Unfortunately this would be a guess. As most of the colonial forces imitated the British model I suggest that they are probably Commissariat soldiers from about 1885 as an infantry soldier of 1885 appears to be present.
Allan Cole says:
For this picture I agree with Jim Belshaw that the men look like they are volunteers about 1885. Hope this helps.
Allan Cole says:
Unfortunately this would be a guess. As most of the colonial forces imitated the British model I suggest that they are probably Commissariat soldiers from about 1885 as an infantry soldier of 1885 appears to be present.
Allan Cole says:
For this picture I agree with Jim Belshaw that the men look like they are volunteers about 1885. Hope this helps.
Jenny says:
Thank you to Alan Cole for pointing State Records in the direction of the NSW Volunteer Infantry encampments. Based on the helmet plates which were introduced in early 1883 the images appear to have been taken at Windsor.
Thanks to the comments of Bob Meade on flickr, an image that is related to these has been identified as Sergeants of the 2nd Regiment of the Voluntary Infantry, Easter Encampment, at Windsor in April 1884. http://archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au/staff-pick-soldiering-in-the-late-19th-century/
The above are some of forty images that State Records have grouped together on our flickr account because we believe they are of the NSW Volunteer Infantry at an Easter Encampment at Windsor, in either March 1883 or April 1884. See our Easter 2014 blog http://archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au/what-are-your-easter-memories-church-show-bags-and-chocolate-eggs-easter-encampments/
You can find a link to all forty of the images throught this article.
Thank you also to Sean Ryan for his detailed comments on the uniforms in the photos
http://archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au/australian-soldiers-in-black-and-white/4481_a026_000699/
http://archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au/australian-soldiers-in-black-and-white/4481_a026_000695/
Jenny