Alyssa Walker, The Buloke Times
A group of over 50 archers descended upon Dunolly on August 4, preparing to defend the realm for the annual medieval shoot.
With no one too old or too young to join the ranks, archers seized their cloaks, bows, and quivers (and in some cases, their armour) and took to the shooting range for the two-day competition.
Golden Triangle Archers Two-Day Traditional Shoot attracted folks from Castlemaine to Canberra, Mildura to Melbourne, with little old me from Donald right in the middle of it. I was far from the only Donald archer in attendance, though this was my first ever official Donald Archer’s outing. In my humble opinion, it was a brilliant weekend!
If archery draws to mind images of Robin Hood and the likes, then that is certainly appropriate for a traditional shoot (which uses longbows and recurve bows instead of the more technical compound bows), and doubly appropriate for this particular competition, as the archery wasn’t the only thing being scored that weekend. There were also prizes on offer for the best medieval costume!
Though I won no prizes for my dress-up, it was certainly fun – and I had much better luck in the shoot itself.
As I have only ever used a recurve bow, this weekend at Dunolly was the perfect competition debut for me.
After setting up camp on the Friday night and devouring a most delicious dinner of various homemade soups (and sleeping through the worst of the cold), we gathered ourselves early the next morning and, in groups, set off to face the first leg of the competition, weaving our way through the 24-target shooting course. Among other things, we sank a deadly cardboard Viking ship, loosed (and lost) many arrows trying to catch the flying pig, and when faced with the classic apple-atop-the-head challenge, definitely aimed for the apple instead of the doll beneath it. After a hearty lunch of homemade goulash, we set out for the second leg of the competition that I will affectionately call the Siege. With targets set out on the football oval, we were tasked with defending the realm and stopping them from reaching the wall. All shooting as one, we’d no sooner “take down” one wave (and tally our points) before the next wave had pressed even closer! Through valiant effort, and many arrows, we managed to drive back these invaders though – so don’t worry, Dunolly, you’re safe! No need to thank us!
Free rein
Then came my favourite part of the whole event. We (within safety limits, obviously) were basically given free rein to shoot as high in the sky as we wanted, and just let the arrows fly. I mean, there was definitely still a target across the oval I was supposed to be aiming at (this one being on the ground instead of upright), but it was so fun to just… let loose – pun intended.
After points were tallied once more, we were all treated to a special display from the Ballarat medieval combat group, Western Wolves, as one of the combatants (Brooke Wright) was also an archer. And when the crowd was asked to cheer for their favourite in determining the victors of each bout, there definitely wasn’t any bias at all, nope.
We got to try some different forms of combat ourselves – for those who wanted, there was also an axe- and knife- throwing competition to partake in. Aside from this one time as a kid where I stole one of my mum’s butter knives to practise knife-throwing in the shed (sorry Mum), it was also my first time trying my hand at that, too! It was nice to use a knife that actually stuck into its wooden target, instead of ricocheting off and making this awful clanging noise when it hit the shed wall that scared you too badly to ever try it again.
Second round
After a fantastic spit-roast pork and lamb dinner with apple turnover for dessert, the various costumes were judged and raffle prizes drawn, then we all trickled away to our various different tents as the evening progressed, ready for the final step of the competition in the morning – a second round of the 24-target shooting course.
Once more, we sank the Viking ship (it repaired mysteriously fast), failed to catch the flying pig, and most definitely didn’t aim for the doll’s head. My Sunday course score was better than my Saturday one, and it was honestly nice to see I improved. The real surprise for me would come after lunch though, when the competition winners were announced.
To the surprise of no one, Donald’s Geoffrey Blake won his category (men’s longbow), though I was pleasantly surprised to find myself third in my respective category (ladies recurve). Also from the Donald Archers, Melissa Stopps came first in ladies longbow and Amber Healey third.
As the event wore down and everyone began to pack up, goodbyes and good wishes were shared, along with promises to meet again soon. And it was honestly great to get to meet so many new people. There was lots of fun and laughter shared; though a little daunting for me at first, because everyone seemed to know each other already, I found myself warmly welcomed into this brilliant, extensive family.
Thank you so much to Blakey, for bringing me into this community and supporting my archery pursuits so wholeheartedly.
And people had better watch out next year, because the archery competition won’t be the only one I’ll have set out to win. I’m going to have the best costume ever, just you wait!
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 18 August 2023.
