Brief history of the club property
The NESSCI property is centred on one of Adelaide’s historic mining sites — the shooting ranges are nestled in quarries from which sandstone was derived for construction of parts of the Adelaide GPO, Town Hall, St Peter’s Cathedral, St Francis Xavier Cathedral and other notable buildings in the 1800s. One of the ranges is built in a clay pit that provided materials for manufacture of earthenware vessels in the early 1900s. The quarries provided an excellent basis for developing a high-quality and safe range facility due to the high rock faces, undulating terrain, and surrounding native vegetation to help abate noise.
Introduction to NESSCI
The NESSCI Club is located at 23 Range Road North Upper Hermitage on the corner of North East Road and Range Road North in the foothills overlooking Adelaide, 2 km east of the Tea Tree Gully Hotel. The 14 ha club property comprises 2 ha of cleared land, 2 ha of ranges and infrastructure (including roads and firebreaks), and 10 ha of indigenous vegetation.
The property, which is owned freehold by the club, was used initially by Mayne Nickless Security Company as a training area for their armed guards, and as a company pistol club, in the 1960s. The attractive semi-rural setting and easy access from metropolitan Adelaide soon interested family and friends and, in 1978, the North Eastern and Securities Shooting Club was incorporated.
The name was changed in October 2001 to North Eastern Sports Shooting Club Inc (NESSCI) to more accurately reflect the recreational events that the club now holds.
The NESSCI environment
Description of the ranges
The live-firing ranges are divided into two groups, one at the eastern end of the property and the other 400 m to the west
The eastern group of ranges caters for International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF) events (predominantly those shot at the Olympic Games). It comprises a 50 m range with pneumatically driven time-fire (turning) targets, and a 25 m sighting range. The clubhouse, storage facilities, and small toilet block are adjacent to these ranges. A 12-competitor indoor air pistol range has just been completed.
The western group comprises a 100 m rifle range, a 25 m static range, and a ‘Hogan’s Alley’ (mock two-storey village) in which moving targets are located. These ranges cater for Practical Pistol and shotgun events accredited by International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) Australia. Several sheds and storage facilities are located in this area.
Public safety
Trespassers were formerly an occasional problem on the NESSCI property, and have included nearby residents using firearms without permission, bushwalkers, campers, trail bike riders, and people dumping rubbish illegally. The club recognised the possibility of an incident with these people, particularly if they wandered onto a range during live firing.
In 1998, the club completed a 1.8 m high chain link fence with double barbed wire completely around the property, a project that commenced several years earlier with the fencing of the Range Road North boundary. The 1.4 km long fence was paid for entirely out of club funds.
Revegetation program
The 10 ha of native vegetation comprises mostly eucalyptus (primarily stringybark species) woodland, incorporating over 70 other native species identified in a Vegetation Management Plan prepared for the club in 2008. The club has an active program of gorse, boneseed, blackberry, bridal creeper and other weed species control. It is a Corporate Member of Trees for Life and has an active Bush Care program.
NESSCI has embarked on a program of tree and shrub planting for the purpose of:
- revegetation of part of the 2 ha cleared of trees prior to the club acquiring the premises
- noise abatement through the additional baffling effect of vegetation
- enhancing the aesthetics of the property.
Several hundred seedlings have been planted in the cleared area adjacent to the entrance road, and this revegetation program is ongoing.
NESSCI modernisation program
In 2000, NESSCI embarked on a program of upgrading the shooting ranges and facilities which at that time were over 30 years old, and had changed little since first built.
The intent of the program was to bring the ranges in line with State and National standards for the number of competitors and types of events that can be held concurrently, provide for events that have appeared on the Australian scene over the past decade and, importantly, provide modern, safe facilities for all competitors and visitors.
The main components of that program were to:
- Rebuild the 50 m Olympic-style ISSF range to provide optimum shooting conditions:
- the range was turned through 90° such that competitors were shooting ‘down sun’, and avoided a fire-access track that formerly cut through the range
- a weatherproof shelter was built over the 20 shooting bays
- an electronic ‘returning target’ system was installed such that competitors do not have to move forward of the firing line to score targets, which provides for much greater safety
- overhead baffles were built in front of each shooting bay to prevent stray projectiles from leaving the range.
The rebuild was completed in 2002 with assistance from a State Government Active Club Program grant.
- Straw-batt acoustic insulation was fitted to the 50 m ISSF range in 2009 to lessen the noise impact on neighbours. This was funded entirely by the club.
- An old 70 m IPSC range at the western end of the property was reprofiled in 2008 to a full 100 m range to cater for shotgun, .22 rifle and centre fire rifle events. This was funded entirely by the club.
- A weatherproof firing-line shelter was constructed on the 100 m range in 2011, funded entirely by the club.
- A modern composter toilet was built to service the IPSC ranges in 2013. This was constructed with assistance from a State Government Active Club Program grant.
- Construction of a 12-competitor air pistol range was approved by TTG Council in 2017, and this is now complete. This was constructed with assistance from a State Government Active Club Program Grant.
- A female/disabled ablution block was completed in mid-2020 with assistance from a Federal Government Community Sport Infrastructure Grant.