Using North African Children's Play Culture For Pedagogical and Sociocultural Applications. 2016 Play & Folklore

no.
66, December 2016
lay and Folk The Australian Children’s Folklore Collection: a short history
Play and Folklore: partner in cultural diversity
Using North African children’s play culture

for pedagogical and sociocultural applications
A history of their own: the historiography
Documenting the Dorothy Howard
Collection: a digital approach
Documenting play: from the front line

of children and youth in Australia
Losing our marbles: what’s happening
to children’s folklore in schools?
A short list of online play resources An artwork to visit

From the Editors – final issue
Play and Folklore no. 66, December 2016
It’s hard to say goodbye to something that’s been an important feature

in our lives for more than thirty years. Play and Folklore has been a
unique publication in Australia, and perhaps internationally, with its
focus on children’s traditional folkloric play – verbal and physical.
Like the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection, Play and Folklore

had humble beginnings. The Collection started in 1979 in a single filing
Play and Folklore
cabinet at the Institute of Early Childhood Development in Melbourne,
Editors: June Factor, Gwenda Beed
and the Collection’s accompanying publication, The Australian Davey and Judy McKinty
Children’s Folklore Newsletter, was a rudimentary effort of typed ISSN (printed) 1329-2463 ISSN
pages, photocopies and staples. Even then, it was greatly enhanced (web) 1447-5969
by the art work of Donald Oliver, artist and educationalist extraordinaire, Editorial address: Dr June Factor,
who designed the original logos we continued to use. School of Historical and Philosophical
Studies, University of Melbourne,
We three editors have individually written for this final issue of Play Victoria 3010, Australia.
and Folklore, as have several other key members of the Reference Phone: +61 3 9499 6151
Committee for the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection, and Email: [email protected]
one of our most regular contributors, Jean-Pierre Rossie. Happily,
Two issues per year, published
the Collection will remain in the care of Museum Victoria and its
by the Humanities Department,
permanent staff, as well as the advisors on the Reference Committee. Museum Victoria.
GPO Box 666, Victoria 3001,
We were all very proud when, in 2004, the Collection was placed on Australia.
the UNESCO Australia Memory of the World Register as a significant Phone: +61 3 8341 7378.
part of Australia’s documentary heritage. We were honoured to have Email: [email protected].
been included with the Mabo Papers, Captain Cook’s Endeavour gov.au
Journal, The Ballarat Reform League Charter, and the 1906 film of Available on the web at
The Story of the Kelly Gang – among a total of only fifty nominations. http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/
books-and-journals/journals/play-and-
We are grateful to several institutions for their help over the years folklore
Design Layout: MV Design Studio
in hosting and caring for the ACFC: the Institute of Early Childhood
Development in Melbourne, the University of Melbourne Archives,
and Museum Victoria. We also thank the National Library of Australia
for its commitment to archiving and collecting children’s folklore
through its Oral History and Folklore Section. We especially thank
Margy Burn (Assistant Director-General, Australian Collections &
Reader Services at the National Library) and also former and present
National Library staff Mark Cranfield, Kevin Bradley and Shelly Grant.
Museum Victoria staff Deborah Tout-Smith, Richard Gillespie,
Caz McClennan and Marita Dyson have been towers of strength.
We also thank our many, many contributors to Play and Folklore
over more than thirty years.
Gwenda Beed Davey, June Factor and Judy McKinty
2
no. 66, December 2016
Contents
From the Editors 2
The Australian Children’s Folklore Collection: 4

a short history
June Factor
Play and Folklore: partner in cultural diversity 11

Gwenda Beed Davey
Documenting the Dorothy Howard Collection: 15

a digital approach
Deborah Tout-Smith
Using North African children’s play culture 19

for pedagogical and sociocultural applications
Jean-Pierre Rossie
A history of their own: the historiography 25

Carla Pascoe
Documenting play: from the front line 31

Ruth Hazleton
Losing our marbles: what’s happening 37

Judy McKinty
A short list of online play resources 45
An artwork to visit 47
3
The Australian Children’s

Folklore Collection: a short history
June Factor
This is an edited transcript of an oral recording those days – I think it was for dog food. The imagery
made by June Factor on 8 November, 2016 was of a beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed little
boy running in slow motion through golden corn
The beginning with a golden Labrador lapping at his heels, and it
Like many good things, certainly in my life, there was sun and joy and innocence and all those clichés
was no plan, there was no goal that related about childhood. The students had something of
to anything that is now called the Australian that kind of image, I think, of childhood, and the
Children’s Folklore Collection. In the early ‘70s I more gritty reality that came through in the novels
was an academic at the Institute of Early Childhood and autobiographies some of them found quite
Development in Melbourne. Our students, almost disturbing. I thought they were going to find the real
all female, were going to be kindergarten teachers thing very difficult indeed, and decided to remind
or infant grades teachers. I taught in the English them of their own childhoods.
Department – a small but wonderful department
– and in one of the courses that we ran we set a Senior academics used to take tutorials in those
unit: ‘Writing About Children’ or ‘Writing About days, and I’d go into a tute and say something along
Childhood’. I don’t remember the details exactly, the lines of, ‘What do you remember about when
but it was partly because the students on the whole you were a kid at school? What games did you
were very vocationally committed, and we thought play?’ ‘We didn’t play any games, no, not really’.
it would be interesting for them to read both novels ‘Can you remember any rhymes?’ ‘No.’
and autobiographies – The Watcher on the Cast And this was almost universal. It took me a
Iron Balcony by Hal Porter, that sort of thing – that while to realise that, as young adults, they were,
offered very different views about childhood. What as the old saying suggested, busily putting away
we didn’t predict was how romantic the students the things of childhood.
were about childhood.
Fortunately Ian Turner, an historian teaching at
Even in those far-gone days of the early 1970s Monash University with a long interest in folklore
families were small, so you could grow up with and folk music, had produced in 1969 the first
just one brother or sister and not have much to do collection, uncensored, of Australian children’s
with small children at all. Some of the students playground rhymes: Cinderella Dressed in Yella.
did babysitting to earn a bit of pocket-money, and It caused quite a furore when it came out – and it
that may have given them a slightly more realistic was enormously popular. I took a copy into the
experience. There used to be an ad on television in next series of tutorials. That worked wonderfully.
4
The amnesia about childhood is a very thin layer. I knew the students were going on teaching
The students would read out a rhyme and say rounds shortly, and so I said to them, ‘Right, when
things like, ‘Oh, but that’s wrong!’ So I realised I you’re at the school you can’t spend your time at
had to explain something about folklore, about the recess and lunch-time having lots of cups of tea
way in which it’s constantly changing and adapting. in the staff room. You have to be out there in the
We were getting somewhere because, of course, playground, watching and listening’. And because
rhymes such as: they were undergraduate students – and by that
time I had two or three years of experience teaching
Mary had a little lamb, undergraduates – I said, ‘You have to have pencil
Her father shot it dead, or pen and paper, and I want you to write down
And now it goes to school with her everything you see and hear – and I’m going to mark
Between two chunks of bread.
what you bring in’. Now of course this is bizarre.
What on earth would I have marked it on – quantity?
and
Vitality? But undergraduate students tend to take
more seriously material that they think is going to
Ding dong dell,
be marked. So off they trot, and they go into the
Pussy’s in the well,
If you don’t believe me, schools usually for about two weeks, and back to
Go and have a smell. me come pieces of paper with the most fascinating
material. I was amazed at the range and variety – I
don’t sound as if they come from the mouths was absolutely fascinated by the material. The
of ‘innocent’ children. students had written down rhymes they heard,
insults, chants, they described some of the games
that were being played, and before me on not very
salubrious-looking pieces of paper was a whole
culture I recognised immediately.
My first instinct was ‘This is important. I can’t just

give this material back’. So I said to the students,
‘Look, you can make copies if you want it, but I’m
keeping this because it’s really great stuff you’ve
brought in – really important’. We had small offices,
and I ended up with a very large pile of paper with
all this material, so I got in touch with Ian Turner
– he was almost a generation ahead of me but I
knew who he was – and Ian came out one day to
have a look, and he said to me, ‘Well, the publisher
of Cinderella, Heinemann Educational, has been
urging me to do a second edition of the collection.
Would you like to co-edit it and we’ll put in all the
new material?’ I said I’d be delighted, and that is
what happened. If you look at the second edition of
Cinderella Dressed in Yella, which came out in 1978,
you’ll see it uses the figure 2/ in front of all the new
material. Almost all of that material came from my
students, not just in that one year, because after
that I continued this project every year – it became
A child’s rhyme, one of hundreds sent to June Factor.
Source – Collection of June Factor a feature of what we did in the English Department.
Apart from its other values it was literary work: oral
literature. The oldest kind of literature, the first kind
of literature, is not written literature, it’s oral, and
in this case it’s from a particular cohort: the young;
primary school children. I knew the material was
5
important. It spent some time under the bed of my She even dug out an address. By this time I realised
first-born, who actually helped put the book together Dorothy Howard must be quite old and I thought,
in the end because she was tired of having these well, I can only try. She might not live at this address
boxes under her bed. anymore, she may well be dead, but I wrote a
letter. Far from being dead, I got a lively, hand-
written letter back full of interest, and that began
a marvellous friendship and cooperation across
the world. I visited Dorothy Howard many times.
We would find an old suitcase and I would bring
back from what she called her ‘mock adobe’ house
in Roswell, New Mexico, material that she had
collected while she was in Australia. Such treasure!
Dorothy Howard noting Marbles rules at an Australian primary

school, mid-1950s.
Source – Dorothy Howard Collection, Australian Children’s Folklore
Collection, Museum Victoria, courtesy June Factor
Another co-editor was Wendy Lowenstein.

Wendy was a well-known oral historian, and she
had contributed to the first issue of Cinderella,
particularly the vulgar and obscene material. It
was in conversation with Wendy that I asked a
question that turned out to have a very significant
consequence. In the Introduction to the first edition
of Cinderella Dressed in Yella that Ian Turner had
put together, he acknowledged an American
woman called Dorothy Howard, who had come to
Australia and whose work he found valuable. And Dorothy Howard in her home at Roswell, New Mexico.
I remember saying to Wendy, ‘Who’s this Dorothy Photographer – June Factor
Source – Collection of June Factor
Howard?’ Wendy had met her when she came out.
Dorothy Howard was an American post-doctoral
Meanwhile, closer to hand – in fact a few
Fulbright scholar who came to Australia in 1954-55
doors down from my office at the Institute of
and travelled all around the country – the only place
Early Childhood Development – was a friend
she didn’t visit was the Northern Territory, which
and colleague, Gwenda Davey. Gwenda was
she always regretted – and she collected children’s
a psychologist teaching in the Psychology
folklore wherever she went, not only in schools, but
Department. She also had a long-standing interest in
on the beaches, on the streets, in parks, wherever
folklore, and folk music particularly, and she became
there were children. But I only discovered this a little
very interested in the material I was collecting.
later. I was intrigued to hear this story about Dorothy
This was the time during the Whitlam era when
Howard. Wendy was a strong character and was not
education was valued, and Gwenda gained a one-
greatly enamoured of foreign visitors who flounced
year grant to go around the country and collect from
in to Australia to show off their intellectual wares,
families of non-Anglo origin, of whom of course
so I was interested that she spoke about Dorothy
Australia is wonderfully enriched, the folklore that
Howard very positively; from Wendy that was
parents pass down to their children.
indeed a compliment.
6
That became the Multicultural Cassette Series, part Moving on

of what became the Australian Children’s Folklore In 1989 I moved from the Institute of Early
Collection, and at one stage there would hardly have Childhood Development to the Australian Centre
been a kindergarten that didn’t have these tapes at the University of Melbourne, and rather like a
with the nursery rhymes, the lullabies and the songs snail that carries its shell I brought the Collection
in eight languages, of which one was English. with me. Gwenda had left the Institute some years
earlier, and I knew there was nobody there who
In 1979 – I think that must have been after my first had the interest in this material that the two of us
visit to see Dorothy Howard in the US – Gwenda had. I was worried about what might happen to this
and I held an exhibition at the Institute that included growing collection: by this time it filled a number of
a lot of the material that Dorothy gave me, and we filing cabinets and we also had quite a large library.
invented the title The Australian Children’s Folklore (The library remained with the Institute and was
Collection. I think that’s the first time it was used. later incorporated into the University of Melbourne
library.) We didn’t start with objects – objects
So for me it all began as a means to an end, to happened to us. I remember that the Institute
reawaken in my students a more complex and caretaker came to my room one day with a big,
realistic understanding of childhood than the old children’s drum which he’d found under the
romantic television ads and other forms of popular stairs somewhere in a cupboard that nobody had
culture might offer, but it became more and more opened for a thousand years; and a retired doctor,
a fascination with this culture of children. It is a whose wife had been a kindergarten teacher, gave
culture – and it is just as significant for children us a collection of little blocks made of a sandstone
as adult culture is for adults. It’s largely a sociable material, which really go back to the tactile
activity, although you can practise bits of it privately: Montessori blocks that children loved. These things
knucklebones, throwing a ball… It is both kinetic just turned up in my office, and how could
– physical – and verbal, it ranges from the most we say no? But we didn’t initially think about
intimate areas of private languages that only three objects. We were very much aware of the verbal
people know and must keep secret to games and and the musical – the singing, the chanting – and
rhymes that are familiar not merely at one school of course the games, but the games had to be
but across the country, although with constant described or photographed.
variation. The two pillars of folklore are continuity
and change. Children are still playing games that we
know were recorded in ancient Rome, but they are
also using play, both verbal and kinetic, that is only
available to contemporary children, whether it’s play
with a material object or a rhyme that references a
current politician. They hold, as if in a kind of verbal
aspic, the past, but they are constantly watching and
learning from the adult world, scrutinising it with
sharp eyes, subverting it but also copying it.
Gwenda and I recognised the importance – and the

fascination – of the folklore both of children and for
children. That’s how the Collection began.
A Liberian Bush-child’s doll, one of the many playthings donated by

