You will be forgiven for thinking you have stepped back in time to the Middle Ages as lords and ladies, knights and bishops, merchants and minstrels ascend at the Castle Arena once again this year for the Abbey Medieval Festival.
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A truly unique experience suitable for the entire family, the Festival is one of Australia’s premier living history events and is Australia’s largest medieval festival. Over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of July 2024, there will be jousting, archery, workshops, and markets to transport the whole family through time and to experience a little bit of medieval history.
Abbey Medieval Festival reenactments
A huge part of the Abbey Medieval Festival each year are the historical reenactments. Visitors to the festival can enjoy watching –
- The making of siege weaponry and armour,
- Displays of swordsmanship and chivalry,
- Jousting competitions,
- Costuming,
- Weaving and pottery demonstrations,
- Illumination,
- Music performances, and more
Hundreds of people from across Australia showcase their passion for this period of history at the Abbey Medieval Festival every year. Thanks to these groups, visitors can experience history come to life.
Medieval Tournament Weekend
Without a doubt, the highlight of the Festival is the Medieval Tournament. Over 2 days, families will be treated to a wide range of medieval entertainment, including Turkish oil wrestling, archery displays, and jousting championships.
Turkish Oil Wrestling is always a crowd pleaser at the Abbey Medieval Festival, with men going head to head in the ancient sport, which, as the name suggests, sees men wrestle while covered in oil.
Taking it up a notch from the wrestling, the historical combat displays are a must-see, and feature armoured combats demonstrating different fighting styles, tourneys, melees, and individual combats, including Viking, Dark Age, High Middle Ages, and Byzantine warriors, German landsknechts (mercenaries), Turkish Janissaries, and exquisite Renaissance swordsmen.
The most popular event during the weekend, drawing the biggest crowds, would be the Jousting Championships. This year, the jousting is on at 10:45am, 1pm, and 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday of the festival. You will need to buy a $7.50 ticket so you can experience the atmosphere and thrill of the battle. This year there will be some amazing jousters who will vie to be the best jouster of 2024!
Abbey Medieval Festival 2024 tickets
Date: Saturday 6 July and Sunday 7 July 2024
Location: Abbeystowe, The Abbey Museum, 1-63 The Abbey Place, Caboolture QLD 4510.
The 2024 Abbey Medieval Festival tickets are on sale now!
Cost:
General Admission Day Passes (single day) –
- Adult Day Pass: $55 (first release – limited tickets) | $65 after this
- Concession Day: $39 (first release – limited tickets) | $45 after this
- Children Day (5 – 15yrs): $29 (first release – limited tickets) | $35 after this
- Family Day (2A + 2C or 1A + 3C): $149 (first release – limited tickets) | $175 after this
- Child (under 5 years) and Companions: FREE
General Admission Weekend Passes –
- Adult Weekend: $85 (first release – limited tickets) | $95 after this
- Concession Weekend: $65 (first release – limited tickets) | $69 after this
- Children Weekend (5 – 15yrs): $39 (first release – limited tickets) | $45 after this
- Family Weekend (2A + 2C or 1A + 3C): $215 (first release – limited tickets) | $245 after this
VIP Tickets –
- VIP Saturday: $225 (limited tickets)
- VIP Sunday: $225 (limited tickets)
Jousting –
- Single session ticket (3 sessions daily): $7.50
Knighting Ceremony, 6pm Friday 5th July 2024 (on sale in May 2024) –
- Single ticket: $12.50
Medieval Banquet, Saturday 29th June 2024 (on sale in May 2024) –
- General ticket: $129
- Premium ticket: $149
Please note, a ticketing fee does apply to all ticket purchases.
Abbey Medieval Festival Stalls
The Abbey Medieval Festival also has a range of stalls to browse with handmade offerings and medieval craft. There are more stalls that we can mention, but some of the medieval themed ones we noticed are:
- Beeswax candles
- Celt craft leather goods
- Cloaks of honour
- Leathermaid
- Celtic dreaming jewellery
- Celtic woodcrafts
Abbey Medieval Festival Food
One of the most underrated parts (in our opinion) of the Abbey Medieval Festival is the food that is on offer. There is nothing quite like walking through a reenacted village to purchase some Hungarian Langos. Here are some highlights of the food on offer (not all are medieval):
- Donuts and toffee apples
- Salami
- Medieval nuts
- French crepes
- Woodfired pizza
- German sausages
- Pancakes
- Beef and ale stew
- Churros
- Smoked meats
- Yummy bunny stew
- Paella
- Coffee!
Abbey Medieval Festival Map
This map of “Abbeystowe” really highlights how big the Abbey Medieval Festival is. Knowing where the jousting is so you can plan your day is important, but so is where to find food and market stalls, and where you can immerse yourself in the Crusaders Village. You can get a full size copy of the Abbey Medieval Festival map here to download before you go.
Things for families to enjoy at Abbey Medieval Festival 2024
Across the entire festival weekend, families can wander through dozens of stalls at an authentic medieval market, enjoy medieval food, take part in a medieval dance workshop, and shoot an arrow in the archery competition. The streets will be lined with street performers who will entertain the crowds with medieval theatre and games, including jugglers, puppetry, and costume parades throughout the day, while harpists, lutenists, and other musicians will be strolling about entertaining the crowds.
