Summary

Game name (and type): 'King' (chasing game)
Alternative type: ball games, running games, counting-out actions

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'King' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Neil Wray, a student at Double View Government Primary School, on 25 March 1955. Wray describes 'King' as a game requiring a ball, a large, outdoor space, and any number of boys. To elect the chaser or 'he man', players stand in a circle throwing a tennis ball. The first child to drop the ball must chase the other players, trying to throw the ball at them. If hit, players assist the chaser to capture other children. Wray states that the last player to be captured is declared 'king'.

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

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