Summary

Game named (and typed): 'Beetle' (games with sticks)
Alternative type: play with props/equipment, game with found objects, jumping game

Handwritten description of 'Beetles', a game involving sticks, composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by Miriel Burvill, a student at Collier Primary School, in 1955. Burvill writes that players place two sticks on the ground up to ten steps apart. One child is elected the 'beetle'. The 'beetle' must jump as far as possible from the position of second stick, placing the stick on the ground to mark their new location. Burvill notes that the process is repeated as many times as desired. She provides a detailed, annotated hand drawn diagram to illustrate the game's layout and progression.

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 pencil on lined paper. Features a detailed, annotated hand drawn diagram below text. Text printed on one side only.

More Information