Scholar Victoria is a Melbourne based non-profit community organisation working to teach and promote Historical Fencing as a martial art and competitive sport.
Our clubs focuses on Longsword, Sidesword, as well as 19th Century Sabre, and we periodically venture into other systems such as Staff, Dagger, and even Rapier. For more on information head to What We Teach.
At Scholar Victoria we believe that Historical Fencing and Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) should be a rewarding experience that is accessible to people from all walks of life. Our members ARE the club, and work hard to ensure that everyone feels part of the group, striving to provide feedback and opportunities for our members to grow within Historical Fencing, whether their interest be competitive, historical, or simply social, and work to help our members become the very best fencer that they can be.
Instructors/Coaches
Daniel is the primary coach at Scholar Victoria,
His historical fencing journey began in 2011, and builds on his experience in traditional Japanese sword arts and jujutsu, as well as modern fencing, boxing, and wushu.
Daniel has been teaching classes formally for the past 7 years, and has actively promoted Historical Fencing as a martial art and sport, creating events and spaces where all members of the Historical Fencing can come together to train, share ideas, compete, and build a community.
With a background in cognitive science, he has a special interest in the science of training, focusing on contemporary constraint based approaches to coaching, as well as traditional methods. His approach balances historical techniques with a modern approach, to create an authentic and adaptable fencing style.
Daniel has competed at the international level, achieving competitive success across multiple weapon divisions, and has been ranked in the top 20 Longsword fencers worldwide since 2017, peaked at number 1 in Sidesword in 2024, as is ranked in the top 20 for Sabre and top 10 for rapier.
Daniel is currently president of the Historical Fencing Association, and has been instrumental in securing insurance for clubs around Australia, as well as acting as an advocate for Historical Fencing, working with the Victorian Police and Department of Justice to allow Historical fencing Clubs to be considered under General Exemption for Fencing Clubs for sword ownership, rather than the earlier more restrictive system.