Summary

Game name (and type): 'Red Rover All Over' (chasing game)
Alternative type: running games

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'Red Rover All Over' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Pat Aquins, a student at Double View Government Primary School, probably on 25 March 1955. Aquins writes that 'Red Rover All Over' can be played by any number of players in a large, open space. To play one child, known as 'He', faces a line of players and calls out the following: "Red rover all over, skip over, or jump over, or run over". 'He' proceeds to chase the children as they run to the other side of the designated space. Captured players 'He' to chase the remaining children. The game continues until all players are caught. Aquins notes that the last player to be captured is called 'Red Rover'.

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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