Summary

Game name (and type): 'French and English' (chasing game)
Alternative type: running games, team games

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'French and English' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by G. Ross, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. To begin, Ross states that two leaders select teams of four people. The teams stand in rows facing each other at a distance of fourteen feet. One leader approaches the opposition, tapping all players on the back of the hand but one, who they touch on the palm. The selected child must chase the leader back to their team. If they fail to catch them before they reach their team, the child must join the opposition's side. Ross notes that the game continues until all players are located on one team.

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 borders ruled in red pencil; text written on one side only.

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