 50 Martini-Enfields which were 
sent to W.A. in October 1901. 176 It is a very difficult 
matter attempting to identify this shipment among 
the other 1100 M-Es sent from England between 
1898 - 1900, but a number of Mark II rifles dated 
1900 have been noted marked "W A" in large 
letters without the "D" suffix. On these rifles the 
stand number has been placed at some distance 
from the letters (see Figures 26 and 27). It is 
possible that the 50 arms of 1901, not arriving until 
after the sixth and last W.A.M.I. Contingent was 
sent to South Africa, were issued to some other 
group and therefore were marked differently, not 
having the "D" suffix. The arm illustrated in Figure 
26 may be from this shipment. From this time 
onwards all arms purchases for the states were by 
the Commonwealth Government, the states having 
handed over all defence responsibilities in the 
1901-1903 period. 
hi June 1903 a shipment of 1350 Magazine Lee- 
Enfields were sent (W.A. Museum F87.046). These 
Figure 27 The Martini-Enfield rifle Mark II, W.A. Pattern. One of the 1150 Mark I and II rifles shipped here from the 
Tower between 1898 - 1901. The rifle still has its spring steel foresight protector in place. (Photo D. Elford). 
