Bright future for long-standing air rifle group at Wodonga's German Austrian Australian Club

The German Austrian Australian Club was formed by immigrants to the Border in 1960 and its air rifle group, known as Freischutz Shooting Group, was officially established in 1973.

Numbers have dwindled in recent years due the club's ageing membership, but a new partnership with University of the Third Age Albury-Wodonga, an educational, recreational and social group for retired and semi-retired seniors, which began leasing the GAAC building on McFarland Road in Wodonga this year, has seen it offer air rifle shooting as a subject to make use of the range in the basement of the facility.

Wodonga Sporting Shooters Australia Association range officer Bob Cranage got his grounding in the sport when he joined as a member of the GAAC in 1978 and has been involved in various disciplines ever since.

He and fellow air rifle coach Ian Guthrie have been running classes for U3A on Tuesday afternoons at the GAAC with the long-term goal of students staying on as members to bring about the return of weekly shoots for the club.

"I'd been a school teacher at Wodonga West Secondary and we used to go down there for sport in the 80s and 90s, but in recent years it had dwindled down to three, four or five of us shooting and it looked like it was going to close," Mr Cranage said.

"I suggested to Ian Guthrie we offer it to the U3A because they were shifting their location and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to involve some older people in our sport.

"Our long-term plans were that we would take a back seat after 12 months and hopefully the people from the U3A would step up and join the GAAC and run the organisation again.

"If people get really keen on it, it could open up again after hours."

Shooting at the GAAC has come a long way from when it began at the club's original headquarters at a house in Hovell Street where a makeshift 10-metre range was set up with holes through bedroom walls.

"People would meet and socialise in the kitchen and dining area and from the main bedroom to the second and third bedroom they'd chop big holes through the walls and we could have three or four people line up and shoot 10 metres through the rooms," Mr Cranage said.

"It was controlled and that's how it took place.

"That's where the first Oktoberfest occurred and they became very popular and had a strong following, so they eventually raised the funds to build the facility at McFarland Road.

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"Doina Eitler and Ingrid Neviandt were the two ladies who kept the club going for many years until they retired from shooting.

"I can also remember Hasso Wittwer and his older brother Hans. Hasso had been shooting well into his 90s and was a really colourful character of the club.

"They lent me their rifles for me to get started.

"The main stalwart behind it for the last 20 years has been Michael Judd. He's an ex-serviceman and until his recent downturn in health, he held it together."

The GAAC has long been affiliated with Air Rifle Association of Australia and Mr Cranage said students had been offered a chance to join the national body.

Border U3A president Rodd Farr said the partnership had been a win for all.

"We moved in here permanently this year and we've leased the building from the GAAC for weekdays from nine to five and they use it for their members of an evening and weekends," Mr Farr said.

"We finished up with seven or eight in the shooting class, but one or two dropped out. It's working well because everyone is getting a good shoot for an hour-and-a-half.

"I keep bragging we're the only U3A in Australia that has a rifle range, a dance floor and a bar. To be used in that order.

"We've managed to set up three classrooms. The one in the basement, the large one upstairs and we've got a grant to install big doors to block off one area upstairs to create a third classroom."

U3A Albury-Wodonga has more than 300 members and offers a range of other activities and classes, with bird watching and garden groups among the most popular.

"Others we have available are American history, international relations, chess, 500 cards, mahjong. We've got two philosophy classes and a number of other discussion groups," Mr Farr said.

Term three classes start on July 26 with registrations made on the the U3A Albury-Wodonga website.

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