World Martial Arts Union

Most people in Western nations assume the Olympic sport of Taekwondo is the national martial art of South Korea but there is actually a much older system of fighting that holds this status. Yes Taekwondo is the national sport of South Korea but the dance like game of Taekgyeon has officially been recognised as an Important Intangible Cultural Asset since 1983, the only martial art given such classification and previous masters were ranked as national treasures.

Practiced since most ancient times the sport almost became extinct during the cultural suppression of the Japanese Occupation (1910-45) but has slowly clawed its way back to prominence since that time. The practice of Taekgyeon has always been centred around the ancient city of Chungju, about 2 hours drive south of Seoul and because of the unique history of the activity, the organisers of Taekgyeon have taken a leadership role in the preservation of endangered martial arts across the world. Chungju City has hosted an annual World Martial Arts Festival since 1998 with invites sent to other nations that practiced similar forms of combat and in 2002 the World Martial Arts Union (WoMAU) was formed with 30 different martial arts groups from 28 different nations.

Australia was included in this inaugural meeting with demonstrations of traditional Aboriginal weaponry done by the dance group Tal-Kin-Jeri, lead by the remarkable Ngarrindjeri Elder from South Australia Major Sumner. Uncle Moogy, as he is most fondly known, has been a vice president of the WoMAU since this time and has done much to bring an international awareness to the traditional martial arts of Australia. Although his work is given little recognition in Australia, Uncle Moogy has earned great respect from other martial arts masters from around the world and the Coreeda Association acknowledges him as the Grand Master of traditional Australian martial arts.

Currently WoMAU recognises about 45 different martial arts (Asia-20, Europe-15, Africa-3, Americas-4, Oceania-3) but is always looking to expand its horizons. In 2010 WoMAU was given a mandate by the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to safeguard the endangered martial arts of the world as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of each nation. As an advisory NGO of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee it takes this responsibility very seriously. Accepting generous donations from both corporations and government, it has built a World Martial Arts Museum along with a 150,000m2 theme park dedicated just to the continued practice of martial arts. It soon plans to establish a Martial Arts University and a Traditional Sports & Games practice centre, making Chungju the Mecca of World Martial Arts but remains integral in the coordination of the World Martial Arts Festival, the annual highlight of the Chungju social calendar. 

The Coreeda Association of Australia officially joined WoMAU in 2010 with the backing of Uncle Moogy and now has recognition by UNESCO as an important part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Australia. Through this connection it has built bridges with other traditional styles of wrestling from around the world and an awareness of Coreeda has been gained with the Mongolian Bukh Federation, the Uzbekistan Kurash Association, the Kazakhstan Kures Federation, the North Sudanese Nuba Wrestling Federation, the Moldovan Trynta Association and the powerful Russian Sambo Federation, which are also members of WoMAU. 

Strangely even with all this international recognition Coreeda remains little known in its country of origin and it has been given no support whatsoever from any tier of Australian government nor any major Australian corporation. Instead Coreeda continues to be promoted only by the individuals who are involved in the day to running of the activity but we believe it is only a matter of time before this status changes. We all hope that one day Coreeda comes to be recognised as a national treasure by the Australian Government, much like how Taekgyeon is acknowledged as such by the South Korean Government. We do know of course this will take a lot of time and a lot of lobbying and we invite all of you out there to join us in this cause . Help us to have the first martial art of Australia become part of the cultural landscape of this country, help us to learn to be truly proud of who we are. 

http://www.womau.org/