Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 reductions in the size of the British Army began concerning the then Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, and it was at this point that considerations were given to forming a militia force in the colony, consisting four troops of cavalry and eight companies of infantry. These plans, however, were not acted upon, as the British garrison was expanded in the 1820s. Further plans were made in the 1840s and early 1850s, but these also came to nothing. The first steps towards developing a defence manufacturing industry in Australia came in 1845, however, when 5.5-inch mortar shells went into production in Sydney to meet the demand for high trajectory fire support for British infantry attacks on Maori forts in New Zealand.