Crux Australis Principal Herald Lady Sabine du Bourbonnais 7 Cumbria Court Belmont Qld 4153 phone: +61 7 3890 7717 or 0419 667 244 azerbaijan@optusnet.com.au

Unto the College of Heralds of the Kingdom of Lochac, and all others who may read this missive, does Lady Sabine du Bourbonnais; Crux Australis Principal Herald, send greetings!

Contents of this issue

• Meeting Schedule
• Branch/Group Reports
• Positions Vacant/Appointments
• Submissions Passed onto Laurel Sovereign Of Arms
• Submissions Returned by Crux
• Submissions Pended by Crux
• Submission Requirements
• From the Crux
• Important Addresses

Meeting Schedule

The May meeting was held on Sunday 2^nd May 2004, at my home 7 Cumbria Court Belmont Qld 4153, and was attended, by myself, Giles Leabrook, William Addemere, William Castille, Gryffyd Rhuddlan and Wilfrid de Ackelonde. The next meeting will be on Sunday, 6^th of June.

Branch/Group Reports - due 10^th of June 2004.

If you are new to reporting read on - As the local herald for an SCA group, you must provide a written report four times a year. They are due around the 10th of every third month. (i.e. March, June, September and October). If you want to email your report, please send it in a Word document. Ideally, your report should include as much information as possible. If nothing much has happened, you can just write and say "nothing much has happened". Don't do this too often. Include:

List the heraldic submissions you've sent since your previous report.

This gives us a cross reference to make sure nothing has been lost in transit. Include information relating to whether people with returned submissions are working on a resubmission.

Mention the events at which any Court, Field or Duty heraldry was done.

Basically - Who did, Which court, When.

List all the awards that were granted to people from your group.

Include the date of the award and the names of the Royalty who gave it. This is a useful cross-check of my and Canon's files, especially if the recipients haven't registered their names

Mention each of the "Extraordinary" heralds in your group.

List of all those rostered freelance heralds. Let us know what they're doing, and whether you think they need training or promoting.

Remember to date your report (and everything else you send, for that matter), and include your mundane name, address, phone and email details.

Positions Vacant/Appointments

Crux Australis. Principal Herald.

The updated duties and position description is available on the Lochac College of Heralds website. Having decided not to apply myself, I anticipate handing over the position at Midwinter. Should you be interested in applying, please contact me as soon as possible, applications close 30^th May 2004. For further information on the role, it's joys and pitfalls please contact herald@sca.org.au.

Rocket Herald - Deputy in charge of special projects - PE test

I wish to call for expressions of interest for the deputy position of Rocket Herald, with a view to revisiting and correcting the Pursuivants Extraordinary (PE) test. It has been bought to our attention that there are a number of problems with the test that need to be addressed. The successful applicant will need to be a knowledgeable and motivated herald, prepared to complete the job as soon as is practical. Please send written expressions of interest to herald@sca.org.auby 30^th June 2004.

Bombard Herald - Deputy in charge of Ceremonies and Protocol

The position of Bombard Herald is being advertised with a view to updating and refining the Kingdom ceremonies. The successful applicant will have the ability to head up a committee of heralds and others interested in the development and improvement of Lochac ceremonies. Knowledge of period ceremonies, court heraldry, drama and public speaking an advantage. Please send written expressions of interest to herald@sca.org.auby June 30^th 2004, with a view to appointment occurring around Midwinter.

MAY 2004 Submissions Forwarded to Laurel

Submissions Returned by Crux

Submissions Pended by Crux

Submission Requirements

Cost: $20 per new submission (name, device or badge). No cost for resubmissions (within the permitted time limit) or branch submissions. Note: a new name and device costs a total of $40. Make cheques or money orders payable to "SCA Inc. College of Heralds". Do not send cash through the post!

Copies required: -

NAMES - two (2) copies of both the form and ALL documentation, including title page of each book. Essays about a submitter's persona does NOT constitute documentation. - NO STAPLES! When citing websites as documentation, you must include a printout of the pages used.

DEVICES AND BADGES - four(4) colour copies and one (1) black & white OUTLINE copy. The colour copies should be accurately coloured, preferably in felt tip pen (eg Crayola Classic Colours). Colour printers or faint coloured pencil is not acceptable. The colours must be visible across a crowded Herald's meeting. Laurel has requested that gold pen NOT be used, as it deteriorates in files and turns to glue

Please include ALL necessary documentation to support each submission. It is the responsibility of the submitter to present their submission in a way that makes registration easy. Name documentation should be as accurate as possible: remember to include photocopies of the title page as well as the relevant page(s) of any source used.

From The Crux

Congratulations to the Crown Prince and Princess of Lochac, their Highnesses, Lord Draco of Jorvik and Lady Serina of the Black Ness. May Crown was a lovely event, thanks to everyone who performed heraldic duties over the weekend, particularly Master Hrothgar and Lady Amelot - well done.

The position of Canon Herald was handed over to Karl Faustus von Aachen at the event. Morag Fraser and her team, have the heartfelt thanks of the College for their service to the Kingdom. There is a new Court Herald Award Form (CHAF), which will be available soon, and some changes to the CHAF handling system. The CHAFs will still need to be filled out each court, and signed by the court herald and their Majesties. Two copies will still need to be mailed off, one to Canon, and one to the office of the Crux (for cross-reference). The Canon will be adding these awards immediately to the database. Once a month, Canon will submit a letter/article to the Pegasus publishing the new additions. This system has been implemented in order to avoid the necessity of waiting on an external party, (ie: Chronicler), to meet the College's responsibility of maintaining the OP etc. We anticipate this will speed up the process of awards being 'official'.

Blazons List - it has never been implicitly stated, but subscription to the Blazons List needs to be compulsory for all group heralds. The List is the most expedient way to disseminate information from this office, and will hopefully alleviate the situation where we have heralds working in isolation. Should you know of any group herald who is absent from the List, could you please contact them and urge them to subscribe. Whilst on the topic of the List: There is occasionally a noticeable and disturbing lack of courtesy displayed in some postings. So much so, that newcomers to the List feel intimidated, even fearful of joining discussions. We need to remember that everyone's opinion is valid and not everyone participating on the list is expert in all areas. Expressing yourself in email can be tricky, trying to compose your thoughts quickly can come across as abrupt and often rude. The Blazons list is an excellent teaching tool, and should be used as such, so lets all try a little harder to exercise courtesy.

Sabine du Bourbonnais,
Crux Australis Principal Herald

Important addresses