Dorothy Howard to the Collection.
Source – Australian Children’s Folklore Collection, Museum Victoria
Photographer – Deborah Tout-Smith, Museum Victoria
7
Heather documented much of what she saw – for

example the way, in that school, when they played
Marbles every child put the marble on their middle
finger like a shanghai, and they called it the ‘Chinese
flick’, although it actually was a practice that came
from the Vietnamese children. We saw fascinating
examples of cross-cultural interchange going on
in an ordinary Australian school playground, most
of which had not previously been documented.
Heather’s research material was added to the
Collection, and over the years many other people
donated material, so the Collection grew.
A paper football, made from a Melbourne newspaper in the late
1980s by an adult who played footy with these as a child. By the end of 1983 I’d published the first collection
Source – Australian Children’s Folklore Collection, Museum Victoria
of what became a series of books of children’s
playground rhymes. To my surprise and that of my
When I went to the Australian Centre at the
publisher, Oxford University Press, Far Out Brussel
University of Melbourne, the Centre was literally
Sprout! and the four collections that followed
next door to the University Archives, in Barry Street,
turned out to be a hit. I put a little note in the front
Carlton. Frank Strahan, the director of the Archives,
of each book asking children to send me their
was fortunately a man fascinated by the unusual,
favourite rhymes and chants, and many did. Adults,
the non-conventional, and he was delighted to give
remembering their childhoods, also contributed.
house room to the Collection. So that’s where it
Children’s verbal lore, now in a status object – a
lived for quite a while. We had a little committee
book – gained some standing in the community.
with Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Frank Strahan, myself
and a couple of others, and we discussed what
needed to be done. There were occasional visitors This decorated envelope arrived full of children’s rhymes.
Source – Collection of June Factor
to the Collection, but there was very little collecting
of new material.
Children’s folklore publication
The Australian Children’s Folklore Newsletter,
The Collection grows
which we used to publish for subscribers from the
A number of individuals apart from Gwenda and
early days of the Collection at the Institute of Early
myself, and the wonderful Dorothy Howard,
Childhood Development, changed its name at some
contributed to the Collection. There was Heather
point to Play and Folklore, and is now published on
Russell, who at one time was working as a Research
the Museum’s website. What had been a largely
Assistant to Gwenda. We had a request from a
Australian audience grew to encompass readers –
school in a working-class area of Melbourne: the
and sometimes writers – from around the world. For
staff were concerned about bullying. Could we help?
most of the time we were publishing The Australian
We didn’t know whether we could or not, but we
Children’s Folklore Newsletter it was Don Oliver
observed the playground life and thought there was
who was putting it together physically: cutting and
not so much bullying as a lack of much opportunity
pasting and photocopying, and then sending the
for play. The school accepted our recommendation
printed copies out to our subscribers. We produced
and hired Heather, who spent about four months in
two issues a year, and Don would create the
the school. She became known as ‘the games lady’.
illustrations and find images that we could use –
She wasn’t there as a teacher and she wasn’t there
he was a very important part of the production.
as a disciplinarian – she was there just to help the
Play and Folklore now has a professional designer,
children with their play, and her presence made an
and it goes out on the internet so anybody in the
enormous difference to the playground. It was an
word can read it at no cost. We lost much of the
immigrant community with children from a number
personal connection that one has with subscribers,
of different countries.
and gained a world-wide audience.
8
Amy Saunders making string figures with a

visitor to the Tops, Tales and Granny’s False
Teeth exhibition, Royal Children’s Hospital,
Melbourne, April 1990.
Photographer – Judy McKinty
Children’s play exhibitions We created an interactive exhibition which we

Before the current Melbourne Museum was called Tops, Tales and Granny’s False Teeth – a
built, the Museum was housed in the the State move in the game of Jacks or Knucklebones. While
Library building in the city, and it included a we had covered display shelves in which we put
Children’s Museum – a very inventive and exciting objects from the Collection that couldn’t be handled
Children’s Museum with Mary Featherston as the because they were too fragile, the bulk of the room
Designer and Rachel Faggetter as the Director. was filled with activities for the children. They could
One of the exhibitions was called You’re IT!, built spin tops, they could play Jacks, they could make
around children’s play. That was a most lively and string figures – there was even a corner where we
successful exhibition. That’s when Judy McKinty, had books and reading. Judy McKinty and Dorothy
an Explainer at the exhibition, became part of the Rickards, a wonderful drama teacher and colleague
group around the Collection. Visitors added to our from the Institute of Early Childhood Development,
store of knowledge of contemporary children’s play were joint co-ordinators of the project. One of
in Australia by filling out questionnaires, which came our key ‘presenters’ was Amy Saunders, a young
into the Collection when the exhibition closed. Indigenous woman whose friendliness and
exceptional knowledge of string games delighted
In 1990, I received a request from a member of the children.
the Australian Centre Board, who was also on the
Board of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. The exhibition at the Children’s Hospital lasted a
Word had got out that Gwenda and I were planning month, and it was an extraordinary experience from
to have an exhibition of children’s playthings from which we learnt more than I, or I think any of us, had
many countries. At the High Court in Canberra expected. We believed we would be catering for
there had been an exhibition to which the various the children in the hospital who were able to walk
Embassies had donated what they regarded as a around, and probably their brothers and sisters who
typical toy from their country, and we wrote and often had to wait around. We discovered that most
said that if they didn’t want the playthings back we of the hospital visited the exhibition. Not only were
would take them for the Collection, and include we catering for children in the hospital who could
them in an exhibition. I was asked: would we put the walk, children would whizz down in wheelchairs.
exhibition on at the Children’s Hospital? We also had baskets donated from a Chinese store
in the city, which we filled with playthings, and
The Children’s Hospital was engaged in one of its they would go up to the wards to the children who
many refurbishments and rebuildings, and we were really couldn’t come down to us. It was amazing,
given a large room that had once been a lecture the number of children who did, and so did parents.
theatre. It had lost its ceiling, but the imaginative The play life in the exhibition united young and old.
designer Mary Featherston covered the area with A group of medical students began a long game
colourful balloons. of Marbles with painters and other workmen.
It connected all parts of the hospital. It was a
fascinating and interesting learning experience for
us.
9
A new home
The Collection remained at the University Archives
for a number of years. It was safe and secure there,
but not growing much, nor having much influence.
Then one day I was approached by Maryanne
McCubbin, who had worked at the University
Archives but now worked at the Melbourne
Museum. She was greatly interested in both the
historical and cultural value of the Collection, and
suggested it should come to the Museum. It took
some time before I agreed: I wanted to ensure
that the Museum would not only care for the
Collection but also develop and enrich it, and make it
available to both the Australian and the international
community. It took almost five years until I signed
a contract with the Museum – signed with great
public flourish in 1999.
So it made a bit of a splash, and I have mostly

positive things to say about the Collection’s shift to
the Museum. The Museum has largely committed
itself to the Collection, and it certainly has housed
it very well, ensuring the preservation of both
written material and objects. Gradually, some of
Family playing string games, Tops Tales and Granny’s False Teeth this large archive is being made available on the
exhibition, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, April 1990. internet. As yet the Museum has not developed an
ongoing collection program, the Collection is not on
display in the Museum, and it doesn’t have its own
The fact that everybody has been a child means dedicated curator, but all these achievements must
that playlore is a strong (though rarely recognised) surely be part of the Museum’s future plans. After
connection between adults and children. The all, in 2004 the Collection was placed on UNESCO’s
playlore also connected the children in the hospital Australian Memory of the World Register, alongside
with their normal school lives – the games they Captain Cook’s journals, the Mabo papers, and other
would be playing and the rhymes they’d be chanting materials that are regarded as significant symbols
if they were not in hospital. It wasn’t just the and markers of Australian culture and history.
rather artificial play life that hospitals sometimes Australian children’s folklore now has an honoured
provide, this is the children’s own world, these are place in the country’s official memory, something
the things they do, and you would see a parent of which the Museum is rightly proud.
and a child exchanging different ways of playing
a game. The father did it one way when he was a Dr June Factor is a writer, historian and folklorist and an
child and the child did it another; they could discuss Honorary Senior Fellow in the University of Melbourne’s School
of Historical and Philosophical Studies. She is an Honorary
and compare on an equal basis. So that was a
Associate of Museum Victoria and a member of the Museum’s
marvellous experience, and I was really sorry that Reference Committee for the Australian Children’s Folklore
the administration didn’t recognise the value of Collection. Recognised internationally as a leading scholar in the
this playlore and find a way to integrate it into the study of children’s lore and language, June is co-founder and
former Director of the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection
hospital’s ongoing programs. But they didn’t.
and founding co-editor of Play and Folklore, formerly the
Australian Children’s Folklore Newsletter. June is also one of
three co-editors of the International Journal of Play, published by
Taylor and Francis (Routledge).
10
Mabuyag Island – children’s dances.

Photographer – Karl Neuenfeldt
Play and Folklore:

