Tino Ceberano Shihan and the Goju Kai Victorian Division hosted the summer camp in 1977 at Tallangatta in Victoria’s north-east. It was well attended with 150 visiting members of Goju Kai Australia wide, Goshi Yamaguchi Shihan and Seiji Sakamoto Shihan from Japan.

This video was produced by Channel 9 for their news item and many of the attending students continue to train karate today.

The Goju Kai camps were legendary for their hard training, duration of 1-2 weeks and intensity but notably for the friendships and spirit of learning enjoyed by all. The local town became used to the annual influx of visitors, their runs around the township in their gi, the spirited long distance hikes and the rush to the local hotel in the evenings.

Anyone that trained at Tallangatta recalls the early morning runs up and down One Tree Hill, training in the river and the hot weather. Lesser known is the tale of Tino Ceberano Shihan being bitten on the thigh by a brown snake at the top of One Tree Hill while squatting in Shiko Dachi and being carried by students down the hill to be ferried to the local hospital where he it was fortunately found the fangs had not punctured deeply enough to inject the deadly venom.

The golden era of Goju Kai in the 70s and 80s drew large numbers to the camps and there are many great tales of hard exercise, legendary kumite and special guest instructors who attended. While the first camps were primarily attended by Victoria members, later on all states visited the annual Victorian camps and they became a tradition that many recall vividly today.

Today the I.G.K. continues the great tradition and the spirit between the states attending each others camps remains with new friendships and alliances made.