Summary

Game type: 'Bombing the Ship' (target game)
Alternative types: party games, play with props/equipment

Handwritten description of the target game 'Bombing the Ship' compiled by R. Dwyer, a student at East Fremantle Government Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard between 1954-1955. A target game is a game in which an object is thrown, bowled or rolled to hit a specific target or land in a container or marked area. In the game of 'Bombing the Ship', each player throws five buttons at a saucer, known as the 'ship', which has been placed in a dish of water. Dwyer writes that players accumulate points for every button that lands in the saucer. The author states that 'Bombing the Ship' is a game suitable for any number of boys and girls aged 10 years and over. Dwyer notes that it is usually played at parties or a backyard in the summer as the game does not involve running.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's game 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 text written on one side only.

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