partner in cultural diversity
Gwenda Beed Davey
On Sunday 10 July 2016 I watched Big Ted’s Only one year later, in 1979, June Factor and I
Excellent Adventure on ABCTV – a tribute to fifty established the Australian Children’s Folklore
years of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Collection in a filing cabinet in the library at the
splendid program for pre-schoolers, Play School. Institute of Early Childhood Development, where we
Some of Australia’s leading actors recalled, often lectured in English and Psychology respectively. In
hilariously, their stint on Play School – a true this final issue of Play and Folklore June has written
actor’s rite of passage. Among the jokes and the about the beginnings of the Collection, now housed
compliments was one focus on Play School’s at Museum Victoria and since 2004 listed in the
leadership in promoting cultural diversity. Presenters UNESCO Australia Memory of the World Register.
and actors often came from a variety of cultural Play and Folklore began together with the Collection
backgrounds, a situation still poorly represented in as The Australian Children’s Folklore Newsletter,
Australian commercial television. but for simplicity I’ll refer to all issues as Play and
Folklore.
I think the whole early childhood field deserves
some accolades in this regard. I took up my My contribution to the establishment of the
lectureship in Psychology at the Institute of Early Australian Children’s Folklore Collection was an
Childhood Development, Kew, in 1973, the year in educational kit known as The Multicultural Cassette
which Federal Minister for Immigration Al Grassby Series. Eventually produced at the Institute of Early
produced his seminal document, A Multi-cultural Childhood Development, the kit was based on a
Society for the Future1. Grassby wasn’t the first year’s fieldwork by myself and folk collector, the late
advocate for multiculturalism. Professor Jerzy Norman O’Connor. I was lucky enough to receive a
Zubrzycki had already put forward (in the sixties) grant for a full year’s salary for this project from the
the notion that migrant cultures had something Australian Children’s Commission, shortly before it
to contribute to Australian society (apart from fell along with the Whitlam Government in 1975.
their labour),2 and in Melbourne’s inner-suburb of
Richmond Priscilla Clarke (now Dr Priscilla Clarke During the 1960s, Norm O’Connor was a prominent
OAM) was already promoting cultural diversity at the researcher and recorder of traditional Australian
heavily migrant Boroondara Kindergarten. In 1978 songs and stories, mainly in outback Victoria and
the Free Kindergarten Association established the New South Wales. The Norm O’Connor Collection is
Multicultural Resource Centre, providing materials now one of the National Library of Australia’s prized
and advice to kindergartens throughout Victoria. possessions, housed in the Library’s Oral History
and Folklore Section. Norm O’Connor’s recordings
11
are distinguished by their high technical quality, and from the Vietnam War. In 2016, it seems that the
he brought the same expertise to the Multicultural game of Elastics is less popular than a generation
Cassette Series, which he both recorded and edited. ago, though it is also possible that it’s just part of
The final kit consisted of twenty-six cassette tapes, the normal ebb and flow of many childhood games.
in community languages which were important at
that time, namely Italian, Greek, Turkish, Spanish,
Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Arabic and English.
The tapes included stories, songs and rhymes for
young children, presented by native speakers, and
interspersed with appropriate music. A printed
manual contained translations or summaries of each
item in English, for teachers’ use. This material
was traditional adult folklore FOR children, unlike
children’s own playground rhymes and games. The
Kit, plus original field recordings and notes, became
part of the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection,
and a key influence on Play and Folklore.
Girls playing Elastics, Bulolo International School, Papua New
From the beginning, Play and Folklore included Guinea.
items reflecting cultural diversity in Australia. A
check of the Index shows that in our thirty-five
Other important international contributions were
years of existence (1981 to 2016) more than sixty
those of New Zealander Janice Ackerley (Issues
articles referred to languages other than English.
42 and 44) and Jean-Pierre Rossie (Issues 43,
Some items were modest (as befits the earliest
47 and 60). Jean-Pierre Rossie’s articles dealt
hand-typed and photocopied issues) and others
with children’s play and toys in Morocco and the
spectacular, such as reports on fieldwork in the
Tunisian Sahara, and Ackerley’s with playground
Torres Strait Islands by ethnomusicologist Karl
rhymes ‘keeping up with the times’ and with gender
Neuenfeldt (Issues 52 and 55). By this time, the
differences in the folklore play of children in primary
resources of Museum Victoria enabled colour
school playgrounds.
printing for the now online Play and Folklore.
A significant Australian research project by
From very early days it became obvious that the
Heather Russell in 1984 was published as Play and
editors wished to include international material
Friendships in a Multicultural Playground,3 and was
about children’s folklore, as well as folklore known in
reported in some detail in Play and Folklore (Issues
Australia itself. The first item of this type is a review
8, 10 and 13). Russell spent two months in an inner-
of a thesis concerning jokes by north-German
suburban Melbourne school, where the playground
and Australian children (Issue 4), followed by ‘Old
mostly consisted of children from Turkish, Indo-
English Traditions’ (Issue 5) and ‘Growing up in
Chinese (Vietnamese, Chinese-Vietnamese and
Moldavia’ (Issue 9). Interest from overseas scholars
a few Lao) backgrounds. Children from English-
grew, beginning with French scholar Andy Arleo’s
speaking backgrounds were in a minority. Results
contribution ‘International diffusion of the jump-rope
from this project included information about
game Elastics’ (Issues 19, 20, 21).
children’s friendship patterns, preferences for
playmates and attitudes to different cultural groups,
Arleo reported that his research in the 1980s,
as well as documentation about cross-cultural
together with other studies, showed Elastics being
influences in play activities.
played in twenty-three countries in four continents.
He concluded that Elastics may have been an Asian
Kathryn Marsh’s important book The Musical
game which spread to Australia, UK and USA and
Playground: Global Tradition and Change in
then ‘rapidly or perhaps simultaneously to other
Children’s Songs and Games4 was reviewed in
countries’. This view concurs with our opinions,
Play and Folklore (Issue 53). The book reported her
enhanced by speculation that the game may have
fieldwork in Australia, Norway, the United States,
been brought to Australia by participants returning
the United Kingdom and Korea, showing how
12
children transmit, maintain, and transform their

musical games. Other international publications
were regularly reviewed.
‘Merry Christmas from Chile’ (Issue 10) was the first

of a number of contributors’ travel notes, sending
their observations of children’s play while abroad.
Play and Folklore editor Judy McKinty was the
most prolific, with extensive notes from Thailand,
Papua New Guinea and Lord Howe Island. Judy also
contributed a long-running mystery about a folk doll
she found in a Melbourne ‘opportunity shop’ (Issues
55 and 62). Eventually, with help from Deakin
University academics (and the National Museum in
Bangkok), we discovered that this beautifully made
doll is carrying a toy gourd mouth organ, a traditional
wind instrument, played by musicians in East and
Southeast Asia, and which is known in northern
Thailand by the Lahu (or Lahoo) people as a nor or
naw.
The mystery folk doll is similar to many material

objects of diverse cultural origins which are part
of the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection at
Museum Victoria. When June and I established the Folk doll with traditional wind instrument.
Collection, we firmly believed that we would not Photographer – Judy McKinty
collect material culture. As it happened, the objects
collected us, and many were gifts which could not In summary, I’m immensely proud of our thirty-
be refused, such as those given to us by Dorothy five years of Play and Folklore. Looking back over
Howard, an American Fulbright Scholar whose our Index, I’m often astonished at the richness of
pioneering research into Australian children’s play the contributions contained in this very informal
was an inspiration to others. In 1989 the Australian publication. What about regrets? I’ve had a few…I
High Court displayed in its foyer in Canberra an think the move to online publication lost some of our
exhibition of children’s toys, provided by a number former contributors’ sense of ownership of Play and
of Embassies and High Commissions. Forty-two Folklore, despite the high quality production provided
countries were represented, many by folk toys by the Museum. I believe this sense of loss, and
such as a wire car from South Africa and banana the fact that no universities in Australia are currently
leaf dolls and animals from Kenya. As a result of teaching folklore, are the reasons for the current
representations made by Play and Folklore’s editors, lack of outside contributions, which has influenced
a number of these toys were given to the Australian the decision by the editors of Play and Folklore, and
Children’s Folklore Collection. by Museum Victoria, to cease publication with this
issue.
I also regret that we were never able to include
any material about play and folklore among child
refugees and asylum seekers. We do know
that children will play even in the most dire
circumstances, as shown by publications about
children and the Holocaust.5 We did publish Bruno
Werner Weinmann’s article about ‘Play in an
Internment Camp’, and Valerie Yule’s ‘War, reality
and fantasy: the imagination of Belfast children
during the Troubles of the 1980s’. I wonder why we
didn’t publish more such pieces, or more polemics.
13
I suppose it’s not surprising that there’s nothing in Dr Gwenda Beed Davey AM taught Australian folklife studies at
Play and Folklore about refugees in Australia today, the Institute of Early Childhood Development and a number of
Australian universities. In the mid-1980s she was appointed to
given the excessive secrecy thrown around refuge the Australian Government Committee of Inquiry into Folklife in
seekers by the Australian government. Perhaps Australia, which produced its final report as Folklife: Our Living
future field workers in folklore, if any, will be able to Heritage (1987). In 1993 she co-edited, with Graham Seal,
carry out some post hoc research. I was a founder The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore. She has been a
Harold White Fellow at the National Library of Australia, and a
of Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Scholar in Residence at the National Film and Sound Archive.
Children, and we did contribute to getting virtually She is currently an Honorary Associate of Museum Victoria,
all children and families released from the worst of and a member of the Museum’s Reference Committee for the
Australian detention in 2016. Not so successful, as Australian Children’s Folklore Collection. Gwenda is co-founder
of the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection and founding
yet, as regards the children still marooned on Nauru, co-editor of Play and Folklore, formerly the Australian Children’s
Australia’s shameful system of imprisoning asylum Folklore Newsletter.
seekers who travelled by boat in the attempt to find
sanctuary here. ENDNOTES
1 A .J. Grassby, A Multi-Cultural Society for the Future. A paper
prepared for the Cairnmillar Institute’s Symposium ‘Strategy
2000: Australia for Tomorrow’. Immigration reference paper,
published for the Department of Immigration (Canberra:
Australian Government Publishing Service, 1973).
2 J erzy Zubrzycki, Immigrants in Australia: a demographic survey
based upon the 1954 Census. Assisted by Nancy Kuskie.
(Melbourne: Melbourne University Press on behalf of the
Australian National University, 1960).
eather Russell, Play and Friendships in a Multicultural
3H
Playground, (Melbourne: Australian Children’s Folklore
Publications, 1986).
athryn Marsh, The Musical Playground: Global Tradition and
4K
Change in Children’s Songs and Games, (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2008).
eorge Eisen, Children and Play in the Holocaust: Games
5G
among the Shadows, (Amherst: University of Massachusetts
Children playing a counting-out game called ‘Coconut Crack’ Press, 1988).
at a Melbourne primary school.
In writing my final contribution to Play and Folklore,

I want to give sincere thanks to my fellow editors
of Play and Folklore, June Factor and Judy McKinty,
and also to Museum Victoria staff Deborah
Tout-Smith, Richard Gillespie and Carolyn ‘Caz’
McLennan. I’m also delighted that we have a
somewhat weightier successor, The International
Journal of Play. My warmest good wishes go to its
three editors, Michael Patte (Pennsylvania), June
Factor (Melbourne) and Fraser Brown (Leeds).
14
Documenting the Dorothy Howard

collection: a digital approach
Deborah Tout-Smith
Museum Victoria’s Dorothy Howard collection is has lagged due to the significant resources
a remarkable insight into the play and folklore of required to register, document and image-capture
Australian children in the mid-1950s. It comprises to individual document level. Yet this level contains
5,462 documents and 82 photographs, including rich cultural information.
almost 1300 descriptions and illustrations written
by children themselves. In 2014 a grant was received from the McCoy
Seed Fund to document the Dorothy Howard
The collection was compiled by Dr Dorothy Howard, collection, make it accessible to researchers in a
an American scholar, educator and ethnographer navigable web resource, and explore how innovative
who visited Australia on a Fulbright scholarship documentation systems and visualisation tools
in 1954-55. She corresponded with students and could enhance and interconnect large institutional
teachers at more than 70 schools, and visited 31 collections. The McCoy Seed Fund, named in
schools in person. She returned to the US with memory of the first director of Museum Victoria,
reams of notes, and spent the following decades Frederick McCoy (also one of the first professors
organising her research, typing thousands of index at the University of Melbourne), supports joint,
cards and publishing articles on the games and inter-disciplinary projects between Museum Victoria
practices she observed. and the University of Melbourne to foster innovative
and high-impact collaborative research projects,
In later life, Dr Howard passed her material to leveraging the strengths of the two partners to build
Australian children’s folklorist Dr June Factor, who scholarship based on Museum Victoria’s collections.
donated the collection to Museum Victoria in 1999,
part of a larger donation that formed the Australian The McCoy grant, awarded jointly to the
Children’s Folklore Collection, now listed on the Humanities Department of Museum Victoria and
register of the UNESCO Australian Memory of the the eScholarship Resource Centre at the University
World.1 Dr Howard’s articles were re-published in of Melbourne, enabled full documentation of the
2005 by Museum Victoria in Child’s Play, edited by Dorothy Howard collection and export of the data
Professor Kate Darian-Smith and Dr Factor. into the Online Heritage Resource Manager (OHRM)
In recent years, Museum Victoria has increasingly database, which in turn can be used to produce
made its collections available through its EMu remarkable visualizations, allowing the collection
database and its Museum Victoria Collections online to be accessed and explored in new and highly
portal. Access to archival collections such as the innovative ways.
Australian Children’s Folklore Collection, however,
15
The project was guided by an inter-agency Iris explains that the game must be played on a
committee under the leadership of coordinating sunny day in a backyard or school ground, and is
investigator Associate-Professor Gavan McCarthy, suitable for boys and girls: For the export of the
director of the eScholarship Research Centre. data to the OHRM database, research archivist and
PhD student Michael Jones worked with Museum
Over the course of several months, project curator Victoria’s Manager of Collection Information
Georgia Knight worked closely with Collection Systems, Nancy Ladas, to facilitate the export of the
Information Systems Project Officer Christina data. The challenge of mapping similar data (or sets
Giatsios to register, describe, research and re-house of data) across the two databases was overcome
the Dorothy Howard collection to museum best through extensive inter-agency consultation – and
standards, overseen by Senior Curator Deborah many Excel spreadsheets! Static visualizations
Tout-Smith. They identified data standards and were created, and a navigable, interactive
maximized the use of bulk-loading to rationalize data ConneX visualization of the data at the ESRC was
inputs. Images of every document were uploaded implemented.
to the EMu database – a total of 7,088 images that
had been taken over several years by dedicated Early visualisations of the data in the OHRM
Humanities Department volunteer Chris Friday. At demonstrated its potential. In the following
the conclusion of the project, a total of 5,419 new visualization of the Dorothy Howard collection,
catalogue records had been created in the database; Dorothy Howard herself sits at the centre; the
711 EMu records had been enhanced; and 539 new red dots represent documents; the green dots
records had been released to Museum Victoria represent people (children and adults); the blue dots
Collections online.2 represent organisations, mostly schools; and the
orange dots represent archival collections or series.
Amongst the remarkable range of documents Viewed as a dynamic visualization, the user can
released is a hand-written description of the chasing swing the diagram around to see different content/
game ‘Shadow Tag’ compiled by Iris D., a student relationships – for instance, a similar game played at
at East Fremantle Government Primary School, schools located far apart – zoom in to see individual
Western Australia, for Dorothy Howard between names or documents, or zoom out to see larger
1954-1955. connections or relationships.
Document - Iris D., Addressed to Dorothy Howard, Description of Chasing Game ‘Shadow Tag’, 1954-1955 (cropped),
Museum Victoria collection (HT 41438), courtesy June Factor
16
Visualisation created by Michael Jones (eScholarship Research from the University of Melbourne, Deakin University
Centre, University of Melbourne) using Cytoscape (http://www. and Curtin University, in association with the
cytoscape.org/)
National Library of Australia and Museum Victoria,
collaborate to produce the first national account
Although the project is now complete, there is of continuity and change in Australian children’s
much further work still to be done – in terms of playlore since Dorothy Howard’s work in the 1950s.
both improving access to the collection and better Eleven of the schools that Dr Howard visited were
connecting the collection to other collections and included in the project. The potential for new
research. Currently individual documents can only understandings of the patterns and meanings of
be retrieved through searches using key words and cultural change is significant.
game or play types, by location or by school. The
application of optical character recognition software Ultimately, Museum Victoria’s commitment to
will allow all of the words in the documents to improve the documentation of its collections, and
become searchable, allowing more nuanced and developments in data visualization at the University
complex searches. of Melbourne, have led to a significant improvement
in access to the Dorothy Howard collection for a
Further exploration of the OHRM as a tool for world-wide audience. Key to the success of the
understanding and visualising the data will identify project was close teamwork between curatorial and
new local, national and international connections and information systems staff, ensuring high data quality
trends, and support analysis of changes across place and streamlined processes.
and time.
We hope that the project will provide a model for
Promisingly, the Dorothy Howard collection data future documentation of, and access to, archives
can be linked to data also held in the OHRM that of children’s folklore.
was gathered during the Childhood, Tradition
and Change Australian Research Council project
undertaken in 2007-10. That project saw scholars
17
Girls Playing Hopscotch, Dorothy Howard Tour, 1954-1955. Museum Victoria collection (MM 104107), courtesy June Factor
Reference
McCoy Seed Funding Scheme Final Report, 26
February 2016, Museum Victoria.
With thanks to Michael Jones, eScholarship

