Bac Fu Do Society History - one of Australia's longest established martial arts organisations.


The Bac Fu Do society has been teaching the art of Kung-Fu in the Australian Capital Territory continuously since 1969. Our primary emphasis is on teaching this fascinating art as an effective means of self defence - since we believe that this is a very necessary component of martial arts training due to the increase in violent crime over the last few years. Our Chief Instructor, Sifu David Crook, is widely recognised within Australia and overseas as being one of the foremost instructors in this field.

Despite our self defence orientation, our students have also done well in sports martial arts competition and have won Australia Championships and other awards. Our school is affiliated with numerous international organisations and Sifu Crook was a founding member of the Australian Kung Fu (Wu Shu) Federation, of which he is the National Vice President and the Australian Martial Arts Industry Association.

Sifu Crook is also a well known feature writer for martial arts magazines and the host of Australia's pioneer multi-style martial arts training camp. Because of Sifu Crook's standing in the martial arts community, we have access to seminars by top international and Australian instructors and enjoy friendly relationships with many practitioners of many different styles. This is vital to a constant cross-fertilisation and interchange of ideas.

The Bac Fu Do Society is the only ACT school to have a fully qualified, internationally recognised Senior Master Instructor resident in the area and the only one to teach all aspects of Kung-Fu. By contrast, most other ACT Martial Arts schools only see a senior instructor when grading time comes around and many only teach a partial approach to personal self defence.

During training, students are given tuition in techniques which are effective at all ranges of combat - they are exposed to striking, kicking, punching and grappling skills; to groundfighting and weaponry skills; to training in traditional and environmental weaponry.

They learn how to defend against common street tactics, holds and weapons such as knives, clubs etc. At the same time, they are shown ancient Taoist therapeutic breathing exercises and introduced to modern concepts of physical conditioning. To survive in the street you need skills other than those which enable you to score points at Martial Arts tournaments and similar sporting events!

We train those skills!



Sifu Crook was born in the United Kingdom in 1948 and has been practicing Martial Arts since 1963. His initial training was in the Japanese arts of Karate and Ju-Jutsu - in which he gained double Black Belt rank.

In 1967, Sifu Crook commenced training in the Chinese styles, since he felt that they offered a more complete approach to combat and their flowing rhythm and combination-based approach were more in tune with his personal philosophy.

Sifu Crook was fortunate to study under experienced Chinese instructors (including Grand Master Cheung Cheuk-hing - the man responsible for training the late Kung-Fu "Super Star" Bruce Lee).

Sifu Crook has been teaching in the Canberra area since 1969 and his current qualifications are:

  • Master's Certificate in Kung-Fu (equivalent to Shihan rank - 7th Degree Black Belt - in the Japanese/Okinawan/Korean system) - awarded 1981

  • Teacher's Certificate in Kung-Fu (awarded to Instructors who are considered to have above average teaching skills) - awarded 1975

  • Second Degree Black Belt, Atemi-Jutsu - awarded 1975

  • First Degree Black Belt, Ju-Jutsu and

  • Australian Coaching Council Accredited Coach - awarded 1986


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    Sifu Crook's previous Instructors

  • A J (Moss) Hollis
  • Cheung Cheuk-hing
  • Liao Wey-Shan
  • Lew Soo
  • Koda Shigeru
  • Kato Sigami
  • Eric Wong
  • Anthony Lee
  • Henry Wu
  • Lesley Chan
    		•


    People who have had a profound impact on Sifu Crook's personal Martial Arts journey:

  • Grandmaster Hung I-hsiang
  • Master Hung Tse-chou
  • Master Liao Way-sun
  • Sinsei Johnny Koay
  • Sifu Walt Missingham
  • Shihan Tino Ceberano
  • Sensei Ivan Zavetchanos


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    Official Postions Held by Sifu David Crook


  • National Executive Member and Vice President, Federation of Australian Kung-Fu Organisations
  • ACT Chairman, Australian Martial Arts Council
  • Vice President (Australasia), International Union of Martial Artists
  • Vice President, World Union of Kung-Fu Associations
  • Technical Advisor, Hei San Kei Kung-Fu Association
  • Technical Advisor, Anglo-American Chuan-Fa Association
  • Chief Examiner (Australia), Kokusai Bu-Jutsu Renmei.


    • Affilations with Martial Bodies Internationally

  • EUROPE - UK, West Germany, Austria, Greece, Spain
  • USA - California, Louisiana, Virginia, Peurto Rico
  • SOUTH AMERICA - Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina
  • AFRICA - Republic of South Africa, Congo
  • ASIA - Taiwan, Malaysia, India Sri Lanka