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The Beginning –
Post World War 2 migrants from Germany and Austria were responsible for bringing the sport (of 10-meter indoor Air Rifle Target Shooting) in its present form to Australia, and it was these same migrants who founded the first Air- Rifle clubs here.
The first Air Rifle Club in Australia was founded in 1964 in Adelaide under the banner of the South Australia German Club Association.
Note – The label Die Brücke is seen in a lot of earlier documentation and is relevant for a number of years.
The Australian version is “The Bridge”, this is a link between Germany and Australia, it is an Association of German speaking organisations in Australia and New Zealand and is based in Adelaide. It covers all sports and interests. Air rifle is one sport under its umbrella of interests.
The first Air Rifle Club’s in NSW were established in Illawarra and Stanmore in 1967.
By 1969 there were at least eight German Air Rifle Clubs established in Australia. The idea of a National Air Rifle championship was discussed for the first time and a competition was organised for January 1970. About 70 shooters representing 7 clubs attended this inaugural Championship.
In 1970 at a meeting with representatives from German speaking shooting clubs in Adelaide it was decided to form a central organising body for the sport of Air rifle shooting in Australia.
This Organising body for Air Rifle target shooting was called:
“Deutscher Schuetzenbund in Australia” (German Shooting Association in Australia).
This Schuetzenbund operated within the framework of the Sport Referent of a German Organisation (The Bridge) (as listed above.
This was later changed to: “Air Rifle Association of Australia”
From a General Meeting held on the 16th January 1970 (initially chaired by Mr H Krueger) at the S.A.A.D.V Clubhouse in Adelaide, the first President and Secretary were elected and the Deutscher Schuetzenbund in Australia was started.
The structure for fees, competitions, scoring and rules were progressed from this meeting.
At a full committee meeting at Concordia on 11th March 1973 it was decided to change the name to the "Air Rifle Association of Australia" (ARAA).
The Air Rifle Association of Australia was incorporated in the ACT on 17th October 1974. The application was submitted by Walter Krikowa who is still to this day (September 2025) a member of the Canberra Air Rifle club.