Shooters’ cup lost over a century ago discovered under farmhouse floorboards and returned to Katanning Museum

A trophy discovered during a house clearance in Bolgart, northeast of Perth, turned out to be a long-lost shooters’ cup donated to the Katanning Rifle Club in 1906. The Dr FM House Championship Cup was presented to the club by Katanning’s first resident medical officer, Frederick House, who said it should be competed for across all ranges from 1908. The winner would be deemed the club’s champion rifleman, and it was hotly contested from 1908 to 1914, when World War I broke out. After a hiatus during the conflict, the championship re-started — but there was no sign of the trophy. Several members, including Dr House and local riflemen Wally Williams and Lou Moore, continued to compete and another trophy was commissioned in the absence of the original. However, during a clearout at a property in Bolgart, the trophy was found under the floorboards of a house on the farm. A marksman called G. Woods, a relation of the Woods who owned the Bogart property, had won the cup in 1912, 1913 and 1914. Lacking its base, the cup was returned to the Katanning Historical Society and Museum, with president Rob Godfrey creating a new base to acknowledge post-World War I winners. Katanning Historical Society and Museum secretary Susanne Bilney researched the background of the trophy and discovered Dr House (1865-1936) was a magistrate as well as the town’s first doctor. Wally J. Williams won it 12 times before World War II, while local resident Jim Moore Jnr, 84, won it 18 times in the more modern era. Mr Moore, a life member of the Great Southern Rifle Association, is probably the most enduring participant in the State’s history. He has competed for WA and for Australia, heading overseas to represent his country at events in Canada, Kenya and England. As recently as 2023, then aged 82, he won medals at the Kings rifle competition in Joondalup, securing medals at 900m, 500m, 400m and the D3 class. He said he was delighted the cup had been found and was to be on show at the town’s museum. Mr Godfrey said he could only assume Mr Woods took the cup with him when war broke out. “It didn’t have a base when it was found, so I made up a simple one that looked like it could have come from that time, and we got a local firm to put the winners on a plaque,” he said. “The plaque is largely symbolic but it’s nice to acknowledge the winners.”