A story Colin related to us. During the war his father, a WW1 veteran, was in the VDC, there was a SMLE rifle stored behind a door in the house. Each Sunday Colin's parents would go out for a few hours . Colin would grab the rifle and he and a friend rode their bikes through town with the rifle in clear view. The ammo was found at the RAAF rifle range. Colin said the RAAF chaps had discarded the rounds, just dropped them on the ground and anyone could collect the rounds. Colin made the point that nobody said anything or came up to them while they were firing off the SMLE - different times. 14 year old kids playing with firearms
Shepparton Newspaper 1940: