Defence Society Rifle Officer Collier practices shooting in the 'prone' position

A photograph of Rifle Officer Collier, a member of the Defence Society, practising shooting in the 'prone' position.

With considerable foresight, the Defence Society in Adelaide was founded in February 1933 by schoolteacher and union activist Natalia Davies. By the commencement of World War Two, the Society with Davies as President had a membership of 130, mainly women.

'From 1940 ... evening classes on first aid, home nursing, motor engineering, elementary electrical work and fire drill [were held]. ... the society taught hundreds of women to shoot and maintain a rifle. In 1942, after Japan entered the war, classes extended to pistol shooting, map-reading and unarmed defence. Each night members went on duty at a roof-watching post in the city'.[Australian Dictionary of Biography Online: Davies, Natalia (Nat) (1907 - 1951)]

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