In 1940, Evelyn Owen of NSW a 23 yr old tinker who made his own open bolt sub machine gun, of dubious legality, at home enlisted in WW2. His neighbor, Wardell, a factory owner found it laying against Owen’s family home in a bag soon after Evelyn’s departure.

Wardell would put further R&D into it then he presented it to the Aussie Military. Expecting to get Sten guns soon they turned down Wardell. Wardell would run a PR campaign presenting it as ‘Hometown Boy Makes Gun to Win War’.

After going through many caliber changes, they finalized on 9mm. Thanks to the Wardell’s campaign non-military government officials demanded he be given a fair chance. It did exceedingly well in trials, and was adopted to be used as the primary SMG from WW2 through early 1960s.

Video: https://youtu.be/g_3AoDf7CeE?si=tadEI3I4pH3wmlPE [17:14]