Summary

Game name (and type): 'Two Ball' (ball game)
Alternative types: games with rhymes, ball-bouncing rhymes, language play

Handwritten description of the ball game 'Two Ball' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Roslyn Weir, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. Weir describes 'Two Ball' as a popular girls game played any number, each player requiring only a ball. Weir lists the different physical actions involved, which are performed simultaneously with rhymes. She transcribes the following example of a possible rhyme: 'Old Mother Mop, she had a wee shop, and all she could sell was candy pop pop, candy pop a penny a sop, catch the ball and the money will drop'. With each 'op' sound, players must perform a particular action with the ball.

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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