Summary

Game type: 'Submarines and Mines' (creeping game)
Alternative types: blindfold games

Handwritten description of the creeping game 'Submarines and Mines' compiled by Frank Syaranamual, a 10 year old student at Errol Street Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard on 16 August 1954. Syaranamual describes 'Submarines and Mines' as a boys game, which is played in the hall at Cubs all year round. To play, he writes that two boys are blindfolded and seated in the hall's centre. The other players stand at one end, taking in turns to creep past the blindfolded players without making a sound. Syaranamual states that the blindfolded boys point in the direction of any noise they hear. If they successfully point at a child as they pass by, the child must immediately sit down.

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 paper. Features borders ruled in red pencil; text written on one side of page only.

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