History

The Prince of Wales Handicap Shoot was held in 1898 with 22 nominations and 400 spectators and of course a few bookmakers. The event was 9 birds with 2 misses and out. Two nominations were allowed per shooter. After the main event they would shoot as many sweeps as light and the number of birds would allow.

A move was made to a new ground at Albion Park Racecourse in early 1899. A new pavilion was erected, a set of traps purchased from Sydney (the same as ones used in southern colonies), catering arranged and birds were retrieved by dogs loaned by a Mr L.H. Firth, owner of the Brighton Hotel. The move to Albion Park was a success with membership quickly growing from 24 to 80. In the early 1900’s numbers attending shoots increased as did the number of spectators and bookmakers. Shooters were held in high regard due to their standing in the community, and were often referred to in the press as “wielders of the walnut” or “knights of the trigger”. The use of shooting names became very popular, some of which were Acorn, Snipe, Ballistic, Walnut, Plover, Quail, Wayback, Ducks and Cyanide just to name a few. New events including Double Bird Rise, One Barrel and Points were created. Shoots were often arranged to entertain visiting interstate, Australian and international sporting teams as well as shooters coming to Brisbane for a horse racing carnival or the Exhibition. Some events required pre-nomination at a city hotel to work out handicaps and on occasions shooters had to provide boys to place pigeons in traps and collect dead birds.

As previously mentioned, shooters were able to nominate twice in some events and around this time you could also buy a “Star” with each nomination. The “Star” allowed you to buy back into an event if you missed the first bird in the event. Apart from shooting for trophies, there were a lot of handicap events shot for money. The amount of money on offer was often split, so if the event was for £100 and after say the first five birds there were three possibles, the shooters might agree to split £60 between them. They would then continue to shoot for the remaining £40. If there were only two possibles after the next five birds the shooters might agree to take another £10 each and shoot -off for the remaining £20. If a shooter nominated twice and shot the possible under both nominations the shooter was entitled to two portions of the prize.

With the start of World War 1, £250 was donated to the patriotic fund. Any members volunteering for the War were granted a complimentary shoot before leaving to fight. One member who volunteered, Captain P.J. Thorn, was presented with an automatic pistol in a leather case, a military saddle, a bridle and other presents from the Club. Captain Thorn was promoted to Major and returned from the War becoming a solicitor for the Railways in NSW. He was from a well-respected family, his father, John Thorn was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. His grandfather, George Thorn, was considered the Father of Ipswich for his contributions towards founding the town. George was also a Member of Parliament and the 6th Premier of Queensland.

The Club record for consecutive birds shot as at 1915 was 41, and mention is made of Joe Bauman, who later donated many trophy cups to various clubs and the ACTA including the one still competed for at the BGC today. The first known life member of the BGC was W. (Billy) Mooney, who was a Patron and very generous donor and supporter of the Club. He was also a member of the AJC, QTC, Sydney Tattersalls Club, Stock Exchange, Queensland Irish Association, National Association and was a member and one of the founders of the Brisbane Tattersalls Club. Moët and Chandon donated a large silver cup to the club to be kept by the first person to win the event twice. The cup was presented to the winner, Mr Hedley V. Hewitt, at a large function at the Gresham Hotel attended by prominent businessmen and sportsmen.
The BGC advertised in the local press, published the results of competitions and was open to the public but with the War going on the committee decided in September 1915 to only allow members and their guests and registered shooters to attend shoots. It was also decided not to publish competition results in the press for the duration of the War. Shooting did continue but it appears pigeons were hard to come by during the War with the price jumping two shillings to three shillings (30 cents) a pair.

In late 1920, a property was purchased near Doomben Racecourse (21 acres on the corner of Kingsford Smith Drive and Nudgee Road). £5000 was spent on the grounds, including a grandstand, tea room, committee room, refreshment bar, toilets, caretaker’s cottage and other necessary amenities. It was fenced and netted and named Hedley Park in recognition of long-time secretary of the Club, Mr Hedley V Hewitt. The insurance policies, encased on the wall at the BGC, are now known to relate to this ground.

In 1930 the Sandgate Golf Club paid off a £200 loan to the Club. Mr Hedley Hewitt was instrumental in setting up the golf club and obviously the BGC saw fit to help with the project. Flying foxes were considered quite a nuisance at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens and on a quiet morning in 1931 residents of Brisbane were awoken to the sounds of gunfire. The Curator of the gardens had organised members of the Club to “fix the problem” without advising the public. Hundreds of flying foxes were shot and one unemployed man took advantage and collected the bounty of sixpence (5 cents) a pair on them. Such shoots were an annual event for a number of years.

