Summary

Game name (and type): 'Bumpy' (games of strength and stamina)
Alternative types: team games, miscellaneous physical play

Handwritten description of 'Bumpy' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Iain MacGregor, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. Games of strength and stamina are classified as often rough games requiring physical strength and endurance in which players collide or hurl themselves at other children. MacGregor states that 'Bumpy' requires about twenty boys divided into two teams. He writes that each boy stands with his arms crossed on one foot. Players proceed to hop towards the opposing team in an attempt to bump them over. If a child falls, uncrosses his arms and puts a second foot on the ground, he is eliminated from the game and must sit down.

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 printed on one side only.

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