The Military History Society of NSW

  This is the "From the Editor" column of the Summer 2025 Issue of Reconnaissance , the quarterly magazine of The Military History Society of New South Wales. Welcome to the Summer 2025 Issue of Reconnaissance . From our English inheritance of mistrusting over-mighty standing armies and calling on civilian reserves in times of threat, the concept of volunteer soldiering or militia service was implanted in the Australian colonies by the mid-nineteenth century. Interest in this form of defence intensified after the withdrawal of regular British troops in 1870. Since militiamen or reservists remained, primarily, civilians who served on a part-time basis, some degree of overlap between their work status in civil life and their military service was a natural development, as it was deep into English history. Many regiments and sub-units adopted identities associated with the occupations, professions and institutions to which their members belonged, as well as, of course, the loca...