Notes: From 1959 until the early 1990s, the Australians used the British L-1A1 (licensed to the Australian company of the Lithgow Small Arms Factory) as their standard personal weapon, when it was replaced by the F-88 (the Australian designation for the Steyr AUG). The first Australian L-1A1s were virtually identical to British-built L-1A1s, with the exception of the markings, the use of native woods for the furniture, and anti-fouling grooves cut into the sides of the bolt carrier (increasing the reliability of Australian L-1A1s). The carrying handles were also generally made of plastic instead of wood, and had shallow finger grooves. Barrels are, as with most FAL-derivatives, 20 inches long. Lithgow L-1A1’s were sold far and wide as well as being used by Australia; though they are held in reserve in Australia, they are still in use by several former British Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean as well as Fiji and Malaysia, and are held in reserve stocks in Malaysia and Singapore.

Many troops had difficulty with the large size of the L-1A1 (nearly 4 feet), especially smaller soldiers, parachutists, and those operating in heavy bush. The Australians thus modified the standard L-1A1; they shortened the barrel to 18.2 inches (tipping it with a flash suppressor that is shorter though more effective), and redesigned and also shortened the butt a little, The resulting weapon is 70mm shorter and over half a kilogram lighter, and much more manageable.

A heavy-barreled variant of the Lithgow L-1A1 was also produced in the 1970s, primarily meant for use as a light support weapon. Designated the L-2A1, it proved inadequate in that role, and was quickly replaced by the L-4 version of the Bren machinegun, it did see some use as a designated marksman’s weapon with the addition of a low-power scope. Most, however, were placed in reserve stocks, or issued to Reserves and other second-line units. The L-2A1 uses a heavy 20.95-inch barrel, modified tangent-bar sights, an attached folding bipod, and a slightly-modified flash suppressor which prevented the use of rifle grenades or a bayonet.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The infamous "Brisbane Black Widow" a civilian female sniper that proved to be extremely deadly to invading Indonesian Forces, used a scoped version of this weapon. Large numbers of L-1A1-F1s (and standard L-1A1s as well as L-2A1s) were quickly handed out to Australian civilians shortly before the Indonesian invasion.

Merc 2000 Notes: Most Australians L-1A1s were resold to other countries or civilians; the L-1A1-F1 was likewise sold, but more were retained for Australian military use than the standard L-1A1.

Notes: The rights to produce Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk 3-series rifles was licensed to the Royal Australian Small Arms Factory in Lithgow (also known as simply Lithgow Small Arms, or just Lithgow) in 1912 (prior to that, they bought the same rifles directly from Lee-Enfield). While Lithgow did make a considerable number of those rifles, they also produced a few interesting variants of the No. 1 Mk 3.

The No. 1 Mk 3 Short-Pattern rifle was designed in 1944; it was an attempt to make, as the name would suggest, a carbine variant of the No. 1 Mk 3. This version was meant for jungle and urban fighting, where a full-sized No. 1 Mk 3 might be a bit unwieldy. Prototypes had both 18 and 20-inch barrels, but eventually a 20.2-inch barrel was settled upon. However, at the same time, the No.6 Mk 3 (see below in this entry) was also being experimented with, and a few months later development of the No. 1 Mk 3 version was abandoned. The Short-Pattern essentially had the same mechanism as a standard No. 1 Mk 3 rifle, but with a shorter barrel and a different bayonet. The bayonet was the only part of the program which survived the development process; it was the standard bayonet for the Owen submachinegun. Only 3 of the 20-inch-barrel prototypes were produced, along with 2 more 18-inch-barrel versions; after that, 100 more were made with the 20.2-inch barrels for field trials and combat trials.

Feedback from the troops indicated that they preferred a shorter barrel, but that they thought an 18-inch barrel would be too short for the .303 British cartridge. In early 1945, the No. 6 Mk 1 rifle was fielded, with a 19-inch barrel. The barrel was tipped with a conical flash suppressor, and the fore-end was cut back to half its normal length, with grooves added to provide a better grip. Half of the No.6 Mk 1s produced had brass buttplates and tangent-leaf rear sights (designated No. 6 Mk 1), and half had pivoting aperture sights and hard rubber buttplates (designated No. 6 Mk 1/1). Unfortunately, in the wake of the final surrender of Japan in September of 1945, production of the No. 6 Mk 1 stopped, after only 200 had been built. In 1954, some 50 were re-chambered for the Royal Australian Air Force for 7.62mm NATO and altered to accept 20-round magazines, but the chambers were never meant for a high chamber pressure round like the 7.62mm NATO cartridge, and they were removed from service within a few months due to their being considered unsafe to fire.