Research Centre, University of Melbourne.
Deborah Tout-Smith is Deputy Head of Humanities Department

(Exhibitions) and Senior Curator, Home and Community Life at
Museum Victoria. She curates several collections within the
Humanities Department, including the Australian Children’s
Folklore Collection.
ENDNOTES
1A
ustralian Children’s Folklore Collection, inscription no.9,
UNESCO Memory of the World, National Committee of
Australia, http://www.amw.org.au/register/listings/australian-
childrens-folklore-collection
2T
he collection can now be explored through http://collections.
museumvictoria.com.au/
18
Using North African children’s

play culture for pedagogical
and sociocultural applications
John-Pierre Rossie
In my book Saharan and North African Toy and This event was organized around an exhibition
Play Cultures: Children’s dolls and doll play, I of one hundred toys created by rural Anti-Atlas
described my first experiences in using North children. The exhibition and conference, illustrated
African and Saharan play cultures in a chapter by a PowerPoint presentation, dealt with the
called ‘Intercultural and peace education in a theme ‘Games and toys of Moroccan children: a
Western context’.1 Since then I have organized or creative heritage of great value’. Guided tours of the
co-organized other activities in this context such exhibition were made for youth associations and
as seminars, workshops for children and/or adults, members of the center. Safi children who did not
conferences and exhibitions. In this article I will know traditional toys not only had the opportunity
offer the reader an overview of some workshops for to see these toys but also to handle and play with
children and/or adults and a few exhibitions I made them (fig. 1).
in Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Morocco.
This is not a scientific analysis of these activities but
a demonstration of the practical possibilities of this
children’s cultural heritage in and outside the school
system.
I begin with an exhibition and a few seminars that I

presented in Morocco, in the center of Safi for the
Fondation Orient-Occident.2 I see this opportunity
as one of the best I ever had because, after several
attempts that failed, I was finally able to use the
play and toy-making activities of the Anti-Atlas3
children from southern Morocco as a lever for social
and cultural development of Moroccan children
and adults. I was able to make contact with this Fig. 1 Moroccan youngsters discussing self-made toys.
Photographer – Khalija Jariaa
center in Safi through the association Wellouëj:
Jeux Traditionnels et Jeux du Monde in Lille.4
The visit to the exhibition sometimes gave rise to a
Khalija Jariaa and Boubaker Daoumani assisted
lively discussion between children and young people
me in organizing this week on ‘Toys and games of
who had no idea about the creativity of Moroccan
Moroccan children’ during the Ashura period, from
children in other regions. Halim, the center’s
22 to 26 December 2009.
19
animator, quickly became aware of the content and

meaning of the exhibition and subsequently guided
the young and older ones with the help of Khalija
Jariaa, who was available to answer questions.
Association leaders and other adults also showed
interest in these toys made by children, and
sometimes remembered the toys they themselves
made in their childhood.
Manar, the president of the youth association,

together with Halim and I organized a round
Fig. 3 Traditional games of skill for motor disabled children.
table with members of the association. After Photographer – Khalija Jariaa
a demonstration of how some toys worked,
youngsters of the association showed the younger As parents had shown their interest in this
ones how to make toys from recycled material in the opportunity to help their children at home, I
way they remembered from their childhood (fig. 2). suggested to the Director the creation of a working
group, with some members of the center and
myself, to analyze toys for games of skill that could
be useful, to develop therapeutic applications
with these toys, and to test their functionality.
Unfortunately, the proposed collaboration did not
go beyond the initial good intentions.
One of the leading officers of the preschool section

of the local department of the Ministry of Education
in Safi visited the exposition and participated in
the seminars. He told me that, inspired by what
he saw and heard, he would explore the possibility
of creating a module on children’s play, among
others based on the local play culture, in the
training of future teachers of the public preschool
Fig. 2 Moroccan adolescent showing how to make a kite.
Photographer – Khalija Jariaa sector – a preschool sector that was developing in
the primary schools in the area. If these initiatives
The same day, and with language assistance from could materialize, the Moroccan play and toy
Halim, I gave a seminar on the possibilities of heritage would not only be safeguarded but also
manipulating traditional toys for parents of motor- advantage the development of the children and their
disabled children (fig. 3). I proposed this seminar communities.
after my visit, a few days before, to the Safi center
of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Disabled. A year earlier, in 2008, the educational and
During my visit I was told about the problem of sociocultural activities that I use to stimulate the
continuing, at home, the therapy of the children who use of children’s play and toy heritage, which had
were treated in the center with specific equipment. stopped around 1992 when I went to do research
The staff stressed that the parents did not continue in Morocco, resumed in Greece. This event
the exercises performed at the center because of was related to the fifth World Congress of the
lack of means to acquire suitable but expensive International Toy Research Association (ITRA) held
equipment. In my seminar I tried to show that in Nafplion during July 2008.
several traditional toys, especially toys for games of
skill, could replace the equipment used in the center
– toys that parents often knew as a child and so
could eventually make themselves without cost.
20
In this context, the Museum of Childhood

‘Stathmos’ of the Peloponnesian Folklore
Foundation ‘V. Papantoniou’, located in the National
Railway Station Park of Nafplion, invited me to set
up an educational program and a few workshops
related to Anti-Atlas children’s play and toy-
making activities in southern Morocco. I called my
intervention ‘Moroccan children’s toys seen through
the eyes of Greek children’. For the development
of this program I received assistance from the
head of the Department of Educational Programs,
the President of the Association of Friends of the
Museum and, of course, from the children who
participated.
Fig. 4 Italian children creating masks and toys inspired by Moroccan

Inspired by toys made by children of the Anti- toy-makers.
Atlas, Nafplion children between six and twelve Photographer – Jean-Pierre Rossie
years created their own toys in the course of six
workshops. At a first meeting I showed the Greek During my visits to my friend Giorgio Bartolucci in
children two PowerPoint presentations, one on Florence, he put me in touch with associations,
‘Ashura: a children’s feast in Morocco’ and another institutions and people of Florence, Turin and
on ‘Ashura: the Masquerade in Tiznit’. While Verona interested in toys and games. These
showing this second series of photographs I spoke contacts gave me the opportunity to develop
about the masks that adolescents and boys in the activities to disseminate in Italy the play and toy
region of Tiznit create for this important festivity. culture of Saharan and North African children. In
The Nafplion children created masks with natural this context, I organized a workshop for children in
and waste material we searched for in the small park June 2008 at the Biblioteca delle Oblate, a section
surrounding the Museum. We found many objects, of the public library of the city of Florence. As the
mostly leaves, twigs, feathers, pinecones, caps, theme of this workshop I used the Ashura festival
pieces of cardboard and plastic. These materials and Imachar masquerade.5 In the library section
were supplemented by pieces of fabric, pencils for children, some girls and boys had fun making
and colored markers available at the Museum. At masks, sometimes with the help of a parent (fig.
the beginning of the last workshop, the children 4). Following this first workshop, I was invited by
watched a PowerPoint presentation on the dolls the cultural association and the library Libri Liberi to
children of the Anti-Atlas make, and then they develop a creative activity during the Festival della
created their own male and female dolls. Creatività held in Florence every year in October.
The same theme of creating masks with natural
Although the children who participated in the six and waste material was used. During the whole
workshops enjoyed making masks and dolls, I felt day, children and adult passers-by were invited to
sorry that they could not use their masks. I first participate.
thought about planning a walk in the Museum
quarter, but then I had the idea to invade the Giorgio Bartolucci, as Director of the Centro
reception of ITRA’s World Congress with the Internazionale Ludoteche (CIL) of Florence, asked
masked children. Once they were wearing their me if I was interested in a project on the play
own masks, just as I did, we all became ‘spirits’. culture of Moroccan children for the Centro per la
The spirit children took control of the reception Cultura Ludica and the Instituzione Torinese per
and wholeheartedly shook their noisemakers, as is une Educazione Responsabile (ITER), that is to say
done during the Tiznit masquerade. Then I gave my for the toy museum of the city of Turin and for the
mask to the President of ITRA, Cleo Gougoulis, so institution in charge of education in this city. An
that she would wear it while reading a statement agreement between ITER, CIL and myself was
declaring that the International Toy Research ratified in June 2008. At its basis lay a donation of
Association not only supported the rights of children 268 toys created by children from the Anti-Atlas and
to play, but also their right to create their own toys.
21
Sahrawi children from the western Sahara desert. students and a few teachers created masks and
The agreement also included a series of seminars, dolls with natural and waste material.
the development of a detailed and illustrated
list of my donation, and my participation in the Bariloche boys as well as girls made masks, but
development of an exhibition during 2009-2010. This seemingly more boys than girls – the girls and
exhibition, ‘Rêves d’Enfants’: crescere giocando dal female students preferred to make dolls. The boys
Marocco a qui (‘Children’s Dreams’), opened in Turin and girls not only showed a lot of creativity in using
on November 20, 2010 and ended in December the available material but also in designing their
2012 (fig. 5). masks and dolls.
Stela Maris Ferrarese Capettini, a teacher of

physical education with a longstanding interest in
studying the play and toy cultures of the indigenous
populations of South America,6 invited me to stay
in her home in the city of Neuquén. During the
first two weeks of November 2010, she organized
several conferences and workshops for me, in
different institutions including the Universidad
Catolica de Salta, sede Neuquén. After attending
one of my conferences, some student teachers
engaged in a creativity workshop.
In Neuquén, at the primary school no. 1 Ciudad de