Abbey Medieval Festival Friday Family Fun Day
The Abbey Medieval Festival Friday Family Fun Day is the ideal way for kids to get into the medieval spirit early! The Abbey Museum will have a whole range of fun activities on offer for Brisbane Kids to partake in this sensory-friendly event. From 9:30am – 1:30pm, families can enjoy all the crowd favourites from the festival, including:
- the Moreton Bay Medieval Joust Championship,
- Birds of Prey,
- combat demonstrations,
- story telling,
- workshops, and
- live performers.
A perfect way to get a taste of the festival experience, children can get hands-on with archery or even make their own shield at the Kids Kingdom.
Abbey Medieval Festival Friday Family Fun Day tickets
Location: Abbey Museum, 1-63 The Abbey Place, Caboolture QLD 4510.
When: 9:30am – 1:30pm, 5th July 2024
Tickets: Upcoming Events – Abbey Museum
The 2024 Abbey Medieval Festival Friday Family Fun Day tickets are on sale now!
Cost:
- Adult: $29
- Concession: $25
- Child (5-14 years): $19
- Child 9under 5 years): FREE
Included in this ticket price is one Joust Session (select either morning or afternoon), and onsite parking.
Please note, a ticketing fee does apply to all ticket purchases.
Abbey Medieval Festival Banquet
The Abbey Medieval Festival
Date: Saturday 29th June 2024
Location: Abbey Museum, 1-63 The Abbey Place, Caboolture QLD 4510.
Cost: $129 pp or $149 for a premium ticket – tickets on sale in May 2024
Set against the background of traditional Ottoman yurts, as the sun sets over Abbeystowe, you are invited to join members of the Janissary Barracks to celebrate an authentic Ottoman Wedding Feast.
Dine heartily on traditional Ottoman cuisine, including Eggplant kebab, Rice pilaf with chickpeas, Anatolian baked rice pudding, Anatolian tabouli and green salad, Baklava, Semolina halva with walnuts and, of course, Turkish Delight. Visit the Festival website to see the full menu.
In addition, there will be dancing, music, and all manner of traditional entertainment. Guests may choose to sit on cushions in the traditional Ottoman manner, or for those who would prefer, benches and high tables will be provided.
The Abbey Medieval Festival Knighting Ceremony
Date: 6pm, Friday 5th July 2024
Location: Abbey Church, The Abbey Museum, 1-63 The Abbey Place, Caboolture QLD 4510.
Cost: $12.50pp – tickets on sale in May 2024
In 2023, on the Friday evening before the Tournament begins, Company of the Radiant Heart invited guests to witness the spine-tingling Knighting Ceremony held in the beautiful Abbey Church at 7.00pm. Amid ancient stained glass and candlelight, an authentic 14th Century knighting ceremony was performed, with all its mystery and splendour. This is a photographic feast not to be missed.
Abbey Medieval Festival Costumes
Abbey Medieval Festival is like a massive dress up party. Think medieval, renaissance, 15th-century getup, and you will be well on your way. It is totally fine if you decide not to dress up, but if you do, you definitely won’t be the odd one out. Whatever you wear, remember to dress comfortably, both in terms of what you wear and what you put on your feet.
If you want to make your own costume, then you might what to check out the Abbey Medieval Festival suggestions and guidelines around weapons. If you decide you want to go all out and bring some cool medieval weapons then you might find that you need to register for a reinactors permit. The Abbey Museum has also kindly put together a list of suppliers for medieval costumes to make it easy for you to get into the spirit! Read their guide to costuming and weapons which includes information about donning a weapon as part of your medieval attire.
How to speak like a medieval person
It you really want to act the part then it’s worth knowing a couple of medieval words and catch phrases
Hello: Hail Fellow
When you head off to buy donuts: Who will join me on this quest!
Can we get donuts: Pray thee donuts for lunch?
We can’t have donuts yet, maybe later: Anon
Have a great day: God speed you or Fair thee well
When the kids are being annoying: Beg your pardon
You are an idiot sir!: Beshrew thee!
How to get to the festival
As you can imagine, Australia’s largest medieval festival is extremely popular which is a big reason why it is held over 2 days. The festival itself is held in the grounds of the Abbey Museum at 1-63 The Abbey Place, Caboolture QLD 4510. This is close to Bribie Island and the Sandstone Point Hotel (around 20 minutes drive). From Brisbane it will take you around 45 minutes drive but be prepared for it to take slightly longer with traffic.
An alternative way to get to the festival is to catch a train to Caboolture (or drive there) and take advantage of the free event shuttle buses running every 30 minutes from 7.45am (with the last one leaving the festival at 5.45pm).
This year for the first time the Abbey Medieval Festival has hooked up with the range of bus services in Brisbane with a range of local pick ups.
For more information and to purchase tickets to the great range of medieval events, including the Abbey Medieval Festival, click here.
To find out more about Brisbane’s wonderful array of regular cultural festivals, take a look at our Brisbane Kids Event Calendar.
Madonna
Are tickets still available for the 2024 festival?
Brooke Powell
Hi Madonna, Tickets for the 2024 festival have not yet gone on sale. We will update this article ASAP when they do!