From the earliest times, human kind and their primitive ancestors have had to fight to survive. Our early ancestors organised themselves into groups or tribes for mutual protection, codifying the knowledge and experience of combat into systems which could be taught to the next generation, so improving their chances of survival when faced with a dangerous enemy, whether animal or man.

All cultures have had or still have forms of structured martial arts systems. Our Western culture for example, as boxing, wrestling and fencing. However, generally it has been the eastern martial art methods of Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do and Judo that have influenced the development of self defence systems in the west over the past 40 years.

The lineage of the fighting system and philosophy of the Golden Knights Martial Arts (Kin Bushi Ryu), for the most part, are found with a system of traditional karate called Goju and the more contemporary style called Zen Do Kai.

Goju Ryu was created by an Okinawan named Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953). Goju Ryu Karate means hard-soft style and was developed by merging ideas from Chinese systems of fighting (Kung Fu) with those of the indigenous karate systems of Okinawa.

Miyagi travelled to Japan to spread his karate. A Japanese student of Miyagi's, Gogen Yamaguchi , began to formulate his own ideas and techniques. Through developments he made from the original Goju Ryu, Yamaguchi broke away from Miyagi and founded his own Goju Kai system.

Goju Kai soon became very important in Japanese martial circles, becoming far more popular than his master's system of Goju Ryu.

Tino Ceberano , an Hawaiian, who was graded by Yamaguchi from 3rd through to 6th Dan, migrated to Australia in the mid 60's and established a school of Goju Kai in Melbourne. Ceberano has been credited with having had a large influence on the development of martial arts in this country.

One of Ceberano's students who went on to become a pioneer in the martial arts, was Bob Jones , the founder of Zen Do Kai. Jones, an experienced street fighter, soon discovered that despite the best intentions, some applications and techniques of the traditional karate systems were not effective in the modern street survival situation. From this knowledge he began to utilize only the most useful and practical techniques, from Gojo Kai and other fighting systems, into his security work.

It was this attitude of using only 'the best of everything' that was the basis of his Karate method.

Jones founded his Karate school in June 1970, and more or less maintained its Goju foundation until the late 70's when with the influence of American Sport Karate, Jones gradually moved away from the classic, rigid karate style of combat, to a more free moving and dynamic style of fighting.

Although the fighting style had changed the principle of being a practical self-defence system had not, nor had its traditional karate philosophy.

Because of this freestyle approach, Zen Do Kai became more popular and through the 80's, hundreds of schools were established all over Australia.

Gary MacRae began training under Jones in 1979 and quickly established himself as one of his most dedicated students in Adelaide. Gary opened a his first karate school in the Adelaide Hills in March 1981, later with the help of his many Black Belts, he established numerous other schools in Adelaide and interstate. These schools are now part of the Golden Knights Martial Arts Group.

By the end of the 80's Jones' had modified his karate method to such an extent that its fighting style had become more sports orientated, mainly due to the popularity of kickboxing which Jones introduced to Australia from America.

With the kickboxing theme beginning to overwhelm the traditional substance of Jones' methods, a cross road was encountered by Gary and his Instructors; to become a much more 'Americanised' sports karate or to maintain a modern, self defence orientated karate system with a foundation based around traditional principles. Gary and his instructors chose the later.

In December 1990, the Golden Knights Martial Arts Group officially ceased to be a member of the Jones' organisation. Opting instead to become an independent martial arts organisation, which is guided by a set of principles layed down at the genesis of Martial Arts.

Today, Gary MacRae and the Instructors of the Golden Knights Martial Arts Group are committed to the concept of teaching a system of martial arts that combines superior self defence skills with a balanced blend of karate, kickboxing, judo and weaponry, while following traditional philosophies.