Buenos Aires, three workshops took place with
pupils of the first and fourth grade. They created
Fig. 5 A view of the exposition ‘Children’s Dreams’ in Turin.
Photographer – Jean-Pierre Rossie masks, dolls and a few other toys like cars and
robots. The children of the first grade received help
During 2013, a travelling version of the exhibition from their mothers and fathers. As in Bariloche,
was prepared. I had been asked to provide a richly the participants viewed a PowerPoint on Moroccan
illustrated brochure for the exposition, but it was children’s creativity with natural and waste material.7
not published due to the financial problems of Again, most of the girls and some boys made dolls,
the city of Turin. I decided to publish it anyway in but boys preferred to build vehicles such as cars,
digital form so that it possibly could be used as trucks and airplanes.
part of the travelling exhibition. At the same time,
this brochure offers an overview of Anti-Atlas and On 12 November 2010, a similar workshop
Saharan children’s creativity and highlights some was organized by the Secretaria de la Niñez
sociocultural aspects of these children’s play and y Adolescencia de la Secretaria de Derechos
toy-making activities. Humanos of Neuquén at the Centro de Formación
Professional in the Barrio Rural ‘Nueva Esperanza’,
In October 2010 the Facultad Latinoamericana de about 20km from Neuquén. In that workshop 25
Ciencias Sociales of Buenos Aires, Programa de boys and girls, mothers and animators participated.
Educación Inicial y Primera Infancia invited me to
participate in the international seminar Infancias, Early 2011, my friend Renzo the Toymaker8 proposed
Juegos y Juguetes. After this event, the Instituto that I help develop an important and long-term
de Formacion Docentes de Bariloche (Rio Negro project in his city of Ravenna. This project would be
province) invited me to participate in the training of carried out in collaboration with the Associazione La
students and to organize a workshop. At the start of Lucertola and the Centro La Lucertola, Gioco Natura
the workshop I showed a PowerPoint with photos e Creatività del Comune di Ravenna.9 Renzo Laporta
of Moroccan adolescents and boys making masks and I agreed to begin the project by making available
for the Imashar feast in Tiznit and its region, and about a hundred toys made with natural and waste
photos of dolls and other toys created by Moroccan material by Anti-Atlas children from southern
children. In this workshop, female and male children, Morocco. As I brought the toys in a suitcase
22
from Morocco, Renzo had the interesting idea to The second phase of the project started in
name this project Jean-Pierre Rossie in Ravenna: i September 2011 and continued through 2012 in the
giocattoli in valigia10 (toys in a suitcase). The actual primary school Morelli of Ravenna.12 The objectives
implementation of the project began during my stay of the interventions were pursued through
in Ravenna from 15-27 September 2011. During this workshops promoting creativity and by bringing
time I conducted a training seminar, two lectures the pupils into contact with a different play and toy
and a workshop for children and their parents about culture from another continent.
creating dolls and cars with natural and waste
material.11 Another important event was arranging After the World Play Day organized on May 28,
the exposition of the toys created by Moroccan girls 2011 by the Ludothèque HEB-ULB Ludivine and the
and boys. Haute École de Bruxelles - Catégorie pédagogique
Defré,13 I was invited by Michel Van Langendonckt
On his website, Renzo Laporta described the project to write a series of short articles on the play culture
as follows: of Moroccan children. These articles were printed in
the magazine Les Cahiers de LUDO, published as a
‘Jean-Pierre Rossie in Ravenna’ is a project about supplement to the magazine Artichouette, the organ
childhood, children and their play cultures in the of the Association of Toy Libraries and Toy Librarians
world of today. During the month of September, of the French Community of Belgium.14
the project will start by the arrival of Jean-Pierre
At the same time Michel Van Langendonckt
Rossie and the presentation of the toys he brings
proposed that I conduct workshops, inspired by
from southern Morocco. During winter the project
will continue in the schools of Ravenna. At the end toys made in Morocco, in the Haute École de
of the project, there will be an exhibition of toys Bruxelles. As the theme for these workshops, I
made by children of these schools in the windows used masks made by Moroccan youngsters and
of some children’s shops in the center of Ravenna. boys in the region of Tiznit. A few preschool student
The project will last three years. After the first year teachers participated in the third workshop held in
the distribution phase will start with an itinerant October 2012 (fig. 6). After viewing a PowerPoint
exhibition of children’s toys made in Morocco and presentation on the masquerade of Tiznit and its
in Ravenna and this exhibition will be flanked by
region, the participants used natural and waste
creative workshops and training for teachers. The
material to create their own masks.
dissemination phase will be planned and carried
out in collaboration with national and international
organizations.
23
Fig. 6 Flemish preschool children created a Saharan oasis.

Photographer – Jean-Pierre Rossie
In addition to seminars and workshops for children ENDNOTES

and adults, I try to promote the recognition of 1 Jean-Pierre Rossie, Saharan and North African Toy and Play
Cultures: Children’s dolls and doll play, (Stockholm: Stockholm
North African children’s play and toy heritages by International Toy Research Centre, 2005) 239-244.
donating to museums toys created by Moroccan 2 See http://www.fondation.orient-occident.org
and Tunisian children. This was the case in 2005 3 T he Anti-Atlas is a mountain range in Morocco, in north-west
for the Speelgoedmuseum Mechelen,15 the Toy Africa.
Museum in Mechelen, Belgium, for its project ‘Toys 4 See http://www.wellouej.com/blog
of the World’. In 2011, I donated to The Australian 5 Jean-Pierre Rossie, Saharan and North African Toy and Play
Cultures: Domestic life in play, games and toys. (Stockholm:
Children’s Folklore Collection of Museum Victoria, Stockholm International Toy Research Centre, 2008) 311-321.
Melbourne16 almost forty toys at the invitation of the 6 See www.juegosetnicos.com
editors of Play and Folklore, which has been a forum 7 T hese PowerPoints are available on www.sanatoyplay.org (see
for discussion on children’s play.17 multimedia: 2010).
8 See http://www.toymakingactivities.com
Dr Jean-Pierre Rossie is a sociocultural anthropologist 9 See http://www.lalucertola.org
researching Saharan and North African children’s play, games 10 S
ee: http://lalucertola.org/italiano/igiocattolidelmarocco.html
and toys, and an associated researcher of the Musée du Jouet in
11 A four-part document amply illustrated and describing
Moirans-en-Montagne. His publications are available on www.
different aspects of this project is available on the website
sanatoyplay.org.
http://lalucertola.org/italiano/jpraravenna.html.
12 See http://lalucertola.org/pdf/progettoMorelli2012.pdf
13 See www.defre.be
14 See http://ludobel.be
15 See http://www.speelgoedmuseum.be
16 See https://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/
infosheets/australian-childrens-folklore-collection/
17 S
ee http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/books-and-journals/
journals/ play-and-folklore
24
Holidaying at Sorrento, 1909.

Creator Edward Stanfield Wardell. Image courtesy
of State Library of Victoria.
A history of their own: the historiography

Carla Pascoe
Since its inception, Play and Folklore has been a when adults write about children. The second issue
forum for taking children’s lives seriously. All of its I identified is how to write children’s history from
contributions over the years have been underpinned their own perspective, despite the fact that most
by the implicit assumption that young people are historical sources have been authored by adults.
interesting, important and worthy of study. This This second challenge can be characterised as the
simple assertion might seem uncontroversial to difference between histories of childhood (adult
the readers of this newsletter, but in the broader ideologies about what children should be like) and
world children and youth must often fight very histories of children (stories of children’s actual lives
hard for their voices to be heard, their rights to be in the past).3 Although historical studies of Australian
recognised and their stories to be told. This struggle young people have increased in recent years, these
has also dogged a sister discipline of children’s two key challenges are still with us today.
playlore – the historiography of children and youth.
This final issue of Play and Folklore seems a fitting Australian scholarship on the history of children
place to consider how far we’ve come in studying and childhood emerged in the second half of the
children in the past: their play and also their lives twentieth century, perhaps inspired by the aim
more broadly. of the social history movement to illuminate the
stories of forgotten groups including women, the
The historiography of children and youth is itself a working class and ethnic minorities. Historians
youthful sub-discipline of historical studies. Philippe such as Bob Bessant, Ken Inglis, Ken MacNab and
Aries’ Centuries of Childhood (published in English Russell Ward wrote early papers focusing largely
in 1962) is generally credited with ‘birthing’ the on the colonial child.4 Sue Fabian and Morag Loh
field.1 Aries’ work established that definitions of published Children in Australia in 1980, an overview
childhood are not solely biological but shift across volume which studied children ‘at work, at home, at
time periods and cultures. Although histories of school, at leisure, their health care, their legal status
children and youth have since been written in and their different prospects’ throughout Australian
many parts of the globe and across many historical history from pre-European settlement.5 In 1991
eras, Australian studies are still in their infancy. Gwyn Dow and June Factor released an anthology
In 2010 I published an overview of the Australian of documentary sources with an emphasis upon
historiography of young people which argued that personal accounts authored by children in an
there were two primary challenges for historians attempt to uncover ‘that most hidden and neglected
in this field.2 The first challenge is the difficulty of phenomena of childhood: the inner world of fantasy,
avoiding romanticisation, which is easy to slip into dream and thought, and the children’s subculture of
25
play and ritual’.6 Penelope Hetherington has studied children in institutional care and victims of child
children’s history in a Western Australian context, sexual abuse.9 Shurlee Swain has specialised in
arguing that as social expectations and gender roles histories of child welfare, viewing the topic from not
are learnt in childhood, children’s history is essential just an Australian but also a transnational angle.10
to fully understand the adult world.7 Perhaps the Margaret Barbale, Caroline Evans, Donella Jaggs,
most comprehensive history of Australian children Nell Musgrove, John Ramsland and Robert Van
attempted has been Jan Kociumbas’ Australian Krieken have all written about aspects of the ways
Childhood (1997), which takes a broad overview of in which children’s lives have interacted with welfare
young people from the late eighteenth century.8 legislation or institutions.11 Works such as these, as
well as Dorothy Scott, Shurlee Swain and Penelope
Hetherington’s work on child abuse and incest, have
challenged sentimental views of childhood.12
Histories of Aboriginal children and youth have

similarly shaken romanticised notions of childhood
as a period of innocence. Denise Cuthbert and
Marion Quartly have traced the stories of Aboriginal
children forcibly taken from their families after
European colonisation.13 Shirleene Robinson has
uncovered the stories of Aboriginal child workers in
Queensland, remaining alert to their agency as well
as their oppression.14
Australian scholars have played a leading

international role in researching the intangible
culture of children through folklore and play.15 This
research, though often contemporaneous, has
become a rich resource for historians wishing to
understand children’s play customs in previous
decades. American folklorist Dorothy Howard visited
Australia in the mid-1950s and conducted a detailed
study of play practices across the country.16 In the
1970s Peter Lindsay and Denise Palmer carried out
a close study of Brisbane school playgrounds that
was followed in the 1980s by Heather Russell’s
investigation of a Melbourne school playground.17
Unidentified child sitting in cane chair, Mt. Buffalo, Vic.,
Gwenda Davey has enriched our knowledge of
circa 1890-1930.
Creator Alice Mansfield. Image courtesy of State Library regional children’s play and the multicultural folklore
of Victoria. for children circulating amongst Australian migrant
communities.18 Judy McKinty has researched
Australian research into histories of young people Australian children’s play for many years, including
has been led by historians of child welfare. Partially the games of sick children.19 June Factor’s seminal
this is due to the excellent record-keeping of volume Captain Cook Chased a Chook (1988)
government and not-for-profit organisations charged remains the definitive work on Australian children’s
with the care of juveniles. Perhaps, too, this is play customs.20 More recently, Deborah Moore has
indicative of the moral imperative some feel to conducted a multi-generational analysis of childhood
tell the stories of children whose vulnerability was play places through qualitative interviews.21 In
often exploited by the welfare systems charged this way, the historiography of children has been
with their protection. Here history has sometimes enriched by research into playlore.
worked hand-in-hand with politics, as a succession
of political inquiries have revealed the abuses
suffered by child migrants, Aboriginal children,
26
memories of childhood that are generally celebratory

and sentimental.26 Whilst such collections are often
more reflective of adult nostalgia than children’s
realities, Kate Douglas’ analyses of the way
memory works in autobiographical accounts include
consideration of traumatic childhood memories.27
In addition to oral history and autobiography,

