Historical information

This glass plate photograph shows good detail of uniformed and armed members of the early Volunteer Corps posing for their photograph in front of a young township. There are other well-dressed citizens behind them. Perhaps this was a special ceremony or event.

It is likely that the subject of the photograph was the Warrnambool Volunteer Rifle Corps from Warrnambool in the 1860s if the following assumptions are made -
- The Warrnambool Volunteer Rifle Corps was established in 1858
- the firearms held appear to be 1853 pattern Lee Enfield muskets used by the British army in Crimea at this time and in Australia, rather than the later Martini Henry cartridge rifles
- The uniforms match other photos of the Warrnambool Garrison Militia and Band in our Collection, taken up until the 1880s
- The three storey building in the photograph is alike to Warrnambool’s Manifold & Bostock flour mill, built in 1854 near the ‘cutting’ in Merri Street, which was one of the main streets at the time. If one faced the building’s front from a vantage point and looked south to south-east, the hills around Flagstaff Hill and Cannon Hill would be behind that mill, and the Harbour behind the hills. This is the area of the Fortifications
- The glass plate method of photography was widely used during the mid-19th to early-20th century
- The donor of the photograph is unknown but most likely to be a local family member

Around this time the citizens of Victoria were prospering from the gold rush but felt isolated and uneasy about their security in the colony. In 1854 the Volunteer Act was passed to provide some military defence. In 1858 the Warrnambool Volunteer Rifle Corps was established, disbanded in 1863, then a new Warrnambool Detachment was formed in September 1866. Legislation was passed in 1884 that replaced the volunteers’ corps with a partly paid, permanent Militia Defence Force. The batteries manning the coastal forts of Victoria were termed Garrison Artillery Companies. When the Army was federated in 1901 there were eight Militia Companies in Victoria. Warrnambool and Port Fairy together were known as 8 Coy AGA (Australian Garrison Artillery). Changes to formation and name continued into the 20th century.

Significance

This photograph is a record of the very early volunteer defence force in Victoria, showing the Militia Volunteers from the mid-19th century, likely to be the Warrnambool Volunteer Rifle Corps, which was established in 1858.
The photograph signifies the connection of the colony in Victoria to the growing need for security due to the unrest in Europe at the time around the Crimean War.
The photograph is also locally significant to the industry of the young township of Warrnambool, showing what is likely to be one of the first flour mills in the town.
The photograph is also the only example of the early methods of glass plate photography in our collection.

Physical description

Photograph, rectangular glass plate, positive sepia image. Photograph has brass framed edges that fold over to the back with mitred corners. The front edges are pressed with a decorative floral pattern.

The photograph shows a group of thirty military men, standing or kneeling, in dark uniforms with pillbox forage caps, round-collared jackets with light buttons, light sashes worn from top left shoulder to bottom right side of waist belt, and long, straight-legged trousers. Three of these men have light braid around the buttons on the front of their jackets, light frogging on their sleeve cuffs and stripes on the outside seams of their trousers. The other twenty-seven men have plain uniforms and are holding firearms in their right hands, steadied with their left hands.

Other figures are standing behind this group of soldiers, including three or four men wearing top hats, jackets and ties. In the background is a row of buildings. The central building is three stories high. Bare hills are in the far background. The foreground is uneven ground with patches of short grass.

Subjects

References