Summary

Game name (and type): 'Statues' (miscellaneous physical play)

Handwritten description of the game 'Statues' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Margaret Sinclair, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. Sinclair describes 'Statues' as a game requiring a long seat or platform, which any number of children can play. To play, she writes that one child stands on the floor facing the other players, who are standing on the seat or platform. The child on the ground calls out 'hard, soft or medium' to which each player must answer in turn. In response to their answer, the child pulls the players off their location accordingly. The player must stay in the position in which they fall and pull either a pretty or ugly face with the best expression declared the winner.

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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