What are we about?

At GDSF, we are a fun-oriented, inclusive, and friendly bunch of people who love swords just a bit too much. All are welcome in our branch of the club.

We cater for anyone from experienced martial artists and those who might want to compete, to those who just want to turn up, swing a sword, and make some friends.

Which weapons do we train with?

  1. The Sabre in our period is a curved sword of moderate length designed primarily for slashing cuts.
  2. The Spadroon in our period is a light and straight cut and thrust sword designed to be able to do both well.
  3. The Broadsword was going out of fashion in our era in favour of the other weapons we study, however the broadsword has some advantages in that its mass is offset by its full coverage of the sword hand.
  4. The Smallsword in our period and in our area of interest is a thrust-only dueling sword that was often carried by military officers.
  5. Our knife training is centred around the Navaja, a Spanish clasp knife popular in our period.
  6. Our rapier program is still under construction at this time. More to come.

Which Historical Sources do we focus on?

We run a number of programs at GDSF.

1. Our base is the Napoleonic system of sabre, spadroon, and broadsword taught by Charles Roworth and first published in 1798.
The system is suitable for all cut and thrust swords of the period.

2. We also work with the smallsword, with influences coming via Sir William Hope, Domenico Angelo, and John MacArthur. This program supplements and improves our work with the cut and thrust blades.

3. Other weapons such as the bayonet, knife, and rapier are trained on an irregular basis according to demand.

Gunning – Wednesdays and Saturdays by appointment

Gunning Scout Hall
Warrataw Street GUNNING NSW 2581

Membership Fee

An annual fee of $25 to cover insurance needs to be paid to Stoccata Central directly
(If you attend multiple branches, you need only pay the membership fee once).
Existing Members
New Members

Training Fees

Training fees are $10 per lesson.

Staying up to date and in touch

The best way to stay up to date with everything that is happening at GDSF is via Facebook where classes will be announced as they are arranged.

Come and join us!

You are more than welcome to just turn up and observe if you like or to participate in a free trial lesson.
You can also contact us using the form below (Although Facebook will likely be answered more quickly).