Every fortnight, the striking mid-Century-style St Catherine's Hall becomes a portal to the past and transforms into a battleground for the most niche sport to come to Launceston.
Walking through the doors of the hall and all you can hear is the clashing of metal on metal, a grating noise that is unmistakable.
When you think about the Knights Templar, you think conspiracy theories, the Holy Grail and the Freemasons, or maybe it's a throwback to something like the Da Vinci Code.
These days the Knights Templar are experts in the art of escapism and teaches its members methods of medieval sword-fighting.
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The Tasmanian branch of the Knights Templar started on the North-West Coast and are key players behind the Medieval Festival at Sheffield.
The Medieval Festival is their endgame - they plan the festival and present a tournament there each year. However, due to the ever-present COVID pandemic, the festival was cancelled twice.
However, planning is in full swing for the 2023 iteration of the festival and the organisation is looking for new members as it expands north.
Chaz Elms has been training with the Knights Templar for six years, and there's one thing he wants people to know - prepare to get physical.
"The way that we practice, we do it in a method that's safe as well as looks good," he said.
"We will always try to deliver a hard-looking blow in a safe manner...but bruises are inevitable."
Mr Elms holds the rank of swordmaster and has trained to use a two-handed sword, which not everyone has the opportunity to do.
Learners can use a practice sword, made from the same material as police batons, but the most common sword used looks more traditional - a steel sword blunted on the ends.
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Relative newcomer Trudy Owens said the practice was about sword-fighting techniques and blows and was more akin to martial arts than what people might expect or assume.
"It's a different workout altogether," she said.
Ms Owens, who has been training for about a year, said the Knights Templar was more a sport, rather than a live-action role play, or LARP.
LARPing involves dressing up in traditional medieval or other time period dress, and re-enacting or acting out storylines.
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"We don't have names for each other when we come, but we're about learning the techniques of sword-play," Ms Owens said.
"We come here to train and get better and learn a new skill."
Learning how to land a blow with a medieval sword might sound simple, but it can be quite challenging, the pair said.
The swords can weight over an kilogram, and it takes a lot of upper body strength to pull it off.
"The golden rule is if you don't hit us harder than you expect to get hit we do it in a real safe way, especially for beginners," Mr Elms said.
And not only are the swords heavy, but for safety, all members, but particularly beginners, are kitted out with traditional safety garments including gauntlets and brigadeens for the chest.
Leg protection is also worn, and helmets must be worn at all times to protect the skull.
The most important member of the team is Sven - a six-foot tall wooden dummy who bears the brunt of most of the training drills.
Sven has targets for all the main cuts and thrusts used in training - and each training session starts off with each person practicing those skills.
Ms Owen said her introduction to the sport came quite by accident.
"I was driving past one day with a friend and Chaz and Bill were in the park running through some drills, I thought it looked like a fun thing to try and I was right," she said.
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The first time they stopped for a watch, then the second time they gave it a go and she never looked back.
Mr Elms' introduction to the sport was more linear.
"I started out as a kid, playing Dungeons and Dragons, I have always loved swords...they are fun to hold and fun to hit," he said.
That passion led to the Medieval Festival, when it was in its infancy at Wynyard and Mr Elms said he knew he had to try.
"I think it's just a little bit of escapism, its hard to not want to in the mad rush of the day-to-day of modern society, you can't get away."
Trainer Bill Flowers said the aim of the organisation and the festival was to make sword-fighting "accessible to a large variety of people."
Public demonstrations and events like the Medieval Festival raise money for causes such as the homeless community and helping those who are vulnerable.
The Burnie group is much larger, but Mr Flowers said he wanted to grow Launceston's membership to make the sport as accessible as possible.
Mr Flowers said it was also an important outlet as a physical sport for people who may be interested in things like video games.
"We want people who might be doing these things in their games to come and have a go," he said.
"It's much more physical than people expect."
He said martial arts was a good outlet for people to use physical aggression in a safe way and sword-fighting could be good for stress.
"A big part of mental health is exercise. If you exercise, it's going to help you mentally. Coming here is exercise. And people may look at this and hear the word exercise and roll their eyes but we frame it as something fun you can do, it's more like play," he said.
And what does Mr Flowers think about getting geared up?
"It's just really the best PPE gear, if you like. We use the helmet where possible, we use the swords. So what we're looking at is probably late medieval, early Renaissance sort of helmets and things which are designed to take an impact."
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I have worked in the Tasmanian digital/print media for 11 years, spanning two newsrooms. I have developed a keen interest in agricultural, development and education news, as well as issues-based long-form journalism. Contact me at caitlin.jarvis@examiner.com.au
I have worked in the Tasmanian digital/print media for 11 years, spanning two newsrooms. I have developed a keen interest in agricultural, development and education news, as well as issues-based long-form journalism. Contact me at caitlin.jarvis@examiner.com.au
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