The cruelty aspect of live pigeon shooting was again raised in 1936. An article was published saying “dozens of pigeons were being shot at Hedley Park under the name of sportsmanship, slaughtered without chance before the eyes of boys and girls. In the name of fair play why is this exhibition of killing allowed to continue.” Live pigeon shooting had already been banned in the UK and clay pigeon shooting had taken off overseas. It was only a matter of time before clay pigeon shooting commenced here and in 1937 a trap layout was set up at Hedley Park to be shot in conjunction with live pigeons.

Traps, in those days, were relatively simple but there was mention of trap breakdowns delaying shoots. Further new events of Deauville Doubles and Walk Ups were introduced and a program of both trap and skeet (format unknown) was shot for what seems to be the first time in 1938. Alf Thurlow shot live pigeons in the late 1890’s and won the Brabant’s Cup in 1938 for clay pigeons. This cup was later donated to the Club by his family and is now regularly shot for in his honour. He was a regular winner at Hedley Park at both trap and skeet.

The Club affiliated with the Australian Clay Pigeon Trap Shooting Association (ACPTSA) and held the first Queensland skeet championships in 1939 and continued shooting until mid to late 1941. The Hedley Park grounds were resumed by the Federal Government for use by the United State Air Force and organised shooting virtually ceased until the end of World War II. Following the end of WWII, live bird shooting recommenced at Myrtletown near the mouth of the Brisbane River. There were also minor facilities for clay target shooting. Heavy betting took place with several bookmakers operating from the stand. Midweek race meetings were not held at the time and shoots took place each Wednesday. Betting was a real interest and one bet of £1000 was made which was a substantial amount in those days. On occasions when shooting finished a two-up game took place.

Reference is made to a fellow who played a guitar in the old Central Railway Station subway. He strummed the strings to emit a sound of ‘plink plonk’. He couldn’t play a note of music but people threw coins into his hat in sympathy. He was given the nick name “Plinka Plonk” and he surprisingly turned up each Wednesday with a substantial wad of notes to bet on the shoots. Of interest is that in the 1950’s an annual event was for club members, on a Sunday morning, to shoot feral pigeons around town hall and municipal markets then adjacent to Roma Street Railway Station. Cartridges were supplied by I.C.I. The dead pigeons would be taken away by spectators for consumption.

It was around this time the Sunday “Truth” newspaper was being published and it campaigned strongly to ban live bird shooting. Eventually, in 1954 an Act of Parliament was passed to make such shooting illegal. The State Member for Brisbane, at the time, was very much involved with the betting at Myrtletown and opposed the ban but was unsuccessful. As a compromise, he had included in the Act a clause which allowed a member of a shooting club to carry and use guns at a club on a Sunday. Prior to that it was illegal.

With live bird shooting now banned, the Club registered with the ACPTSA as the Brisbane Clay Target Club. The poor location of the Myrtletown grounds (not far from the sewerage outlet) and lack of tenure led to moves being made to look for another site. A number of doctors shot occasionally on Porter’s Dairy farm off Stanton Road Tingalpa (no relation to the BGC Porter family). An approach was made to the owner who was very cooperative. No rental was required and each Christmas the owner was presented with a bottle of scotch in appreciation. An old tin shed was relocated from Myrtletown to this site. Mechanical traps were used which required a trapper to place a target on the throwing arm with another person behind the shooters to operate the cocking/release lever. On the call of “pull’ the lever which was connected to the trap by a rod would be pulled to release the target. The word “pull”, which originated from live pigeon shooting, is still used today even with the use of phono release.

Shooting at this location commenced in 1955 and became very popular. The Club became known as the Brisbane Metropolitan Gun Club. The ACPTSA changed to the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) in 1956, removing the word pigeon to alleviate any reference to live bird shooting and the Club changed its name again in 1956 to the Brisbane Gun Club.

Starting with only one trap the events were generally for a small number of targets. As numbers of shooters increased, the Club installed a second trap in 1961 and a third trap in 1963.

