Shooting Trophy presented to 3rd Ballarat Rifle Rangers by Captain A M Greenfield

Sterling silver trophy consisting of an ovoid bowl supported by three Snider-Enfield style rifles, which are encircled by a wreath. The rifles sit on a tricorn style base. The bowl is engraved 'Presented to / THE / 3d Ballaarat (sic) Rangers / BY / CAPTN GREENFIELD / WON BY / SERGT T W WHITE / March 3d 1870'. The hallmark on bowl indicates 1862 London manufacture with a duty mark for the 1838 - 1890 period. The maker's initials are ORES (or OREF).

The Ballarat Volunteer Rifle Regiment was formed on 9 August 1858 following a meeting the previous October at Bath's Hotel, Ballarat, to consider establishing a volunteer rifle corps in the district. The necessity for a local militia in Victoria had been pressing since the rise of bushrangers in the early 1840s and the matter was brought to a head by two unrelated events - the 1854 Eureka Stockade uprising; and the scare of Russian designs on Australia during the Crimean War (1853-56). These led to Governor Sir Charles Hotham approving an Act to establish a Volunteer Corps in 1854 of a force not exceeding 2,000 members. By 1860 this had been amended to 10,000.

The Ballarat Volunteer Rifle Regiment was renamed the Ballarat Volunteer Rifle Rangers in 1860, and Ballarat Volunteer Rangers in 1863, a title it retained until 1884, when it became 3 Battalion, Victoria Rifles.

This trophy was one of two presented for a rifle competition held in March 1870, the second being awarded to Captain A M Greenfield. It was was presented to Sergeant Thomas William White by Captain A M Greenfield. White was born in England in 1829 and migrated to Victoria in 1852. He served as the secretary to the 3rd Ballarat Rangers, and later Quartermaster-Sergeant. White died in February 1897.