The 900 and 1800 pair telecom distribution pillars (aka cabinets) are still a familiar sight almost everywhere in Australia where copper networks are still used, however prior to the early 1970s they were only deployed in metropolitan areas, and apparently one of the concerns of deploying them in rural areas was that they’d be shot at.

June 1966 issue of the Telecommunications Journal of Australia (TJA) has an article titled “Aluminum Distribution Cabinets – Resistance to Rifle Fire” is below, click to get the image full size.

At the short range, the vandal is expected to have either sufficient common sense or hard earned experience to realise the danger of ricochet.