Military firearms in colonial Western Australia 
107 
existing volunteer arms for target practice. It is 
evident however that the shortened rifles were still 
used for rifle drill. 
The Cadet Force was established in 1897 and it is 
known that dummy rifles and Martini-Enfield 
carbines were repeatedly sought for them between 
1896 - 1899. As far as is known only the dummy 
rifles were ever forthcoming. The Cadet Force does 
not appear to have been armed until 1903 - 1904 
when two lots of Francotte Martinis, the miniature 
cadet rifle of .297/230 inch calibre were procured. 
They appear to have arrived in two lots, 1000 in 
1903 and another 500 in 1904. The first order 
included a lot of 500 miniature socket bayonets. 
These arms were paid for by the W.A. Education 
Department. These little rifles are known to have 
been put on sale to tire public in 1935. They were 
sold by Shimensons of Perth. 206 The later Martini 
Cadet rifles used in W.A. appear from their butt 
marks to have originated in 1908 - 1909 and were 
Commonwealth arms, slightly heavier in weight 
and of a larger .310 inch calibre. The cadets were 
possibly issued Martini-Enfields and Magazine 
Lee-Enfields in the Commonwealth period but 
none have been noted with Cadet marks. 
REVIEW OF MARKING 
From the archives and the arms themselves a 
reasonable assessment of the marking of Colonial 
arms has been constructed. With the exception of 
the earliest Imperial arms, most markings are now 
known. The lack of certainty regarding the marking 
of some groups of the arms of this study is due in 
large part to the scarcity of surviving colonial arms 
upon which observations can be made. 
The first recorded marking of W.A. arms were 
the Pattern 1853 Enfields of the W.A. Enrolled 
(Pensioner) Force issued c.1860. These Enfields 
were engraved (possibly prior to shipment) "W A 
over E F over number" on the buttplate and are 
believed to have stand numbers from 1 - c.300. 
They were followed by Snider-Enfield Mark II*’ 
conversions in 1870 which were also engraved "W 
A over E F over number" on their buttplates and 
had their own series of stand numbers beginning 
again at 1 through to 250. Short rifles for sergeants 
are also recorded as being on issue to the 
pensioners but none have been noted as yet. No 
other arms are known marked to this force. 
From the earliest days of the volunteer 
movement, the careful marking of arms and 
recording of their issue was undertaken. The arms 
were marked according to regulations published 
by the War Office in London in 1862. There is no 
doubt that the first 200 Pattern 1853 Enfields 
received here in August 1862 were engraved by 
two unknown convicts in accordance with these 
regulations. No marks have as yet been noted on 
Enfields but their marks, according to the 
regulation were "V over WA over number". These 
Enfields were augmented by a number of Enfields 
released from the Enrolled Pensioners in 1870. The 
Pensioner Force arms, as far as is known were not 
re-marked, it being thought forbidden to alter 
Imperial arms on loan. No re-marked specimen has 
been observed. Only one Enfield is known by its 
stand number. This was Enfield number 234 issued 
to the unfortunate Private Elsegood of the Perth 
Volunteer Rifles. This high stand number, 234, 
indicates that Enfields, additional to the 200 sent 
out in 1862 were acquired. As this rifle was the 
subject of discussion in 1872, two years after the 
Enrolled Force released a quantity of their 
estimated 300 Enfields to the volunteers, this may 
well have been an E.P.F. number. 
The next lot of arms, the Deane, Adams revolver- 
carbines of 1864 intended for the Pinjarrah 
Mounted Volunteers were marked by C. Reichberg, 
a convict, in an unusual manner, partly the 
incorrect "W.A.V." requested by the Commandant 
and partly the "V over W A M" stipulated in the 
War Office regulations. The result was the unique 
"hybrid" mark "W.A.P.M.V. No.". The marking, (if 
done), of their 20 Smith and Wesson No. 2 Army 
revolvers of 1877 is unrecorded and no specimens 
are known. 
The Volunteers were next issued with Snider 
long and short rifles, Mark III in 1877. These were 
received in two shipments and are definitely 
known to have been marked in the regulation 
manner, being engraved "V over W A over 
number" by prisoner Davis, also a convict. It is 
unknown how (or if), 50 Snider rifles procured in 
1879 for the Albany Rifle Volunteers were marked, 
and the marks of 25 Pattern 1858 Snider Naval 
rifles procured in 1879 for the Fremantle Naval 
Artillery Volunteers are also unknown. "30 
Revolvers" were procured for the Wellington 
Mounted Volunteers in December 1878 but like the 
Smith & Wessons of the Pinjarrah corps none are 
known to have survived and no reference to their 
type or marking was found. As mentioned in the 
text there is a notation in the records referring to 
"marking arms" for the Geraldton Rifle Volunteers 
in 1878. The details of these markings are unknown 
but it is thought the arms referred to were the new 
arms included in a mixed lot of new issue Sniders 
and E.P.F. Snider-Enfields sent to them in that 
year. It can be seen from the discussion then that 
the volunteers were issued, respectively, with a 
mixture of Volunteer and E.P.F. Enfields, followed 
by a mixture of Volunteer and E.P.F. Sniders. 
Volunteer arms were marked with volunteer marks 
while E.P.F. marks were left with E.P.F. marks. 
Martini-Henry rifles were purchased in 1874 and 
again between 1881 - 1887 until virtually the entire 
corps was armed with them. A Martini-Henry was 
