Aussies battle it out for free flights
Eight contestants chosen from the ultimate costume contest geared up to compete in a Live Action Role Play (LARP) event 'Knight of the Skies' in a bid to win a free trip, or a few, in celebration of Jetstar's 21st birthday. Contestants fought to win $50k free flights in a massive LARP battle for Jetstar's 21st birthday. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia
The eight were split into two teams, Team Jet and Team Star – to wield battle alongside long-time LARP warriors from Australia's largest LARPing organisation, Swordcraft. The event was co-hosted with Swordcraft – biggest LARPing organisation in Australia. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia
With $50k worth of free flights on the line, no one held back, and insane battle scenes roared out on the quiet Saturday morning.
Puzzles, politics, and full on battle all ensued in the crisp Melbourne air at Edinburgh Garden, North Fitzroy as the LARPers fought it out.
People were pommeled to the ground, hit over the head with swords, kicked and punched – all in the name of good old medieval fun. Aussies had to face up against ogres, Vikings and everything in between for a shot at the free flights. Credit: Supplied
They will be split into two teams to wield battle alongside long-time LARP warriors from Australia's largest LARPing organisation, Swordcraft.
Australian comedian and radio star Liam Stapleton is playing the role of Jetstar birthday host and LARP wizard himself, joining in on the action this Saturday.
'The folks from Jetstar reached out and look, it's not too far from a stretch, like I dress up and chase my wife around as Shrek and that sort of stuff on the weekend, so I've never done LARPing before though, but I felt like I was the right man for the job,' Stapleton told NewsWire. Liam Stapleton led the massive LARPing group. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia
Radio and TV star Stapleton said impressions and role-play have been a big part of his career.
'It's something I've done like since I was a kid … and it's led to fun opportunities like this. Like now I'm dressed as a wizard in a park speaking to you.' Radio and TV star Liam Stapleton will also be trying his hand in medieval battle. Credit: Supplied
The event centres around 21 being the age of knighthood in medieval times, and everyone is dressed the part with knights, fire mages, goblins, alchemists and everything in between.
'When you work in radio, you are always afraid of the axe. But this is, you know, today I'm afraid of real axes because people have that sort of weaponry,' Stapleton said. There was a variety of weaponry, each deadlier than the last. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia
If he wins, Stapleton said he would love to fly to Japan.
'Top of the list. Yeah. It's somewhere I've always wanted to go … I've heard cherry blossom season is the time, it's literally like the top of my wife's and myself's bucket list. So that's where I'd love to go.'
But Stapleton is not sure about his chances of winning.
'Look, I'm an optimistic man, but there is some genuine giants. LARPers were very well prepared in their medieval armour. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia
'There's some people who are like dressers giants and there's other people who are like, no, you are actually seven foot.
'There's some intimidating looking figures with proper armour. I'm wearing basically a dressing gown. So I don't know how we're going to go.'
Stapleton did not win – Team 'Jet' emerged victorious, and four lucky winners won the ultimate $50k prize – Genevieve Maisey, Cameron Riches, Nicole Brownlie and Julian Dods. Four lucky Aussies walked away with $50k in free flights, to share. NewsWire / Valeriu Campan Credit: News Corp Australia
Either way, Swordcraft head of advertising Lou Harwood is glad more people got to take part in LARPing and hopes the contestants enjoyed the medieval role-play.
'The rush you get when you're in combat is like nothing else. So if they even if they don't win, if they just come away, just feeling excited, having had given it a go, that's a win in our books,' she told NewsWire. Ms Harwood said she is glad more people have been able to experience LARPing. Credit: Supplied
'I've really found my chosen family in this crew. And I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world.
'We're so grateful for the opportunity to show off lap to the wider community and get people to see how much fun it can be.'
