Summary

Game type: 'Islands' (elimination game)
Alternative types: running game

Handwritten description of the elimination game 'Islands' compiled by Glenys Thomas, a student at East Fremantle Government Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard between 1954-1955. Thomas describes 'Islands' as a game suitable for a minimum of 10 girls or boys aged 10 years and over, which is played in a hall in summer and winter. Required equipment includes chalk and a whistle. To play, Thomas writes that a child draws and numbers 20 islands with chalk randomly across the hall floor as illustrated by her handdrawn diagram. Next, the child takes the whistle and stands with their back to the other players. The players begin walking amongst the islands until the child blows the whistle. Following the sound of the whistle, Thomas explains that each player must be standing on an island before the child turns around or they are eliminated from the game.

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 a hand drawn diagram in pencil below text; text written on one side of paper only.

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