scholars have used other written sources to expand
our knowledge of Australian children’s history.
Bronwyn Lowe has explored Australian girls’ reading
habits in the first part of the twentieth century.28
Kristine Moruzi and Michelle J. Smith have
School children doing exams inside a classroom, 1940. examined the ways in which concepts of colonial
Courtesy of Picture Queensland, John Oxley Library, State Library girlhood were constructed in literature across the
of Queensland. Neg: 71776. British Empire.29 Kim Torney used a different kind of
creative source – paintings – to argue that the image
Another field that has provided cross-fertilisation of the child lost in the bush was central to Australian
for historians is the geography of children and colonial imaginings.30
youth. Studies of children’s geography developed
in the 1960s and 1970s and this interest in juvenile While children have been studied through their
environments and mobility was given added intangible culture, relatively few studies have
impetus in the 1980s by social studies emphasising examined the material culture of Australian children.
the agency of children. A growing field of Brian Shepherd, director of the former Museum
interdisciplinary studies has emerged which are both of Childhood at Edith Cowan University, is an
historical and geographical; temporal and spatial. important exception.31 Although some Australian
Some research has focused upon school design as museums have excellent collections of historical
spaces than can discipline children, promote learning objects relating to children, relatively few museum
or provide opportunities for innovative adaptation exhibitions have been devoted to their history.
of games.22 Other work has focused upon house In a volume explicitly focused upon the cultural
design, such as Clement Macintyre’s exploration heritage of children and childhood, I have considered
of the ways in which Australian domestic spaces museum representations of children’s history in
have mirrored changing views of family relations, Australia and elsewhere.32 Kate Darian-Smith has
or Julie Collins’ study of the ways in which 1950s explored public commemorations of children’s
architecture reflected shifting ideas of child- history in Australia, as well as other outposts of the
rearing.23 In more broad-ranging considerations of British Empire.33
youthful spaces, Simon Sleight has tracked the ways
in which young Melburnians interacted with their Our tendency to view children as innocent is
city around the turn of the twentieth century, while perhaps exemplified by the low incidence of
I have studied children in that city after the Second research into youthful sexuality in the past. Issues
World War.24 of agency and consent are often difficult to unpack
when dealing with historical subjects who leave
Personal and literary sources have provided another only faint traces on the historical record. Yorick
way of understanding the lives of children in the Smaal attempts this sensitive undertaking in his
past. Several Australian authors have provided accounts of boys involved in sexual acts with
semi-autobiographical accounts of their upbringing, other males around the turn of the twentieth
embroidering bygone eras with rich detail. These century, alert to both ‘danger and possibility’ in
include Hal Porter’s Watcher on the Cast-Iron his reading of historical records.34 Melissa Bellanta
Balcony, Tony Birch’s Shadowboxing, Steven considers the sexuality of larrikin girls in a similar
Carroll’s The Gift of Speed and Arnold Zable’s period, attempting to preserve their agency whilst
Scraps of Heaven.25 Edited collections by Pamela acknowledging the flagrantly misogynistic youth
Bone, Helen Townsend, Jacqueline Kent and the culture they moved within.35
National Library of Australia have brought together
27
Young girl with a disability playing with her dolls, Brisbane, 1952.
Courtesy of Picture Queensland, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Neg: 185455
With a focus upon more recent history, Steven The writing of children’s history has long been
Angelides has critiqued the ways in which the associated with women’s history in Australia and
discourse of child sexual abuse has served to ‘erase’ sometimes subsumed beneath a broader category
discussion of children’s sexuality.36 of family history. If the project of writing children’s
history is understood as related to the recognition
Instead of taking childhood as a generalised of the personhood and rights of the child, then this
category, historians are increasingly interrogating makes perfect sense. The concept of children’s
the way it intersects with different categories rights in many ways grew out of the women’s
of identity, including gender, sexuality, cultural liberation movement, though feminist discourse has
background and more. Martin Crotty, Leslie Johnson also been critiqued for restricting our understanding
and Jon Strattan have studied the development of of children’s rights and potential.40 But regardless of
the category of adolescence, as well as the ways the historical roots of a children’s rights discourse
in which youth is experienced differently by males, and the fact that women’s and children’s lives
females and different socio-economic groups.37 As a have often been intertwined, I would argue that
country shaped by immigration and multiculturalism, children deserve their own histories, like any other
cultural variations in experiences of Australian social group. Young people have their own ways of
childhood are particularly relevant. Alexandra Dellios making sense of their lives and their own hierarchies
has studied the experiences of Greek child migrants of what is valuable. These may be different to
in the 1960s and 1970s whilst Jordy Silverstein the rational and utilitarian perspectives of adults.
has examined Jewish identity amongst Holocaust Children and youth deserve a history of their own
survivors.38 Joy Damousi is leading a project that takes seriously what is often a more playful,
currently underway to understand the history of emotive and irreverent relationship to the world.
child refugees in Australia.39
Dr Carla Pascoe is an Australian Research Council DECRA
Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She has published
widely on the history and heritage of children and childhood
including Spaces Imagined, Places Remembered: Childhood
in 1950s Australia (2011) and Children, Childhood and Cultural
Heritage (2013, edited with Kate Darian-Smith). Carla is currently
researching the Australian history of mothering through oral
history interviews.
28
ENDNOTES 11 Margaret Barbalet, Far From a Low Gutter Girl: The Forgotten
hilippe Ariès, Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of
1P World of State Wards (Melbourne: Oxford University Press,
Family Life, trans. R. Baldick (New York: Knopf, 1962). 1983); Donella Jaggs, Neglected and Criminal: Foundations
of Child Welfare Legislation in Victoria (Melbourne: Centre for
2C
arla Pascoe, ‘The History of Children in Australia: An
Youth and Community Studies, 1986); Nell Musgrove, The
Interdisciplinary Historiography’, History Compass no. 8/10
Scars Remain: A Long History of Forgotten Australians and
(2010), 1142–1164.
Children’s Institutions (North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly
. Cunningham, Children and Childhood in Western Society
3H Publishing, 2013); John Ramsland, Children of the Backlanes:
since 1500, 2nd edn (Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2005), 1–2. Destitute and Neglected Children in Colonial New South
4B
ob Bessant, ‘Children and Youth in Australia 1860s–1930s’, in Wales (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 1986);
B. Bessant (ed.), Mother State and Her Little Ones: Children Robert Van Krieken, Children and the State: Social Control
and Youth 1860s–1930s (Melbourne: Centre for Youth and and the Formation of Australian Child Welfare (North Sydney:
Community Studies, 1987), 7–30; Ken Inglis, ‘Young Australia: Allen
The Idea and the Reality’, in Guy Featherstone (ed.), The & Unwin, 1992).
Colonial Child: Papers Presented at the 8th Biennial Conference orothy Scott and Shurlee Swain, Confronting Cruelty:
12 D
of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Melbourne, 12–13 Historical Perspectives on Child Abuse (Carlton: Melbourne
October 1979 (Melbourne: Royal Historical Society of Victoria, University Press, 2002); Penelope Hetherington (ed.), Incest
1981), 1–23; Ken MacNab and Russell Ward, ‘The Nature and and the Community: Australian Perspectives (Nedlands:
Nurture of the First Generation of Native-Born Australians’, Penelope Hetherington under the auspices of the Centre
Historical Studies, 10, no. 39 (1962), 289–308. Shurlee Swain for Western Australian History at the University of Western
and Renate How have also written about the colonial child: Australia, 1991).
‘Locating the Colonial Child’, Interlogue 5, (December 1994),
13 D
enise Cuthbert, ‘Stolen Children, Invisible Mothers and
49–54.
Unspeakable Stories: The Experiences of Non-Aboriginal
ue Fabian and Morag Loh, Children in Australia: An Outline
5S Adoptive and Foster Mothers of Aboriginal Children’, Social
History (Melbourne: Oxford University Press,1980). Semiotics, 11, no. 2 (2001), 139-154; Denise Cuthbert, and
wyn Dow and June Factor (eds), Australian Childhood:
6G Marion Quartly, ‘“Forced Adoption” in the Australian Story
An Anthology (South Yarra: McPhee Gribble, 1991). of National Regret and Apology’, Australian Journal of Politics
& History, 58 (2012) 82-96.
7P
enelope Hetherington, ‘The Sound of One Hand Smacking:
History, Feminism and Childhood’, Journal of Australian hirleene Robinson, Something Like Slavery? Queensland’s
14 S
Studies, no. 59 (1998); Penelope Hetherington, ‘Women and Aboriginal Child Workers, 1842–1945 (Melbourne: Australian
Children as Subjects in Western Australian History’, Studies in Scholarly Press, 2008); Shirleene Robinson, ‘Resistance and
Western Australian History, 19 (1999); Penelope Hetherington, Race: Aboriginal Child Workers in Nineteenth- and Early
Settlers, Servants and Slaves: Aboriginal and European Children Twentieth Century Australia’, in Shirleene Robinson and
in Nineteenth-Century Western Australia (Nedlands: University Simon Sleight (eds), Children, Childhood And Youth In The
of Western Australia, 2002). British World, (Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2016).
8 J an Kociumbas, Australian Childhood: A History (St Leonards:
Allen & Unwin, 1997). 15 G
wenda Beed Davey, Kate Darian-Smith and Carla Pascoe,
‘Playlore as Cultural Heritage: Traditions and Change in
uman Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Bringing
9H
Australian Children’s Play’, in Kate Darian-Smith and Carla
Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation
Pascoe (eds), Children, Childhood and Cultural Heritage
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their
(Abingdon, Oxon and New York: Routledge 2013).
Families (Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission, 1997); Australian Senate Community Affairs 16 H
oward’s articles on her research were published in the
References Committee, Lost Innocents: Righting the Record volume by Kate Darian-Smith and June Factor (eds), Child’s
Report on Child Migration (Canberra: Senate Printing Unit, Play: Dorothy Howard and the Folklore of Australian Children
2001); Australian Senate Community Affairs References (Melbourne: Museum Victoria, 2005).
Committee, Forgotten Australians: A Report on Australians 17 Peter Lindsay and Denise Palmer, Playground Game
who Experienced Institutional or Out-of-home Care as Children Characteristics of Brisbane Primary School Children,
(Canberra: Senate Printing Unit, 2004); Shurlee Swain, History Education Research and Development Committee Report
of Inquiries Reviewing Institutions Providing Care for Children No. 28 (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service,
(Sydney: Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to 1981); Heather Russell, Play and Friendships in a Multi-
Child Sexual Abuse, 2014). Cultural Playground (Kew: Australian Children’s Folklore
10 E xamples of her work include: Shurlee Swain, ‘Derivative and Publications, 1986).
Indigenous in the History and Historiography of Child Welfare 18 See, for example, Gwenda Davey, Folklore and the
in Australia: Part One’, Children Australia, 26, no. 4 (2001); Enculturation of Young Immigrant Children in Melbourne
Shurlee Swain, ‘Derivative and Indigenous in the History and (Masters Thesis, Monash University, 1982); Gwenda Davey,
Historiography of Child Welfare in Australia: Part Two’, The Moe Folklife Project: A Final Project Report Prepared
Children Australia, 27, no. 1 (2002); Shurlee Swain, ‘Beyond for the Department of Communication and the Arts and
Child Migration: Inquiries, Apologies and the Implications for the National Library of Australia (Melbourne: National Centre
the Writing of a Transnational Child Welfare History’, History for Australian Studies, Monash University, 1996).
Australia, 13, no. 1 (2016) 139-152. See also Shurlee Swain
19 Judy McKinty, ‘From Playground to Patient: Reflections
and Margot Hillel, Child, Nation, Race and Empire: Child
on a Traditional Games Project in a Pædiatric Hospital’,
Rescue Discourse, England, Canada and Australia, 1850–1915
International Journal of Play, 2, no. 3 (2013) 187; Judy
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010).
McKinty, ‘The “Cat and Mouse” Game’, Teacher:
The National Education Magazine (August 2011), 30.
20 June Factor, Captain Cook Chased a Chook: Children’s
Folklore in Australia (Ringwood: Penguin, 1988).
29
21 Deborah Moore, ‘“My childhood was filled with secret 33 Kate Darian-Smith, ‘Children, Colonialism and
places”: the importance of secret places to children’, Commemoration’ in Kate Darian-Smith and Carla Pascoe
International Journal of Play, 3, no. 2 (2014), 103-106; (eds), Children, Childhood and Cultural Heritage (Abingdon,
Deborah Moore, ‘A Place Within a Place: Toward New Oxon and New York: Routledge 2013); Kate Darian-Smith,
Understandings on the Enactment of Contemporary ‘Memorializing Colonial Childhoods: From the Frontier to the
Imaginative Play Practices and Places’ (PhD Thesis, Museum’, in Shirleene Robinson and Simon Sleight (eds),
Australian Catholic University, 2015). Children, Childhood and Youth In The British World,
22 See, for example: Kate Darian-Smith and Julie Willis (eds), (Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
Designing Schools: Space, Place and Pedagogy (Abingdon, 34 Yorick Smaal, ‘Boys and Homosex: Danger and Possibility in
Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2016); June Factor, ‘Tree Queensland, 1890-1914’ in Shirleene Robinson and Simon
Stumps, Manhole Covers and Rubbish Tins: The Invisible Sleight (eds), Children, Childhood and Youth In The British
Play-Lines of a Primary School Playground’, Childhood, 11, World, (Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
no. 2 (2004); Morrie Shaw, ‘A Child’s Garden of Delights: 35 Melissa Bellanta, ‘Leery Sue Goes to the Show: Popular
A Comparison of Two Attitudes Towards Playgrounds in Performance, Sexuality and the Disorderly Girl’ in Shirleene
Australia from 1850–1900 and from 1900–1915’, Architecture Robinson and Simon Sleight (eds), Children, Childhood and
Australia, 68, no. 3 (1979). Youth In The British World, (Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave
23 Julie Collins, ‘‘‘Small Children Dictate Home Plan”: Macmillan, 2016).
Uncovering the Influence of Childrearing Ideals on the Design 36 Steven Angelides, ‘Feminism, Child Sexual Abuse, and the
of the Modern Post-War House’, Australian Historical Studies, Erasure of Child Sexuality’ GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and
40, no. 2 (2009); Clement Macintyre, ‘...Now You’re in the Gay Studies, 10, no. 2 (2004), 141-177.
Family Zone: Housing and Domestic Design in Australia’,
Journal of Australian Studies, 30 (1991). 37 Martin Crotty, Making the Australian Male: Middle-Class
Masculinity 1870–1920 (Melbourne: Melbourne University
24 Simon Sleight, Young People and the Shaping of Public Space Press, 2001); Leslie Johnson, The Modern Girl: Girlhood and
in Melbourne, 1870-1914 (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013); Carla Growing Up (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1993);
Pascoe, Spaces Imagined, Places Remembered: Childhood in Jon Stratton, The Young Ones: Working-Class Culture,
1950s Australia (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Consumption and the Category of Youth (Perth: Black Swan,
Publishing, 2011). 1992).
25 Tony Birch, Shadowboxing (Carlton North: Scribe 38 A lexandra Dellios, ‘A Cultural Conflict? Belonging for Greek
Publications, 2006); Steven Carroll, The Gift of Speed Child Migrants in 1960s and 1970s Melbourne’ Victorian
(Sydney: Harper Collins, 2004); Hal Porter, The Watcher on Historical Journal, 84, no. 2, (2013) 2-23; Jordana Silverstein
the Cast-Iron Balcony (London: Faber and Faber, 1963); (2013) ‘If our grandchildren are Jewish’, History Australia, 10,
Arnold Zable, Scraps of Heaven (Melbourne: Text Publishing, no.1, 167-186.
2004).
39 One early output from the project is Joy Damousi,
26 Pamela Bone, Up We Grew: Stories of Australian Childhoods ‘Humanitarianism in the Interwar Years: How Australians
(Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004); Paul Cliff (ed.), Responded to the Child Refugees of the Armenian Genocide
The Endless Playground: Celebrating Australian Childhood and the Greek-Turkish Exchange’, History Australia, 12, no.1
(Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2000); Jacqueline (2015), 95-115.
Kent, In the Half Light: Life as a Child in Australia 1900–1970
(North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1988); Helen 40 Isobelle Barrett Meyering, ‘Liberating Children: the Australian
Townsend, Baby Boomers: Growing up in Australia in the Women’s Liberation Movement and Children’s Rights in the
1940s, 50s and 60s (Brookvale: Simon & Schuster, 1988). 1970s’, Lilith, 19 (2013); Steven Angelides, ‘Feminism, Child
Sexual Abuse, and the Erasure of Child Sexuality’ GLQ: A
27 Kate Douglas, Contesting Childhood: Autobiography, Trauma Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 10, no. 2 (2004), 141-177.
and Memory (New Brunswick: Rutgers, 2010); Kylie Cardell
and Kate Douglas (eds), Trauma Tales: Auto/biographies of
Childhood and Youth (London: Routledge, 2014); Gillian
Whitlock and Kate Douglas (eds), Trauma Texts (London:
Routledge, 2009).
28 Bronwyn Lowe, ‘The Right Thing to Read: Australian
Girl-readers in History and Text, 1910-1960’ (PhD Thesis,
2015).
29 See, for example, Kristine Moruzi and Michelle Smith (eds),
Colonial Girlhood in Literature, Culture and History, 1840-1950
(Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014).
30 K im Torney, Babes in the Bush: The Making of an Australian
Image (Fremantle: Curtin University Books, 2005).
31 B
rian Shepherd, ‘Making Children’s Histories’, in Gaynor
Kavanagh (ed.), Making Histories in Museums, (London and
New York: Leicester University Press, 1996).
32 C
arla Pascoe, ‘Putting Away the Things of Childhood:
Museum Representations of Children’s Cultural Heritage’ in
Kate Darian-Smith and Carla Pascoe (eds), Children,
Childhood and Cultural Heritage (Abingdon, Oxon and New
York: Routledge 2013).
30
Documenting play: from the front line

