Celebration, Ceremony, and Courtship
Signum University, in partnership with Hern Ennorath (Tolkien Fellowship Australia), invites you to join us from 24-26 January for OzMoot 2026. This hybrid, multi-day event will take place at Holt Neighbourhood Hall in Canberra, ACT. For our fourth OzMoot, and first in Australia’s capital, come explore Celebration, Ceremony, and Courtship in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and the medieval worlds that inspired him. This will be a party of special magnificence with lots of fellowship, including our Tolkien Professor of Special Magnificence – Corey Olsen!
Register Here for OzMoot!
Price Breakdown:
- $100.00 USD / AU$153.00 for Adult In-Person Attendance
- $45.00 USD / AU$65 .00 for Student In-Person Attendance
- $35.00 USD / AU$54.00 for Remote Attendance
“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.“
—The Fellowship of the Ring, “A Long-Expected Party”
In Tolkien’s legendarium, moments of joy, ritual, and love form the bedrock of Middle-earth’s culture: from Bilbo’s ‘Unexpected’ and ‘Long-expected’ parties, the significance of Durin’s Day to the Dwarves, the coronation of King Elessar, the funeral of Theodred, the Númenorean worship of Melkor, to the timeless courtships of couples such as Beren and Lúthien, Aragorn and Arwen, and Sam and Rosie Cotton. These celebrations, ceremonies, and courtships are not mere backdrop because they reveal the soul of Tolkien’s world, where shared traditions forge bonds, honour transitions, and kindle hope. Middle-earth’s practices were inspired by the medieval customs, Norse sagas, and rustic traditions that Tolkien admired.
In his own life, Tolkien clearly valued the joys of companionship, and his writings reflect that; with detailed descriptions of the food and drink enjoyed at feasts by Hobbits, Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Ents and even Orcs. Whether the quality (or lack thereof) of Eowyn’s soup, or Sam’s desire for “taters”, food and drink references are a nourishing reminder of what brings people together.
At OzMoot 2026, we will explore this tapestry through talks, workshops, and festivities that blend scholarship with fellowship. Some special activities we are planning, along with our traditional talks and presentations, include:
- Middle-earth Medieval Banquet and Morris Dancers
- Bardic Circles
- The Marketplace
- Costume Parade and T-Shirt Competition
- Pub Trivia Quiz
- Collectibles Display
- Medieval Keep Mugs
- An evening excursion on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra and picnic dinner in the park
- Demonstration table top and/or online Lord of the Rings themed adventures
- A quiet activity space
- …and a few other surprises!
Join our party of special magnificence online or in-person and celebrate what unites us: the power of gatherings, the poetry of rituals, and the courage to love in dark times.
For our Medieval Banquet, we are honored to have Judith (Judy) Clingan AM joining us as she and her singers will be performing for us. Judy is a musician who first met Tolkien as the editor of texts she was translating from Anglo-Saxon in her Early English degree at the Australian National University in the early 1960s. When she discovered his novel, she was so inspired by its closeness to the atmosphere of the ancient texts that she began composing Middle Earth music for voices and instruments. Her music has been performed around Australia and around the world for the last 58 years.
Our guest of honour is Professor Corey Olsen.
As the president of Signum University, Corey is the inspiring force behind a team of planners, educators, and visionaries who are revolutionizing education for the third millennium. In addition to teaching classes on J.R.R. Tolkien, Chaucer, and modern fantasy literature for Signum, Dr. Olsen has extended the concept of the digital classroom to include non-traditional outlets. Through the Mythgard Academy, he offers free weekly lectures on works of speculative fiction chosen by Signum University supporters, and he has embraced the “new literature” of cinema and video game adaptations through interactive programs such as The Silmarillion Film Project and in-game discussions of Lord of the Rings Online.
OzMoot is proudly supported by Hern Ennorath: the Australian Tolkien Fellowship and smial of the Tolkien Society. The Fellowship is a friendly community of Tolkien lovers from Australia, New Zealand, and fans from further afield. We look forward to welcoming all with open arms to our Australian moot. Over the past few years, OzMoot has proved to be a uniquely important event in forming and enriching our community, which keeps in touch via Zoom meetings throughout the year, and has provided us with an opportunity to visit different parts of our vast country.
