UNSW Medieval and Renaissance Society
We are a sub-group of the Society for Creative Anachronism, also known as the SCA, a non-profit living history organisation that aims to recreate the Middle Ages “as they ought to have been” – with sanitation and without the plague! Basically, the SCA is for anyone interested in anything before the 17th century.
We operate within the group for the larger Sydney area, which is known as the Barony of Rowany, and this in turn operates within the Australia and New Zealand group known as the Kingdom of Lochac.
We operate under two names: within UNSW we are known as the Medieval and Renaissance Society, and within the SCA we are known as the College of St Augustine.
Some of the stuff that we do on a regular basis includes:
Heavy combat: Armoured opponents will beat on each other with a variety of wooden weapons in single combat, in small melees or in full war scenarios for glory, honour and the enjoyment of spectators. Also for nifty bruises.
Archery: Or, on the other hand, if you prefer action at a distance, you can always compete with other archers or take your skills to the warfield.
Rapier: If you were looking for something with more grace and finesse, the Rowany School of Defence might be your thing.
Making Garb: To look the part, we also make our own clothing to match the style of a particular period in history, such as 14th Century Persian, or 16th Century Italian.
Arts and Sciences: The creation of awesome, authentically period stuff, such as dances, corsets, sheet music, illumination, calligraphy or, well, anything else you're interested in. Really, if you can think of it, someone's already tried it and would love to help you out.
Feasting: When we do get our hands on authentic period recipes, we get together and celebrate by having a feast, which involves copious amounts of food, drink, dancing and other frivolity.
Music and dance: With period sheet music and dances!
Brewing
We're pretty cool.
Contact Details
Website: www.sca.org.au
Name: Nicholas Melas
Phone Number: 0434 287 020
Email Address: salah@lochac.net
O-Week Events
We will be manning a stall on the Quad Lawn Monday to Thursday. There will also be a demonstration of armoured fighting on Tuesday, between 10am and 11am on the Quad Lawn, where heavy fighters from around Sydney will perform for the entertainment of the audience. Time permitting, we will also allow people to have a go at trying to hit the fighters with a sword.
In-session Events
On March 17th, there is the annual Newcomer's Feast, which is a great opportunity for new people to find out what we're all about. There will be a tournament in the afternoon, and a feast later in that evening. Bookings close March 6th, email salah@lochac.net for more details, or talk to us about it at our stall.
From April 1st to 6th is the main SCA event of the year, Rowany Festival. Five days camping together, watching tournaments, patronising the tavern and generally having a blast. Once again, email salah@lochac.net for more details, or talk to us at our stall.
In addition to events such as these which pop up through the year, university groups will usually hold garb-making workshops, A&S workshops, armour smithing, movie watching nights, pub crawls and pretty much anything else according to popular demand, and the College of St. Augustine will be no exception. Depending on interest, we may even hold our own Feast this year.
How to get involved
Turn up to our stall sometime during the week! We're on Monday and Tuesday from 9am to 5pm, as well as Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 2pm-ish. Our fighting demonstration is on 10am to 11am as well, which is a good spectacle. We'll have drinks, as well as some board and card games in the stall, so come and get to know us!
