Suit Up And Head West For A Medieval Muster

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday April 22, 2006

Clare Morgan

STEPHEN CUNNINGHAM has enough work on his books to keep him busy for a couple of years - which isn't bad going for someone who earns a crust making armour and medieval weaponry.

Mr Cunningham, sick of the drudgery of factory work, took redundancy from his job as a fitter and turner at Lithgow's small arms factory in 1988 and set up his workshop.

"I'd been fiddling around with armour for a while before that, and I pretty much sat down and thought, 'OK, I'm going to make armour', or at least I wondered if I could make a go of it," he said.

His handiwork can be seen today and tomorrow at Ironfest, an annual cultural festival in Lithgow featuring performers and musicians, historical displays and artists and designers showing metal art including sculpture, furniture, jewellery and architectural fittings.

Demand for Mr Cunningham's work is driven by the burgeoning number of enthusiasts for medieval re-enactment, who will be out in force over the weekend. Hogging the limelight will be competitors in the Australasian Jousting Championship, featuring teams from Australia and New Zealand hurtling at each other on horseback. The Australian team is headed by the world champion, Rod Walker.

They won't be wearing Mr Cunningham's armour, but he does make suits for jousting.

"They're a lot heavier than the ones made for re-enactments," he said. "Obviously it's a full-on contact sport and very dangerous, so the emphasis is more on protection than historical accuracy."

A standard suit of armour takes about two months to make. This involves hammering the metal over forms Mr Cunningham has designed and made.

"Unfortunately there isn't a machine that can just produce a suit of armour," he said. "I haven't made that many full suits of armour. I'm more into sword hilts and so on. There seems to be a dearth of quality craftsmanship in that area."

Mr Cunningham said that far from being a dying art, armoury was going through a renaissance. "Competition is quite fierce and standards are going up."

Ironfest's director, Macgregor Ross, credits the medieval re-enactment folk with breathing life into the festival, which began in 2000. He is expecting 700 participants - about 70 of them in medieval garb - and 7000 visitors over the weekend, which will kick along the town's economy.

Market research shows about 20 per cent of visitors come from the Central West, another 20 per cent from the Blue Mountains and the same number from Sydney. Lithgow residents seem less enthused, making up 17 per cent of visitors, "but we're trying to change that".

"We're aiming to convince people that what the country music festival is to Tamworth, Ironfest is to Lithgow."

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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