A unique two-day shooting competition between high schools in rural Queensland held its most successful event do date this month when 74 rifle shooters and 46 shotgun shooters from 18 schools participated in the 2026 event at Clifton Benchrest Shooting Club.
Participants took part in clay target shooting events on 14 May 14, then .22 LR rifle shoots on the 15th.
Clay Shaw came out on top as both Overall Winner and Boys Multidiscipline Winner, with Jorja Cairns being the Girls Multidiscipline Winner.
The Clifton Benchrest Shooting Club and Clifton State High School have been running regular organised, supervised shooting events at the club since around 2012.
As part of the event, students obtain their firearms safety certificate for a minor’s licence in term 1, and in terms 2, 3 and 4 they participate in Friday weekly .22 LR benchrest shoots at the range.
The events became so popular that in 2022 an inter-school shooting competition was established in the region, with 18 shooters from six schools taking part in a rimfire benchrest competition.
The numbers continued to increase each year, and in 2024 a second one-day event was added to the calendar — and the participation and support for the event have just continued to grow, with the club and school adding a two-day event for Semester 2, 2025.
The event has Clifton State High School’s full support and is co-ordinated by Clifton Benchrest Shooting Club vice-president Ashleigh Brown and Clifton State High School teacher Brendon Thorpe.
Shooters come from as far afield as Goondiwndi, Roma, Toogalawah and many other towns in the region – and some even making the trip from placed like Woodenbong in NSW.
“The support we receive is amazing,” Ms Brown said. “At our most recent event we had donations from 30 different businesses and individuals in cash and merchandise.
“2025 was when we went wild and decided to really test the boundaries.
“We knew we had a great team around us and working with us, so we decided to try our luck at a multi-discipline two-day event.
“Here we are, six months later, hosting interstate schools with parents driving their kids six hours to compete in our wild idea of a two-day multidiscipline shoot.”
Mr Thorpe said moving to a two-day multi-discipline competition was the event turning point, and had been done because they were struggling to keep up with the numbers.
“The rifle day was running at full capacity and we didn’t want to have to be turning kids away due to the nominations being full.
“In hindsight, it’s probably been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made,” he said.
“Last September we got over a 100 nominations and now six months later, just last week, we ended up with 120.
“Shooters are travelling up from NSW and staying overnight so that they can compete across the two days, whereas before, they wouldn’t travel to Queensland for a one-day event.”
Mr Thorpe said Clifton State High School had been offering Friday afternoon rimfire rifle shooting as a sport elective since 2014, and were proud to also be hosting the only two-day inter-school multi-discipline shoot in Australia.
“That’s something no other school has to offer; and after being in education for 20 odd years, I know for a fact, that without the full support from the school, we would not be participating in weekly rimfire shoots and we certainly would not be hosting a two-day event of this nature, size and magnitude,” he said.
Mr Thorpe said in addition to the competition and enjoyment the participants had, they also learned important lessons about responsibility and teamwork as well.
“I like the old saying, if you want to keep a kid’s feet on the ground, you put a bit of responsibility on their shoulders,” he said.
“Our local Clifton State High School kids help with distributing the wrist bands after signing in of the range registers, they help cook the BBQ for lunch, they hand out the morning tea, they prepare and staple all the targets together in the mornings, they set the shade shelters up and then pack them back up.
“All the kids jump in and help as they arrive — whether they’re Clifton kids or not, they jump in and help with the set up and pack up, and it just seems to work.”
Mr Thorpe said it was rewarding to see that, with rules in place and range procedures and protocols clearly explained during the safety brief each morning, the teenage competitors all stepped up and rose to the occasion, conducting themselves in the same way as seasoned adult shooters at a weekend club shoot.
“This is the future of shooting in the bush and we need to hang onto an event such as a two-day multi-discipline shoot and nurture it; but probably most importantly, keep it going and protect it,” he said.
The next event is scheduled for 4-5 September. For more information e-mail cbscinterschool2dayshoot@gmail.com.
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