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It has been a long road from the South African veldt where the Australian soldier first encountered the sniper, to the modern battlefield of Afghanistan where today’s Army sniper has shown himself to be among the best trained in the world. A modern-day Australian sniper trains on the range (Army Public Relations image). While this volume provides comprehensive descriptions of the events and personnel featured in the history of the Australian Army sniper, security considerations have prevented the inclusion of some details of recent operations.

Many senior officers in both the British and Australian armies concluded that snipers would not be required in any future war. The sharpshooter A Sharps rifle as used in the American Civil War by Union Army sharpshooters, often referred to as ‘Berdan’s Sharpshooters’ after their leader Colonel Hiram Berdan (Wikipedia Commons image). Up until the mid-twentieth century, Americans regularly referred to snipers as ‘sharpshooters’. 60 calibre) Kentucky rifle which was used to great effect in the American War of Independence.

The small arms factory continued to supply the Australian Defence Force during the Second World War, Korean War and Vietnam War. Its production also extended to machine-guns, sub-machine guns and both the SMLE and the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, which replaced the SMLE in 1959. A total of 640,000 SMLEs were produced. The Commonwealth Small Arms Factory was privatised in 1995 and became a facility within Australian Defence Industry’s Weapons and Engineering Division. The factory was sold to Thales Australia in 2006 and the now Thales Lithgow Factory continues to supply small arms to the Australian Defence Force.