Summary

Game name (and type): 'Touch and Go' (chasing game)
Alternative types: running game, team game

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'Touch and Go' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Robin Eaden, an eleven year old student at Coromandel Valley State School, in 1954-1955. Eaden describes 'Touch and Go' as a simple game requiring two teams of even numbers, preferably composed of players of a similar age. To play, teams stand in rows ten feet apart. A player from one group taps the back of the hands of the opposing team members. If this player touches an opponent on the palm, the latter must chase them back to their team's side. If the chaser fails to catch the child, they must join the opposition's team. If successful, the chaser takes the player back to their own group. The game continues until all players have joined one team. Eaden notes that 'Touch and Go' can be played by girls and boys in any location all year round. She lists some of the other children from Coromandel Valley School who play this game with her including Cynthia Gribble, Eilleen Harrold, Darryn Hannaford, Jill Tucker, Ginnie Angrove, Edward Angrove, and Jon Wylie.

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 lined paper. Text written on one side only.

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