South australian defence force
The Begining of South Australian Defence forces 1836-1842
After the 1834 South Australian Act was passed, the Colonisation Commissioners were so preoccupied with launching of the Colony that its protection against civil disorders or incursions was sidelined.
The first governor-elect, Colonel James Napier, withdrew his application for reasons that the Colony was not adequately protected - particularly against the odd native, escaped convicts, runaway sailors and lawless whaling crews. The Commissions discounted these concerns suggesting that "a population which was to be 'one of purer character than usually found' could protect itself by forming its own militia". Napier's refusal and qualms expressed by the next Governor-elect, Captain John Hindmarsh, R.N., caused the Commissioners to consider the subject further. However, a body of regular troops was not seriously considered on the grounds of cost and would have run counter to the self-supporting principle of the Colony.
The Colonial Office brudgingly authorised a quater guard of Royal Marines to accompany Captain Hindmarsh to South Australia for the Royal Proculamation in 1836, only for the Marines to return to England on HMS Alligator in 1838. The Marines were, however, a "miserable set, being the refuse of the Marine Barracks at Portsmouth" (Angus Paper, S.A. Arch, p 149-58) and brought discredit to Her Majesty's service by being under the influence of liquor at the Proculamation ceremony itself.
Ther need for protection became increasingly obvious, so the Commissioners in London authorised Hindmarsh's successor, Lietenant-Colonel George Gawler, to maintain a police force of 10 Officers and 20 constables. This mounted force was a military body dressed in a uniform similar to the 6th Dragoon Carbineers. Actions against Aboriginals were seen both as a police and military one. The cost of maintaining an expanding Force for protection as the Colony grew became the third largest cost in the Colonies expenditure. This, together with the untried 'self-supporting' principle, prompted Gawler to form a Volunteer Militia (VM), encouraging settlers to take an active part in their own protection to strengthen the safety of the Colony.
Major T.S. O'Halloran took command of the new VM in 1840, with most of the commissioned ranks deriving from police officers. Gawler considered the VM to be a police auxiliary, comprising of 6 officers, 2 troops of cavalry organised into a squadron, and 1 light infantry company. Every officer and man had to bear the intial expense for their uniforms (a scarlet uniform with blue facings and gold lace) and arms - to be refunded when the member left the corps.
Gawler was no doubt aware of the contradiction iin terms between volunteer and militia, and may have wanted the best of both worlds - Volunteer meant no pay and no compulsion; militia implied a concession to the idea of a constitutional force. This contradiction was to bedevil South Australians throughout the 1800s. The VM was dogged by indifference and its almost unconstitional existence & failure to both define and appreciate its basic aims. By 1841 the poor financial position of the Colony prompted the British Parliament to underwrite the financial affairs of the Colony, which was henceforth to live within its means under its newly appointed Governor, Captain George Grey, becaming the third Governor of South Australia. Grey had little confidence in the Volunteers and certainly did not inted to incur any expenditure on their behalf, nor to interest himself in their training. Both the British Government and Grey felt that volunteers were people taking law and order into their own hands, and such things should be left to police. Protection would be from a much larger police force or by the presence of Imperial troops. Consequentially in 1841, a request was made to the New South Wales command for a detachment of the 96th Regiment of Foot from Van Diemen's land to land and provide protection to the Colony, thus the notion of self-supporting principle was held in abeyance, to be invoked again under the threat of war 14 years later.
As early as 1838 attempts were made to form the Adelaide Rifle Company, in actual fact a rifle club, whose promotors were possibly more intersted in target practice rather than the purpose of defence.
After the 1834 South Australian Act was passed, the Colonisation Commissioners were so preoccupied with launching of the Colony that its protection against civil disorders or incursions was sidelined.
The first governor-elect, Colonel James Napier, withdrew his application for reasons that the Colony was not adequately protected - particularly against the odd native, escaped convicts, runaway sailors and lawless whaling crews. The Commissions discounted these concerns suggesting that "a population which was to be 'one of purer character than usually found' could protect itself by forming its own militia". Napier's refusal and qualms expressed by the next Governor-elect, Captain John Hindmarsh, R.N., caused the Commissioners to consider the subject further. However, a body of regular troops was not seriously considered on the grounds of cost and would have run counter to the self-supporting principle of the Colony.
The Colonial Office brudgingly authorised a quater guard of Royal Marines to accompany Captain Hindmarsh to South Australia for the Royal Proculamation in 1836, only for the Marines to return to England on HMS Alligator in 1838. The Marines were, however, a "miserable set, being the refuse of the Marine Barracks at Portsmouth" (Angus Paper, S.A. Arch, p 149-58) and brought discredit to Her Majesty's service by being under the influence of liquor at the Proculamation ceremony itself.
Ther need for protection became increasingly obvious, so the Commissioners in London authorised Hindmarsh's successor, Lietenant-Colonel George Gawler, to maintain a police force of 10 Officers and 20 constables. This mounted force was a military body dressed in a uniform similar to the 6th Dragoon Carbineers. Actions against Aboriginals were seen both as a police and military one. The cost of maintaining an expanding Force for protection as the Colony grew became the third largest cost in the Colonies expenditure. This, together with the untried 'self-supporting' principle, prompted Gawler to form a Volunteer Militia (VM), encouraging settlers to take an active part in their own protection to strengthen the safety of the Colony.
Major T.S. O'Halloran took command of the new VM in 1840, with most of the commissioned ranks deriving from police officers. Gawler considered the VM to be a police auxiliary, comprising of 6 officers, 2 troops of cavalry organised into a squadron, and 1 light infantry company. Every officer and man had to bear the intial expense for their uniforms (a scarlet uniform with blue facings and gold lace) and arms - to be refunded when the member left the corps.
Gawler was no doubt aware of the contradiction iin terms between volunteer and militia, and may have wanted the best of both worlds - Volunteer meant no pay and no compulsion; militia implied a concession to the idea of a constitutional force. This contradiction was to bedevil South Australians throughout the 1800s. The VM was dogged by indifference and its almost unconstitional existence & failure to both define and appreciate its basic aims. By 1841 the poor financial position of the Colony prompted the British Parliament to underwrite the financial affairs of the Colony, which was henceforth to live within its means under its newly appointed Governor, Captain George Grey, becaming the third Governor of South Australia. Grey had little confidence in the Volunteers and certainly did not inted to incur any expenditure on their behalf, nor to interest himself in their training. Both the British Government and Grey felt that volunteers were people taking law and order into their own hands, and such things should be left to police. Protection would be from a much larger police force or by the presence of Imperial troops. Consequentially in 1841, a request was made to the New South Wales command for a detachment of the 96th Regiment of Foot from Van Diemen's land to land and provide protection to the Colony, thus the notion of self-supporting principle was held in abeyance, to be invoked again under the threat of war 14 years later.
As early as 1838 attempts were made to form the Adelaide Rifle Company, in actual fact a rifle club, whose promotors were possibly more intersted in target practice rather than the purpose of defence.