Summary

Game names (and type): 'Mary, Mary Wash the Dishes', 'Draw a Bucket of Water' (language play)
Alternative type: rhymes

Handwritten descriptions of the rhyming games 'Mary, Mary Wash the Dishes' and 'Draw a Bucket of Water' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard respectively by Mary McGowran, a ten year old student at Cherry Gardens School, and Dr McGowran on 2 March 1955. Mary McGowran describes 'Mary, Mary Wash the Dishes' as a traditional game played by girls between six and nine years of age in the school yard during summer. She describes the actions involved and the accompanying rhymes. The names of Margaret Chapman, Anne McGowran, and Alison Hicks are listed, perhaps as other informants or players of this game. Dr McGowran describes 'Draw the Bucket of Water' as a game played by girls aged six to thirteen all year around in the school yard in Wallaroo between 1917 and 1923. Dr McGowran provides details of the rhyme and its associated physical actions.The names of Gene Cameron, Gwen Heath, Doreen Way[?] and Daphne Harris are listed presumably as other players of this 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 black ink on paper. Features printed text along upper portion of page. Text printed on one side only.

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