In 1906 the Australian Government decided that it could no longer rely upon Britain for her defence needs and decided to build a factory for the manufacture of arms.
The Lithgow Small Arms Factory was Australia's first high precision mass production facility and has an historic association with the inaugural Australian Federal Government of 1901.
Following World War 1, the SAF entered the commercial marketplace, in an attempt to sustain the maximum number of employees during the economic recession that followed. Numerous commercial products were manufactured until the commencement of the hostilities of WW II.