Summary

Game name (and type): 'Poison Touch' (chasing game)
Alternative types: running game

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'Poison Touch' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Robert Such, a ten year old student at Coromandel Valley State School, in 1954-1955. According to Such, 'Poison Touch' is played by children in grades four to seven in the school yard, preferably during winter. To play, he writes that one child is elected 'He'. 'He' proceeds to chase the other players, forming a chain with any children caught. Such lists other players of 'Poison Touch' including Ann Wescombe, Janice Williams, Philip Schere, Meridith [sic] Ward, Denis Heath, Andrej Kolpakow.

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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