Summary

Game name (and type): 'Around the Posts' (chasing game), chasie, chasey
Alternative type: running game

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'Around the Posts' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by Geoffrey Lewis, presumably a student or teacher at Cherry Gardens School, on 2 March 1955. In dot point format, Lewis discusses details about how and where the game is played and its players. He also provides an annotated diagram of the game's layout. According to Lewis, 'Around the Posts' has been popular with all children aged nine years and over in the Adelaide Hills since 1925. Played at the intersection of two roads, children must run between four posts, which are placed at each corner, without being caught by the chaser. Lewis lists the following four names: Beepy Lewis, Jocko Couts, Falty [?] Jones and Chappie Chapman. It is uncertain if these are the names of Lewis' informants or perhaps terminology associated with the game.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's games 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 blue ink on paper. Features hand drawn, annotated diagram in blue ink; printed text along upper portion of page. Text printed on both sides of page.

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