History

Sydney Boys High School has a long history in the sport of target rifle shooting.   Shortly after the school was opened in 1883, Headmaster Mr John Waterhouse, gave permission to form a Cadet Corps.   Sydney High contested the annual 'All Schools Match' during this period, with considerable success.   When the Inter-Colonial Cadet Teams Match was fired in 1886, of the fifteen New South Wales cadets, eight were from Sydney High.  

At Federation in 1901, Commonwealth grants to Rifle Clubs increased and it became possible to maintain a Rifle Club in addition to the Cadet Corps. In 1910, forty Sydney High cadets formed the Sydney High School Rifle Club. Foundation officials were Rhodes (Captain), Berman (Secretary) and a Committee of Biden, Beasley and Uren. Competitions were successful. H. G. Kershaw won the 200-yard match with 15 consecutive bullseyes.

After the First World War, the Rifle Club was reformed in 1924. Owing to the distance between School and Liverpool, permission was granted to shoot at Long Bay (now the ANZAC Rifle Range at Malabar) and to compete in events conducted by the New South Wales Militia Rifle Clubs Union.

In 1931, Sydney High won the Buchanan Shield at the GPS Annual Shoot and placed third in the GPS Premiership. In 1933, the Club Championship was won by Club Captain, Arthur Roden Cutler. Roden Cutler was later awarded the Victoria Cross medal for conspicuous gallantry during the Syrian campaign and for bravery during bitter fighting at Merdayoun.  He was later to become Governor of New South Wales and remained a stalwart supporter of the Club for the rest of his life.

In 1943 a .22 small-bore rifle range was built at the School, near the current school gymnasium, for weekly practice and for competition with other schools.

After the Second World War, the GPS Shooting Competitions were resumed without delay. By 1961, the School 25-yard Range was in frequent use.

In 1979, Headmaster Bob Outterside convinced the NSW Department of Education to reintroduce target shooting at the School. In 1987, Shooting Master Geoffrey Blinkhorne and other helpers commenced the design phase of the Club's new 20 metre smallbore rifle range, located in the McDonald Wing at the School.  The Headmaster fired the first shot in February 1988. The Range was resumed for classrooms in 1994. Practices continued at the ANZAC Rifle Range, Malabar, and the Rifle Club took possession of an abandoned clubhouse.   The clubhouse was quickly renovated and became a home for the School's rifle teams.

In 1993, the first Parents Fundraising Committee was established to raise funds for the proposed 1994 Tour to England. This tour would be both a shooting opportunity and an educational experience for the students involved, with as much sightseeing as possible included in the itinerary. The Committee, within a short time, changed its purpose to general support and fundraising for the Rifle Club and further tours, and continues to exist as the Friends of the Rifle Club Committee.
The 1994 Tour, which involved seven boys and one girl, was an outstanding success, and an invitation was received from the National Rifle Association of Great Britain to send a further team to England in 1996. This team, of five students, contested the Imperial Meeting at Bisley and shot in the Under 25 Match against national teams from the UK and Canada.

In the mid-1990s, the Rifle Club successfully negotiated to obtain the use of a clubhouse at the ANZAC Rifle Range at Malabar. The students quickly adopted the clubhouse, which had remained unoccupied for a period of time, and - after a few coats of paint and some minor refurbishment - it has provided a home on the range for teams at successive training camps, as well as hosting visiting school rifle teams from The Armidale School and New England Girls School.

In 1998, a school team travelled to Canada to contest the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association matches at Connaught Ranges, just outside Ottawa. The same year, the school won its first GPS Rifle Shooting Premiership.

 

In 2000, along with school teams from The Armidale School and New England Girls School, a team was sent to the World Championships and 'Millennium Meeting' at Bisley. Retired Shooting Master, D. J. Fergusson, was the Tour Manager for this Australian Schools Combined Rifle Team. A number of Sydney High students were selected to compete in the Australian Under 21 Team during these Championships, with one student touring with the Australian Under 25 Team throughout Scotland and England. Other alumni competed in touring teams including the Australian Army Rifle Team.

 

In 2001 and 2022, Sydney High won all matches at the GPS Annual Shoot, to take out the coveted title of GPS Champions.    The team won the GPS Premiership in 2003, 2016, 2019 and 2023, and were co-premiers in 2009 and 2012.  Sydney High were also 2nd Grade Premiers in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. In 2009, Sydney High sent a rifle team to New Zealand for the National Championships for the first time. Sydney High again toured New Zealand in 2011.