Kingdom of Lochac
Encyclopedia
The Kingdom of Lochac is one of nineteen "Kingdoms" or regions, of the Society for Creative Anachronism
Society for Creative Anachronism
The Society for Creative Anachronism is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century...

 (SCA) - an international organization dedicated to researching and recreating aspects of the Middle Ages.

Comprising Australia, New Zealand and their Antarctic territories, it is made up of almost 40 local groups.

The current King and Queen are Cornelius III and Elizabeth.

The Kingdom takes its name from a Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 term for Australia dating from 1630.

General

The group has around 2000 members, and is one of Australia's oldest Living History groups, having started in 1980. The Australasian Branch includes Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and Antarctica

History

The SCA in Australia began with a local SCA inspired group, "The Society for the Current Middle Ages"(SCMA) holding its first event in November 1980 The SCMA joined the US based SCA in Sydney around 1981, and in Christchurch shortly after. Other cities in both countries formed groups, but the New Zealand groups became part of the Kingdom of Caid, while Australia became the Crown Principality (and later the Principality) of Lochac under the Kingdom of the West. Lochac became a kingdom its own right in 2002, and the New Zealand based groups joined in 2003.

Local Groups

The different branches of the group are known within the group by their SCA names, for instance Liverpool in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 is known as Agaricus, the Blue Mountains is known as the Shire of Dismal Fogs, greater Sydney itself is the Barony of Rowany.

Other groups include:
  • Barony of Aneala - Perth, Western Australia
    Perth, Western Australia
    Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

  • Barony of Ildhafn - Auckland
    Auckland
    The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

    , NZ
  • Barony of Innilgard - South Australia
    South Australia
    South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

  • Barony of Krae Glas - South Eastern Melbourne, VIC
  • Barony of Mordenvale - Newcastle, NSW
    Newcastle, New South Wales
    The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

  • Barony of Politachopolis - Canberra
    Canberra
    Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

    , ACT
  • Barony of Riverhaven - North and Western parts of Brisbane
    Brisbane
    Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

    , QLD
  • Barony of Rowany - Sydney
    Sydney
    Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

    , NSW
  • Barony of St Florian de la Riviere - Brisbane
    Brisbane
    Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

     South and Redland Shire Council, QLD
  • Barony of Southron Gaard - Christchurch
    Christchurch
    Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

    , NZ
  • Barony of Stormhold - Inner and west of Melbourne
    Melbourne
    Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

    , VIC
  • Barony of Ynys Fawr - Tasmania
    Tasmania
    Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...


  • Canton of Abertridwr - Part of Aneala
    Perth, Western Australia
    Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

  • Canton of Cairn Fell - Part of Stormhold
  • Canton of Cluain - Part of Ildhafn
    Waikato
    The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...

    , NZ
  • Canton of Draks Fjord - Part of Riverhaven
    Redcliffe
      Redcliffe City is a municipal location north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. Also known as "the Redcliffe peninsula", the area covers the suburbs of Clontarf, Kippa-Ring, Margate, Newport, Redcliffe, Rothwell, Scarborough and Woody Point.Redcliffe is home...

    , QLD
  • Canton of Stowe on the Wowld - Part of Rowany
    Western Sydney
    Western Sydney is a major region of Sydney, Australia. It has a number of different definitions but one consistently used is the region composed of the 11 councils which until recently were all members of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils:* Auburn Council* Bankstown City Council*...


  • College of Blessed Herman the Cripple - Adelaide University the first of the Colleges registered in Lochac
  • College of Saint Aldhelm - Australian National University
    Australian National University
    The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

  • College of Saint Bartholomew - University of Melbourne
    University of Melbourne
    The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

  • College of Saint Basil the Great - University of Western Australia
    University of Western Australia
    The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...

  • College of Saint Crispins - University of Newcastle
    University of Newcastle, Australia
    The University of Newcastle is an Australian public university that was established in 1965. The University's main and largest campus is located in Callaghan, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales...

  • College of Saint Gildas the Wise - University of Tasmania
    University of Tasmania
    The University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia...

  • College of Saint Monicas - Monash University
    Monash University
    Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

  • College of Saint Ursula - University of Sydney
    University of Sydney
    The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...


  • Shire of Adora - Illawarra
    Illawarra
    Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...

    , NSW
  • Shire of Arrowreach - Eastern Melbourne
    Ringwood
    Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....

    , VIC
  • Shire of Boesenburg - Bunbury, WA
    Bunbury, Western Australia
    The port city of Bunbury is the third largest city in Western Australia after the State Capital Perth and Mandurah. It is situated south of Perth's central business district...

  • Shire of Darton - Wellington
    Wellington
    Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

    , NZ
  • Shire of Dragons Bay - (Perth Southern Suburbs, Western Australia)

Awards

The society has a number of awards that are given to group members to encourage their skills in Historical based arts. Examples of these include the
  • Shining Helm - for armour
  • Order of the Pelican - for exceptional service and organisational skills
  • Order of the Chivalry - for martial prowess and chivalry
  • Order of the Laurel - Exceptional skill as an artisan, in a specialised area

Rowany Festival

The group's largest event is the Rowany Festival, a week long Medieval festival that features classes, tournaments, competitions and general revelry. It is held Easter every year, near Sydney.
The Festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

 has been running since 1983 and has grown to its current size at which 1000 people may attend. It is the largest SCA event in Australia.

Some SCA members are involved in the Crossroads Medieval Village near Yass, New South Wales
Yass, New South Wales
Yass is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Shire. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" , said to mean 'running water'....

, and in the past the Rowany Festival has been held there.

As it is held over Easter, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

s generally get together in a discreet place to hold a scheduled Easter Sunday mass. And if Pesach falls at the same time of year, there are often people cooking in accordance with the very special customs
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...

 that relate to that.

Traditionally large battles involving SCA Heavy Combat
SCA Heavy Combat
Heavy combat is a combat discipline developed by the Society for Creative Anachronism in which participants in body armour act out a form of historical combat practiced in medieval Europe without the intention to kill or maim...

 are fought at Rowany Festival that may include up to 300 combatants. Medieval feasts are held by the households participating. A "merchants row", a street of merchants, runs for the whole weekend, as well as a Saturday only market. Typically, the merchants sell arts, crafts and off the peg armour.

Rowany Festival has had four different locations - Fairholme Park in Wilton, Tara Girl Guide camp in Silverdale in Western Sydney, and Crossroads in Yass. In 2008 it has moved to the Glenworth Valley Horse Riding centre at Peats Ridge, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

.

Other events

Other large, multi day event activities include Canterbury Faire held in New Zealand, The Surveying Expedition held in Melbourne, Spring War held in Newcastle, "Autumn Gathering" and "Pencampwr" held in Western Australia.

External


Further reading

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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