Ruth Hazleton
In 2007 and 2008 I had the privilege of working My first location was a public school in Melbourne’s
for the Childhood, Tradition and Change project outer-north (School X). This was part of the pilot
as a fieldworker. The project was funded by the project and an initial investigation, and although our
Australian Research Council Linkage Project work here was not to be included in the final report,
Scheme and received additional support from the we were establishing protocol and methodology
National Library of Australia, Museum Victoria, for the main, nationwide study. Only 52% of the
Deakin University, Curtin University and the student body at School X were from English-
University of Melbourne. The research was speaking backgrounds, the remainder representing
conducted over four years (2007-10), and material a further twenty-nine nationalities. We were
was recorded in nineteen schools across Australia fortunate that the headmaster at School X was
by eight fieldworkers working in pairs. enthusiastic about the project, as were the parents.
We were able to address the school assembly on
The aim of the project was to gain a ‘snapshot’ of the Monday morning so that students, staff and
play occurring in Australian playgrounds and to build parents knew exactly why we were there and what
on an extant body of work compiled by researchers we were doing.
in the 1950s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.1
The second school I visited was a private
Entering the field ‘alternative’ school (School Y) in Melbourne’s
Armed with pencils, notebooks, cameras, folders, inner-eastern suburbs, as part of the nationwide
microphones, a packed lunch and studio-quality study. A much smaller school, most students were
recording gear (from the National Library of from English-speaking and higher socio-economic
Australia), my colleagues and I set out to document backgrounds. We weren’t able to address the
what primary school kids were up to during their whole school at School Y, though the community
free play time: at recess, lunch, and as they headed was equally as cooperative and welcoming. Other
home each day. fieldworkers experienced very different reactions
from schools, principals and parents; more on this
later.
31
Mapping the playground.

Source – Ruth Hazleton
Mapping The second layer of mapping required us to

After finding our way around each school and document all play areas that had been in any way
seeking quiet areas where we could conduct prescribed for certain activities, including designated
interviews and work during class hours, we began sports areas and play equipment (basketball courts,
to map playgrounds. Initially, this was done during football goals, monkey bars, climbing structures,
class time without students present, and later sandpits, slides, etc.). Public schools also usually
added to as we were able to identify which areas have areas where hopscotch games, alphabet
of each school were significant in terms of the way snakes, ballgame markings and the like have been
the children played during recess and lunch times. painted on the ground and walls – usually by well-
It sounds fairly simple, though there are a number meaning adults. If and how children interact with
of layers of mapping that need to be documented. these is also an important observation to make
Apart from the obvious (mapping buildings and open when in the field, and for this reason these were
spaces), we had to ascertain which play areas were also included on the map.
open to different age groups, where were the ‘out-
of-bounds’ areas, what, if any, play equipment was Lastly were the play areas established by the
available to students and where it was kept. children themselves, often the most significant
areas in terms of observation. Teachers will
sometimes be aware of these areas, though often
they aren’t obvious to adults. Such areas might be
centred around a collection of bushes or trees, a
single tree, an alleyway in-between buildings, a
patch of dirt where a hole is being dug, or a rocky
outcrop along the school boundary. Sometimes it’s
simply a place where children are least likely to be
interrupted by teachers.
32
At School X, for example, we found a tree that was Celebrity, ‘tradition bearers’ and ‘adulteration’
referred to by the children as the ‘abarmanation tree’ With a week to spend at each school, we began
(‘abomination’ said with an American accent), and by wandering around separately, taking note of
the adventure playground was always referred to weather conditions, what the children were doing,
as ‘The Venture’. At School Y, there were a number where they were playing, how many of them were
of places named by the children: ‘The Pines’ was engaged in each activity, their gender and age. In
an enclosed area separated from the surrounding those first few days we concentrated on general
grounds by a large sliding gate. This is where observations: firstly, to get a feel for the general
children would play ‘Gang Up’, as the gate served play environment, and secondly, to document which
as a means to ‘trap people’. At the same school, children were the ‘tradition bearers’ we’d like to
children had tools available to them to build their interview and/or record later in the week. A ‘tradition
own cubby houses. One of these rows of cubbies bearer’ is a term folklorists use to identify individuals
was referred to as ‘Hut Alley’, and a second row who display the most knowledge of games, rhymes,
was called ‘Peppercorn Court’ and ‘Peppercorn rules, etc.
Alley’.
At the beginning of each week (particularly at
In addition to creating the map itself, we School X), our presence in the playground was far
photographed all the areas we identified on the map, from inconspicuous – we were like school-yard
labelling each area so we could easily record celebrities. The second we pulled out a camera
in which area play was occurring. or video camera in the playground, kids would
follow as though we were the Pied Piper. This was
problematic in that children would also gleefully
make things up on the spot, exaggerate what they
were doing and compete for attention. After a few
days, however, the novelty wore off and they lost
interest in us, which was when the best quality
material started to emerge. In many ways, it was
also very important that this ‘meeting’ process
occur, as we needed the children to get to know us
before they would open up and share their secrets.
As we worked, we would sometimes intervene

and ask questions about the rules if we needed
clarification, ask them to repeat a rhyme or describe
the game they were playing in their own words.
Cubbies in ‘Peppercorn Alley’.
Photographer – Ruth Hazleton
Ideally, play is best observed without intervention,
and this is a primary difficulty confronted by
fieldworkers. By intervening, the researcher will
interrupt the ‘play flow’ and break the spontaneity
of the moment, which results in what professional
playworkers aptly refer to as ‘adulteration’. The
researcher balances on a fine line between
‘observer’ and ‘participant observer’. By becoming
involved we could easily influence the direction in
which the play was heading, or even bring play to a
halt. This could result in missing an important event
or, at worst, being avoided for the rest of the week
as a ‘play-destroyer’. Generally, however, most kids
will happily pick up where they left off or let their
play evolve after an intervention.
33
Hoarding treasure: categories Some of the rules noted at these more play-
of play and school rules controlled schools included no scratching in the dirt
Across the entire Childhood, Tradition and Change with sticks (as soil would wash away in the rain),
project, over thirty-eight categories of play were no poking sticks in holes in the trees, no cartwheels,
recorded, including rhymes, clapping games, no piggy-backing and no ‘Chasey’, ‘Tip’ or ‘Tiggy’
chasing games, ball games, quiet play, finger to be played on climbing equipment. Often such
games, forbidden games, language play, counting rules were not formalised in writing but put in
play, imagination play, jumping games, role playing, place verbally by senior members of staff or OH&S
building and skipping games.2 representatives.
My first encounter at School Y is one I’ll never When asked about the effect a heavily-regulated
forget. Within minutes of entering the playground, I playground has on play culture, fieldworker Judy
observed a group of five-and-six-year olds crouched McKinty observed that children still played, but
underneath a demountable building. They were each would engage in more subversive play to get
equipped with a hammer and a pair of swimming around the rules. Children were observed tailoring
goggles, totally absorbed in the activity of smashing their play to suit the attitudes of individual teachers
rocks. As mentioned previously, School Y can be on yard duty, would play a forbidden game when
described as ‘alternative’. Very few school rules teachers weren’t looking, and would even re-name
dictated how children played, tree climbing was a forbidden game so they could continue playing.
encouraged as was the use of tools, hammers and In one instance, girls who were not allowed to
nails, and play was largely self-directed. do cartwheels created a game called ‘I Am the
Greatest’, which involved doing handstands, edging
School X had more formal rules in place, though the as closely as they could to doing cartwheels.
culture there still valued ‘free play’ over structured
play during recess and lunch hours. Because of the
freedoms inherent at both schools, the material we
were able to collect overall was rich and varied. The
basic rule of a fieldworker is never presume that the
children are not engaged with something!
At both schools, traditional verbal lore such as the

