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- The Old Guard was an Australian anti-communist organisation which was founded in 1930 and was primarily active in New South Wales. Its exact origins are disputed. At least one historian has claimed that it existed as early as 1917. It has been described as a paramilitary, quasi-official, vigilante, anti-communist organisation. The group was primarily concerned with the social conditions arising from the Great Depression, and the actions of the Labor state government in New South Wales led by Premier Jack Lang. Neither the Old Guard, nor its offshoot, the New Guard, supported the Australia First Movement. In response to rumours that fires would be started by agitators, the Old Guard was a driving force behind the more effective organisation of country bush fire brigades in New South Wales. As fears of a communist takeover subsided, the Old Guard lacked purpose and was dissolved sometime in the 1950s. (en)
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