Blacktown City Medieval Fayre

Me with Sabrina the Wedge-tailed Eagle and handler

The Blacktown City Medieval Fayre took place at Nurragingy Reserve on the weekend of the 22nd-23rd of May. Run by volunteers from the Blacktown City Council, and many re-enactment groups, it was a large and enjoyable event. 

There were a range of stalls selling food and medieval wares, and many demonstrations by re-enactors. The highlight were the jousting, fighting and the birds of prey demonstrations.

Unfortunately I was only at the event for about three hours and was not able to see everything, but I was able to catch these three:

One of the lady knights

The jousting involved several trained horsemen and women who are professional jousters and participate in competitions around the country, some even overseas. There were quite a few broken lances, and it was a very exciting event to watch. The knights and ladies also demonstrated their skill at tasks such as collecting rings with a lance and hitting the quintain while riding past.

The Peregrine Falcon and handler

The bird demonstration involved three birds of Prey: a Peregrine Falcon, an Owl and an Australian Wedge-tailed Eagle. Birds of prey were used to hunt in Medieval days. Depending on your rank, you were allowed to own certain birds.

Sabrina the Wedge-tailed Eagle was particularly eye-catching. She is 25 years old now. I saw her at Ironfest back in 2013. In the display, she hunted a fake fox. She has a wingspan of two metres and is absolutely a fierce predator. In captivity they can live to around 40 years old.

The Scy'kadia LARP group preparing for combat

At the end of the day, the different styles of re-enactment fighting were demonstrated by three groups. There were the Full Metal Weapons group who use completely historical weapons and armour. They fight more slowly and do not make full contact as their weapons could cause serious injury.

Second were the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) who used rattan weapons. These weapons are not deadly, but still pack a punch. They also used padding to dull the blows a little. They fight fast, using realistic historical fighting styles. Because there is no metal, no one is going to lose a limb.

Last but not least were the Live Action Roleplayers (LARPERs) from the group Scy’kadia. These fight in character as their LARP characters, and often add flair and magic to their fights. Their costumes were a real pleasure to see. I especially liked one person in a brightly coloured witches hat, fighting with a magical staff. They use hit points in their games, so after five hits, the character is dead.

A barbarian and a knight battling

There were many other things I did not have time to fully investigate. There were weavers and makers of historical weapons, a blacksmith, who unfortunately was waiting for their forge to heat as I went by. There was a hangman “hanging” people and talking about medieval torture, and some kind of medieval doctor who looked rather untrustworthy.

There were re-enactors of all sorts demonstrating in smaller fields, such as the Roman Legion VI Vitrix and a Viking group. There were also representatives from Stoccata sword fighting school showing off their skills.

Among the guests of the fayre most made an effort of dress up, with a lot of peasant and medieval dresses, hooded cloaks, and quite a few LARP costumes that I wish I had photos of. 

Legion VI Vitrix training for combat

There was also axe throwing, archery, and children’s events such as a circus school, jumping castle and camel or pony rides.

Many thanks go to the organisers, volunteers and Blacktown Council for holding this event. Hopefully I will be able to attend again next year!