Electricity was not available at the site and kerosene refrigerators were in use. On shoot days it was necessary for ladies to clean the white ants and wasps’ nests from the refrigerators and crockery and for the men to clean the cow pats from the shed and shooting tracks. Water for tea and coffee was boiled in a wood fed copper and the ladies provided the food. A hat would be passed around and the donations purchased a five-gallon keg which was consumed during the day. The background was a picturesque setting, overlooking a swamp with waterfowl most of which were not disturbed by the shooting. There was no permanent tenure or power to the site and “Damo” traps with electric push button release were becoming popular. As the Federal Government had resumed the Club’s Hedley Park facilities at the start of WWII and incorporated the site within the airport, an approach was made to the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation to negotiate a suitable site on the airport fringe. A site which was offered was well away from electricity, telephone and water facilities and flood prone and the offer was rejected. The transfer of the Enoggera rifle range to the Belmont Complex and the establishment of a number of shooting disciplines on the Commonwealth owned location, prompted the BGC committee to investigate a site at this complex. The complex was under the control of the Victoria Barracks Inspector of Rifle Ranges in Queensland and an area for clay target shooting was allocated by him on the eastern side of the complex. An inspection of this location showed that the cost of providing electricity etc. to the site would be prohibitive. Also, a survey of the location showed that significant earthworks would provide for only three DTL layouts. Further negotiations resulted in the site on Mt Petrie Road being allocated. A significant amount of timber clearing and earthworks was required but power and telephone facilities were available and the layout design provided for ten DTL layouts with subsequent superimposed skeet and trench layouts.

The last shoot at the Tingalpa grounds was conducted in May 1966 with John Tyquin (BGC President 1958 and 1960 and ACTA President 1961-1969) firing the final shot. The new grounds were opened on 26th June 1966 by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Clem Jones. The first squad comprised of Patrons, Alf Thurlow and Judge Stanley, Past Presidents Eric Wardrop and Stuart Smith and major supporter of the Club, Barney Deignan.

Approximately £17,000 was spent on earthmoving, the clubhouse, the four trap layouts with an area prepared for another 2 trap layouts when required. Apart from the earthworks and building of the club house, most of the work was done by members without charge, but materials were paid for. Funds to carry out the work were raised by donations, interest bearing loans by members and a bank loan and a significant donation by ICI, who were the principal suppliers of ammunition and clay targets at that time. The Club was well patronised and all loans were repaid. For many years at the BGC, there was a bar and ladies’ committee and both had their own separate bank accounts and were able to fund the purchase of ride-on mowers, new tables and chairs, trophy cloths and trophies.

In 1967 plans were already in place to finalise 6 trap layouts and also build skeet layouts, install lights for night shooting, a 300-name scoreboard and a children’s playground. The Club was moving to hold some major events. The present No. 1 trap layout was one of the last layouts built and used for the first time at the Winchester tournament of 1968 and skeet was shot for the first time on one layout with manual traps. At the 1969 Nationals in Geelong, Winchester had a set of automatic skeet traps on display. There was keen interest from both Perth and Brisbane Gun Clubs. Brisbane beat Perth to the punch, but in fun, Perth issued a 1000 target skeet challenge which was eagerly accepted. Perth won 931 – 917.

The BGC hosted its first Trap Nationals in 1971 with record attendances over 6 layouts with Winchester white flyer traps. A ball trap and a skeet layout capable of throwing ISU targets was in place by 1973. In 1974, new traps were ordered for a second skeet layout with the first trench layout and ISU skeet layouts operating by 1975. By the time of the 1977 Nationals, the Club had 9 operating trap layouts, 4 skeet layouts, a trench layout and a ball trap layout.


The Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane in 1982 and as a result the Club received a grant of $120,000 to upgrade the Club’s facilities. The grant covered an upgrade to the main clubhouse, enclosing the skeet clubhouse, the building of a second trench layout, purchase of new trench traps and new ISU skeet traps. The third trench layout was installed at the Club to host the 1997 UIT World Cup.

Since moving to the Belmont complex, the Club has held many major events including:

• UIT World Cups
• Commonwealth Games
• Trap and Skeet Nationals
• National Trench championships
• State Trap & Skeet Carnivals including the inaugural QCTA carnival in 1979 and 1981 respectively
• Australasian-Pacific Grand Prix
• Oceanic Games
• World Masters Games

The Club continues to make improvements to its shooting facilities through generous sponsors and members, including the recent installation of new lights for night shooting. It is to the credit of the many hard working club members who freely gave and continue to give of their time that the Club has advanced to become what it is today.