Item HT 41084 Document - Unknown Author, to Dorothy Howard, Description of the Game 'Mine Fields', circa Mar 1955

Summary

Game name (and type): 'Mine Fields' (miscellaneous physical play)

Handwritten description of the game 'Mine Fields' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by an unknown author, presumably a student at Ceduna Higher Primary School, circa March 1955. The author provides details of the game's rules and layout. A large square is drawn on the ground and a number of objects placed randomly within it. The players are divided into two teams, standing on opposite sides of the square. Players are individually blindfolded, relying on their team members' directions to guide them safely through the 'mine field'.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's game written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research.

Physical Description

Handwritten game description in black ink on lined paper. Text printed on one side only.