Archery Australia

• Providing its members and the broader community with access to well managed local clubs and accessible facilities providing a high standard of archery experience from beginners to elite athletes

•Promoting and marketing the sport of archery to government, community and its members ensure greater awareness and participation

• Contributing to and enhancing Australia’s position in the world of Archery through participation in the World Archery organization FITA

• Ensuring that the policies and procedures governing the sport including coaching and officiating are of the highest standard to ensure fair, inclusive and drug free participation for all

• Organisational excellence

• Growth, participation and development

• Community Engagement and Development

• High Performance Pathways for Elite Athletes

Archery as an activity has a rich and vibrant history. Archery is one of the oldest arts still practiced. Although archery probably dates to the Stone Age (around 20’000 BC), the earliest people known to have used bows and arrows were the ancient Egyptians, who adopted archery at least 5000 years ago for purposes of hunting and warfare.

The popularity of archery is reflected in the many ballads and folklore, such as Robin Hood; to name perhaps the most famous one. References to archery are also frequently made in Greek mythology; the story told of Ulysses in the twenty-first book of the Odyssey is a well-known example.

The sport of archery was introduced to Australia by the European settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries and is known to have been a flourishing social activity in the mid-1800s. Early records indicate archery competition between officers of the First Fleet took place in Sydney Cove in 1791. However, it wasn’t until the late 1930s that organised archery on an Australia-wide basis was first proposed by Dudley Preston, a leading archer in Western Australia.

Currently archery in Australia is managed nationally by Archery Australia which has 9 Regional Divisions, some 125 clubs and in excess of 11,000 active members .

Australia first entered international competition at the FITA World Target Championships in 1965 and won its first international medals in 1969 (bronze medals in the Target and Field Championships respectively).

Australia was represented when Archery re-entered the Olympics in Munich in 1972 and has been represented at each Olympic Games since.

Australia has produced many medalists in international competition including an Olympic Gold Medal for Simon Fairweather at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Archery is an international sport managed by the organisation FITA also known as World Archery.

World Archery has approximately 155 National Federations as members and approximately 8 million individual members world wide.

Every year World Archery conduct a World Cup series. This consists of four events held around the world. It culminates in the World Cup final. The final is usually held at a significant venue;  in 2010 the World Cup Final was conducted at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.

World Archery also conducts World Championships for all other archery disciplines over a 2 year schedule:

Archery Australia is represented at all of these championships.