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War had also brought many American soldiers to our doorstep. Those who visited Harris' shop requested the words "Remember Pearl Harbour, December 7, 1941". Meanwhile, Germans and people of German heritage who had called Australia home for some time came to Harris' shop "to have the old German flag removed". Regular people were also getting behind the trend. Butterflies were a popular tattoo design among men and women. ( Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd. ) In 1945, 'Le Roy', a tattoo artist from Brisbane, told the Sunday Mail women handle the pain of tattooing better than men. ( Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd. ) Thigh pieces were popular among Harris's female clients who liked to show off their tattoos through openwork stockings. ( Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd. ) "Sailor Bill" attempted to become the most tattooed man in Australia. ( Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd. ) John Hennington was a rival of "Sailor Bill", both claiming to be the most tattooed men in Australia. ( Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd. ) In the early days of the tattoo industry, artists were limited in how they could customised designs. ( Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy ACP Magazines Ltd. ) Tattoo artist Billy Furness says there was a "tremendous increase" in civilian clients in 1940s Melbourne, particularly on Flinders Street, which became a cultural hub for the profession. In 1952, it was reported that Australia was one of the most tattooed nations in the world. "Many of the subjects are he-men from the outback, but most enthusiasts are sailors," a reporter declared. One Bondi local even asked tattooist Alex 'painless' Chater to tattoo his will on his back. According to the Daily Mirror, Alex "painless" Chater learnt how to tattoo by using a gramophone needle attached to a clothes peg. ( Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales ) It did not hold up in court, partly because he wouldn't have been able to sign his back in front of two witnesses. "[It's] quite impossible, even if he were a contortionist," a Sydney solicitor told The Sun in 1950. "After a person dies, a will must be produced for probate and filed. That would be more than slightly awkward." Supply shortages and stigma After World War II, artists struggled to source supplies with reports of colour shortages. Tattoo guns were also hard to obtain from overseas vendors, so many artists built their own. Sydney-based artist, Wally Hammond often built machines, and sold them to other artists after entering the industry in 1942. Thousands of sheets of pre-drawn tattoos or "flash" covered the walls of Mr Hammond's studio, which clients could choose from. Hammond would often test out new pigments on his own skin before applying them to customers, leaving multicolour dots along his forearms. "Sometimes [the] body would reject it or it would blister up. So he knew that code [was] not to be used," says Gordon. "So there's a lot of personal sacrifice, one of those things where necessity becomes the mother of invention." Within a few short decades, Australia's tattoo subculture was firmly established. But by the time the 1970s rolled around, new stigmas arrived. Sterilisation of tattooing equipment was limited, with artists often using the same needle on different clients, tattoo artists say. And some doctors blamed a lack of sterile tattoo equipment for the spread of blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis and later HIV. However, with the AIDS epidemic and the formation of the Professional Tattooers Association of Australia [PTAA] there was an overhaul of sterilising practices in the industry. By the early 1990s, tattoo artists began pushing the boundaries, creating more custom pieces and transforming the profession from a trade to an art form. "There are no limitations, tattooing has become a medium just like any other art medium. That's why it has attracted artists," Greg Ardron, a pioneer of 'sticker style' tattoo sleeves, told the ABC in 1992. 'Tattooing is no place for women' Tattoo artist Pasty Farrow started dabbling with ink in 1969. She believes she was Australia's third female tattoo artist after Bev Nicholas, better known as Cindy Ray, and Raelene Robinson. In 2009, Ms Farrow was presented with an award for working as a professional tattoo artist for over 40 years. ( Supplied: Patsy Farrow ) Patsy Farrow says in the 60s and 70s, studios didn't have fancy names but were just called tattoo shops. ( Supplied: Patsy Farrow ) Patsy Farrow and Bev Nicholas developed a strong friendship over their love of tattooing. ( Supplied: Patsy Farrow ) Farrow says her decision to pursue the profession was thanks to Nicholas' encouragement and guidance. However, not all members of the industry were encouraging. She recalls how famous Melbourne tattoo artist Dickie Reynolds wouldn't allow any women in his studio and would even scream at them to leave if he heard them approaching. At one meeting of the Tattooers Association of Victoria, he did not allow Farrow to even speak. "Tattooing is no place for a woman," he said, according to Farrow. Reynolds was eventually forced to apologise for his remarks. Tattooing remained a heavily male-dominated industry for the years to follow. When tattooist Clare Hampshire joined the industry in 2003, she was the only woman in her studio. It remained that way for the first ten years of her career. "There were always people that would not take you seriously because you're a girl," she says. "And being a male dominated industry, [it] wasn't a very comfortable place to be as a woman. But I just sucked it up because I wanted to tattoo." In the period between 2018 and 2020, the industry had its own "Me Too" movement, where artists felt empowered to call out predatory behaviour, says Hampshire. Clare Hampshire says a lot of young women visit her