Schedule of Events (All Times Local to Canberra – Australian Eastern Daylight Time)
Saturday, 24 January
12 noon: Ozmoot Registration opens
12:45 – 1:00pm: Welcome to OzMoot
1:00 – 1:30pm: Opening Comments w/Corey Olsen
1:30 – 2:00pm: Celebrating Middle-Earth on the Table-Top: An exploration of the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game w/Tim Wraight
2:00 – 2:30pm: A Comparison of Duels: Tolkien’s Legendarium and the Middle Ages to Early Modern Period w/Karolina Firman
2:30 – 3:00pm: Afternoon Tea
3:00 – 3:30pm: Finrod Felagund and Severus Snape as Saviour Heroes in the Context of Universal Plot Structures w/Evelina Timofeeva
3:30 – 5:30pm: Trivia Quiz
6:30 – 7:30pm: Lake Everdim Cruise (for in-person attendees only)
7:30 – 9:30pm: Picnic in the Park and Australia Day Drone Show (for in-person attendees only)
Sunday, 25 January
9:00 – 10:15am: OzMoot Keynote Address w/Corey Olsen
10:15 – 10:45am: Morning Tea
10:45 – 11:15am: The Hands of the King and the Royal Touch: Cutting Edge Research from The Gondor Journal of Medicine w/Scott Kirton
11:15 – 11:45am: Midsummer in Middle-Earth w/Trudy Shannon
11:45am – 12:15pm: “Circle of Light” – A Faërie Rock Opera w/Anna Grob
12:15 – 1:15pm: Lunch Break
1:15 – 2:00pm: Celebrating Calligraphy w/Jenni Aldred
2:00 – 2:40pm: Leaving Lórien w/Stephen Vrettos
2:40 – 3:10pm: Afternoon Tea
3:10 – 4:30pm: Celebrations and Courtship in the Silmarillion Film Project w/Ilana Mushin and Phillip Menzies
4:30 – 5:30pm: OzMoot Costume Parade
5:30 – 6:30pm: Morris Dancing Performance w/The Surly Griffin Morris (for in-person attendees only)
6:30 – 8:30pm: Middle-earth Medieval Banquet (for in-person attendees only)
8:30 – 9:30pm: The Ring-bearer Choral Performance w/Judy Clingan AM and Choir (for in-person attendees only)
9:30 – 10:00pm: Music From Inspirational Words w/Judy Clingan AM
Monday, 26 January
9:00 – 9:30am: The Feast in Germanic Literature: A Study of ‘The Waltharius’ w/Sam Lewis
9:30 – 10:00am: Six Meals a Day: A Comparison of the Cuisine of Hobbits, the Middle Ages, and Tolkien’s Edwardian Era w/Gillian Pollack
10:00 – 10:30am: Winnie-the-Pooh and Bilbo-the-Hobbit: Analogue or Source? w/Charlotte Harper
10:30 – 11:00am: Morning Tea
11:00 – 11:30am: The Bitter Brew and the Sweet Vintage: Feasting as a Middle-earth Mirror of Culture w/Adam Beaton
11:30 – 12 noon: A Father Christmas Story w/Peter Kenny
12 noon – 12:30pm: Place, Memory and Ceremony in The Lord of the Rings w/Lauren Brand
12:30 – 1:30pm: Lunch Break
1:00 – 1:30pm (during lunch break): ”As if’ We Were of Faerie: Myth, Ritual, and the Subjunctive Mode w/Erik Jampa Andersson (pre-recorded talk from Oxonmoot)
1:30 – 2:00pm: Introducing the SCA w/the Society for Creative Anachronism
2:00 – 2:30pm: Signum Classics: A Welcome and Introduction w/Julian Barr
2:30 – 3:00pm: Come Along to Kiwimoot 2027! w/Trudy Shannon and Simon Lyall
3:00 – 3:30pm: Afternoon Tea and Goodbyes
