Summary

Game name (and type): 'Donkey' (ball game)
Alternative types: play with props/equipment, word games

Handwritten description of the ball game 'Donkey' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Sandra Mettam, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. Mettam describes 'Donkey' as a popular girls game requiring a large ball, a wall and any number of players. The owner of the ball begins by throwing the ball against the wall and attempting to jump over it on the return. If the player fails to jump over the ball, she accumulates a letter from the word 'DONKEY'. Each miss results in another letter until the word is spelt in full.

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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