studio for their first tattoo. ( Supplied: Clare Hampshire ) "It really made a lot of people think about their behaviour and actions … I think a lot of men got really scared by it." Hampshire says the industry has come a long way since then, with greater visibility of female artists. "You go to conventions now or you go to shops and the ratio is … maybe not 50/50 but just about," she says. "I have a shop that's all women at the moment, nothing at all like that ever existed when I started." Bikie stranglehold on industry Tattoos now attract Australians from all walks of life but in the earlier days of the industry, they were commonly associated with outlaw motorcycle gangs. Born out of the disenfranchisement of ex-servicemen, homegrown motorcycle gangs emerged in Australia in the late 60s and early 70s, says Duncan McNab, ex-police detective and crime writer. "Tattooing is part of the tribal nature of bike gangs, mutual identification, all that sort of stuff," he says. McNab estimates by the early 1980s the criminal activity of motorcycle gangs, or bikies, increased. Often they used businesses, such as tattoo studios, to legitimise illicit money. "Tattoo shops … were a convenient way to push illicit money through, that's before tattoos went really legit," he says. Sydney tattoo industry legend Tony Cohen is the owner of tattoo parlour, Illustrated Man. He was also an original member of the Mob Shitters motorcycle club, which formed in 1970 and folded in 2015. Tony Cohen was first exposed to tattoos through his uncle, who got inked during World War II. ( ABC Radio National: Isabella Michie ) Mr Cohen has memories of bikie gangs "blowing up shops and all that sort of shit". Although he stresses he was never personally involved. "Obviously they hated each other's guts," he says. "[I] became friends with a lot of people, high-ranking members of different clubs — which kept the peace in a way." By the late 2000s, bikie gangs had intensified their criminal activity and tightened their grip on the tattoo industry, says Gordon. The violence peaked when artist Daniel Vella was shot execution style whilst he was tattooing a client. Mr Vella had no known bikie affiliations and the case remains unsolved. To stamp out criminal activity from the industry, the NSW and Queensland governments have introduced strict licensing laws. All tattoo operators now need to disclose detailed information about their personal associations, criminal history and be fingerprinted. Mr Cohen started tattooing after buying tattoo equipment from a man he met in a pub in 1967 when he was 17. ( ABC Radio National: Isabella Michie ) Mr Cohen has hundreds of photos categorised by year in albums, documenting his extensive career. ( ABC Radio National: Isabella Michie ) Mr Cohen says it's the boldness of his designs that made his work stand out. ( ABC Radio National: Isabella Michie ) McNab says licensing laws, such as those in the tattoo industry, don't stop criminal activity but can help police gather intelligence. "Organised crime thrives in prohibition more than anything else," he says. One unexpected downside of the laws, according to Gordon, is that they have added to the stigmatisation of the industry. "Nearly 15 years later, [with] these licensing systems we're still being discriminated against," he says. "Insurance is still an issue [as] they consider us a high risk business … we're not the bad guys, we are just trying to put tattoos on people." 'A glimpse into the world of tattooing' The social acceptance of tattoos was a slow burn, says Michael Forest, an artist and tattoo history enthusiast. The introduction of tattoo-based reality TV shows on popular studios and social media helped the general public develop a greater understanding of the industry. Mr Gordon says the tattoo industry has been impacted by cost of living pressures. ( ABC Radio National: Isabella Michie ) "I think tattoo TV, [shows] like Miami Ink, all that sort of stuff definitely gave people a glimpse into the world of tattooing and saw more artistic value in it," he says. These shows often explored the customers' motivation for getting tattoos and the diverse range of people who visited studios. Apprentices would also receive feedback on their designs from more experienced artists, teaching the audience the attributes of a good tattoo. Forest also believes that as more celebrities became heavily tattooed, acceptance among the general public grew. Mr Forest says the increased visibility of heavily tattooed celebrities has helped shift public attitudes towards tattoos. ( Justin Bieber: via Def Jam, David Beckham and Dennis Rodman: via Getty ) Now, even political leaders are showing off their ink. However, Hampshire says this acceptance extends more to men than women. "It's quite common to see male models or male athletes really heavily tattooed but then you rarely ever see a mainstream female model [heavily tattooed]," she says. "Like if you look on ASOS or something, and you're scrolling through, you see models on there that are male that are covered in tattoos, and the women may have, like, one little small one on their arm or something." Social media has also helped artists develop strong followings, allowing clients to enter appointments with a greater understanding of the tattoo artist's portfolio, Hampshire says. "You only need to click a few buttons and you can explore and see people's portfolios, without ever having to go into a shop," she adds. "You can really do your homework, find an artist who has good, consistent work. I think there's kind of no excuse for getting a bad tattoo these days." Rhys Gordon has a room dedicated in his studio to Australian tattoo history memorabilia. ( ABC Radio Sydney: Isabella Michie ) While the industry continues to face stigma and challenges, Gordon says demand for the craft will never cease. "No-one can predict where it's going to go. But there will be more diversification, more acceptance, more uniqueness," he argues.