clapping rhymes ‘Cinderella Dressed in Yella’, ‘My
Boyfriend Gave Me an Apple’ and ‘Miss Mary Mack’
were still prevalent, as were the endless variations
of ‘Tiggy’ ‘Chasey’ or ‘Tip’. The most commonly
documented forms of play were miscellaneous
physical play and activities, alongside imaginative
play often inspired by characters from popular
culture, video games, television and film.
In comparison to Schools X and Y, fieldworkers

at a number of different locations throughout the
project reported very different experiences. At one
school, the Principal was very suspicious of the
activities of researchers, and had introduced a great
many enforceable rules that ultimately dominated
playground culture. At another school, one of the
staff noted that it was the Occupational Health and
Girls playing handstands on the school oval.
Safety (OH&S) Officer who determined playground Photographer – Judy McKinty
culture where an abundance of school rules had
been adopted in the name of ‘safety’.
34
Children are incredibly adaptive and innovative in Documentation and ethics

the face of regulation, though overall most schools The methodology we used for collecting material
reported a fairly easy-going attitude to playground differed slightly at Schools X and Y, though overall
rules and regulations. As stated in the official report: all games were initially documented by hand. Part
of this documentation included noting who primary
The spread of nineteen schools visited reflects a ‘tradition bearers’ were so we could then ascertain
broad range of playground contexts and experiences; whether or not we could record them using a
from wealthy non-government schools to
camera, video camera and/or sound recordings.
government schools in extremely socio-economically
disadvantaged areas; from schools in the tropics in
summer to those in Tasmania in winter; from those Without questioning the obvious importance of
with a playground dominated by natural bushland to ethics around studies involving children, ethics
those with little more than an asphalt quadrangle; standards do make an enormous difference to the
from those where children are allowed to climb trees quality of research in this area and the ease in which
and use tools to build cubby houses to those where play can be documented. During the pilot project
the flying fox on the playground equipment is chained (School X), and with the cooperation of the school,
up and no more than five children can play together we were able to photograph and film at will. Unless
as a group. In all contexts, children played games of
a parent had specifically objected to their child being
their own choosing, and despite the differences, there
recorded, and no parents had done so, we were able
were remarkable similarities across contexts as well. 3
to document freely.
Also noted in the report were the words of one child When the project began officially (School Y), a
who, after being banned from playing ‘Chasey’ for a different ethical practice had been put in place,
week as a punishment declared that ‘Being banned meaning that we were significantly limited in
from Chasey was like being banned from food, or regard to what we could photograph or film in the
TV’, illustrating how important such play is to a child playground, as each child was required to have
and also perhaps what drives children to incorporate written parental permission to be recorded. In some
subversion into their play.4 cases, we were able to photograph hands, feet
and objects that were non-identifiable during play.
Inevitably, however, we had to avoid recording group
play as it would require collecting all names (thus
intervening during play) and checking all children
against permissions (time-consuming and not an
ideal use of budget). In smaller schools, this might
have been an easier task, but at larger schools it
was very difficult to navigate.
35
Due to the above considerations, we relied heavily It’s been many years since I immersed myself
on written descriptions and sound recordings. The completely in the world of the playground, though
former wasn’t so difficult but the latter presented a I’ve discovered that once you’ve engaged in
number of problems. Sound recording is an art form children’s culture in such depth, you become a
in itself. Heavy rain, noisy birds, traffic, microphone permanent observer. Since the project began I’ve
placement, sound quality and using unfamiliar also become a parent, and my involvement in this
equipment are all potential enemies. Trained by staff project has greatly influenced how I approach
at the National Library, we’d been taught how to play and my understanding of how very important
use the equipment provided to us. Working in pairs projects like these are in documenting children’s
meant that one person could operate the equipment culture: a world where adults are rarely privy to
and document items that were being collected while the games, methods, ideas and influences that
the other conducted the interview. dominate self-directed play.
Ruth Hazleton has a Graduate Diploma in Australian Folklife

Studies and is a folk musician, singer and folklore advocate. Ruth
recently started a blog called ‘The Hidden Culture’, exploring
folklore and cultural history.
http://www.kateandruth.com/
https://thehiddencultureblog.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thehiddenculture/
ENDNOTES
1 Kate Darian-Smith & Nikki Henningham, Final Report of the
Childhood, Tradition and Change Project, 2001, p.4. http://ctac.
esrc.unimelb.edu.au/objects/project-pubs/FinalReport.pdf
2 ibid., p.14.
3 ibid., p.10
4 ibid., p.16.
niversity of Melbourne, Childhood, Tradition
5U
Setting up for audio recording of interviews with children. and Change Public Database: Home
Photographer – Graham Dodsworth
http://ctac.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/
While the content we recorded was of good

quality, again the artificial process of interviewing
children in a room setting took the activity (rhymes,
jokes, clapping games, etc.) out of the playground
context. In this situation children often became shy,
distracted, would forget things and giggled a lot.
Necessary perhaps, but not ideal.
Conclusions and musings

At the end of each week, we were required to
compile, edit and categorise photographs, films and
written descriptions of all the activities recorded at
each school; a time-consuming task, but one that
gave us the opportunity to reflect on what we had
found and observed.
Recordings and photographs from the project are
being held at The National Library of Australia and
Museum Victoria. Nearly 400 records of play were
collected and many are available publicly on the
Childhood, Tradition and Change website,5 which
will hopefully be accessed by researchers and public
for years to come.
36
Losing our marbles: what’s happening

Judy McKinty
Paper presented to 11th National Folklore Here is a list of some of the rules children have
Conference, National Library of Australia, Canberra, to keep in mind as they play. It varies from school
24 March, 2016. to school, but it’s pretty general. It comes from a
2007-2010 study of play, called Childhood, Tradition
Children’s folklore encompasses the games, and Change, which was funded by the Australian
rhymes, riddles, jokes, sayings and other enduring Research Council, with assistance from the National
play traditions of childhood, which have been Library of Australia, Museum Victoria, the University
passed down through the generations, mostly of Melbourne and Deakin and Curtin Universities:
through oral transmission and largely without any
adult involvement. Rules Impacting on Play
• No hat, no play [in summer]
In Australia, as in other parts of the world, one of • No running on concrete or paved surfaces
the last remaining places where conditions are just • No running on the play equipment
right for this type of play to thrive is the primary • No climbing trees
school playground. There are groups of children • No playing with sticks or rocks
of roughly the same age who spend a great deal • No playing on the gardens
of time with each other and, unless something • No scratching or digging in the soil surface
really drastic has happened, there will already be • No picking leaves or flowers
play traditions at the school, a legacy of the past • Each Year level to play in their designated
generations of children who have played there. playing area
• No playing in out-of-bounds areas
• No bringing toys from home
The children will already have learned from each
• Pokemon cards are banned
other the particular rhymes and rituals used at the
school for finding who’s ‘It’, and established which
In the project’s public database there are 26 games
part of the schoolyard is the ‘jail’ or the ‘rocket’, or
listed under the heading ‘Forbidden Game’1 – games
the ‘stable’ for the horses. They will already know
like Brandy, doing handstands and cartwheels,
which set of drinking taps or tree is the ‘barley’ – the
standing on top of the monkey bars and playing
time-out place in a game of Gang Tiggy – and they’ll
Chasey.
also be familiar with the invisible overlay that sits
over almost every school playground – the things
adults have decided they’re not allowed to do and
the places where they’re not allowed to go – the
‘forbiddings’, as June Factor calls them.
37
On the banning of Chasey:

We’re not allowed to play it ever again, only until
next year...only at home.
We’re not allowed to play it until the teacher says
we are.
So it’s like you’re banned from the TV
or you can’t have food.3
So children tailor their play to these restrictions –

they get to know which areas not to go into and
which activities not to do when certain teachers
are on yard duty.
Some schools consider cartwheels to be unsafe, so they ban Harmony in the playground is a big issue for many
children from doing them. primary schools nowadays. Some have special
‘Positive Play’ programs in place, and there are
There was some confusion among the children Yard Duty Reward systems to encourage positive
about what was banned and what was not banned. playground behaviour by rewarding those who play
It mostly depended on which teacher was on yard well, care for others, help out and so on.
duty, because often class teachers themselves
forbid certain activities. A fieldworker on the project Programs like this which reward positive and
explained it this way: cooperative play, as well-meaning as they are,
represent another, more subtle, intrusion by
I had been told many times by a number
adults into what has traditionally been children’s
of students and at least one or two teachers
own territory. Children have long been the rule-
that Chasey was banned, and nearly as many
students told me they played it and I actually makers, the settlers of disputes, the negotiators,
saw a number of them playing the game. The the knowledge-holders and the tradition-bearers in
Principal explained subsequently that the status school playgrounds. These ‘Positive Play’ initiatives
of the game was largely dependent on the are a mild form of social engineering that pervades
attitude of the students’ class teacher. One of the whole playground – another layer on top of the
these teachers explained that if certain of her ‘forbiddings’.
students played Chasey there always appeared
to be issues that had to be dealt with after they
‘Loose-parts’ play
came back into class and she had run out of
Into this adversarial territory of the schoolyard
patience with these issues and therefore, for her
class, it was banned.2 comes the idea of ‘loose parts’ play. This is an
adult-led movement, with playworkers, teachers
At another school, a group of boys commented and some parents advocating for more unstructured
on their games being banned: play involving decision-making, risk-taking,
imagination and co-operation (which are also
Some people are sad about it because most of elements of children’s traditional play).
the games are banned.
They feel kind of bored if they don’t know what ‘Loose parts’ are everyday items that weren’t
to do, like for a week we didn’t know what to do, specifically designed for play, but which can be
we just sat around and talked to each other. used outdoors for creative physical, imaginative
‘Cause they only ban the really fun games. and construction activities. Milk crates, lengths
of wood, rubber tyres, cardboard tubes, pieces of
fabric and rope are some of the common materials
used. Some schools also buy in recycled clean
industrial waste, which has been carefully
selected for durability and play value.
38
A typical 1950s schoolyard, one of many

visited by Dorothy Howard.
Source – Dorothy Howard Collection,
Australian Children’s Folklore Collection,
Museum Victoria, courtesy June Factor
Research in Australia and overseas has found that Her visit prompted adults, as well as children, to
introducing ‘loose parts’ into a school enlivens write to her, giving descriptions of their games,
the children’s play, improves their play skills, rhymes, riddles, jokes and other play traditions.
provides more choices, encourages co-operation Even before she had completed her research – she
and teamwork, improves resilience and builds still had Western Australia and South Australia to
connections between students. It is an inclusive, visit – Dorothy Howard had collected over 700
open-ended play activity.4 names of games, descriptions of about 400 games,
175 autograph album rhymes, 50 skipping rhymes,
Teachers at schools that have successfully 40 counting-out rhymes plus a number of singing
introduced ‘loose parts’ play also say that instead games, riddles, tongue-twisters, taunts, oaths, ball-
of coming inside feeling upset or angry about bouncing and nonsense rhymes and other types of
something that’s happened out in the playground, playlore.
the children come back into class happy and ready
to learn. The teacher who banned Chasey would be This amount of material was enough for her to
really pleased to hear that! be able to do a preliminary analysis, in which she
identified some historical changes in play patterns
So has it come to this? Is it now necessary for since the 1880s. She noted that while folk tradition
adults to introduce a whole new way of playing and variation still existed in the playways of
into primary schools? And what does it mean for Australian children:
children’s traditional games and playlore? Perhaps
it might be good to take a look at what’s happened (1) [V]erbal ritual appears to be decreasing: some
in Australian school playgrounds since the 1950s, games with lengthy verbal ritual are gone.
when the first widespread research into Australian In some cases the verbal accompaniment
is shortened (as in Oranges and Lemons).
children’s play was conducted.
Counting-out rhymes...are not as numerous,
as popular, or as intricate; the counting-out
Dorothy Howard rhymes still in use are short ones.
When American folklorist Dorothy Howard came
to Australia in 1954 to study Australian children’s (2) Some old games of individual skill are
play customs, some of the schoolyards she visited obsolete, obsolescent or being simplified...
were still divided into ‘girls’ side’ and ‘boys’ Knucklebones today is a much simplified
side’. Nevertheless, they were alive with children version of the game reported by informants
bouncing balls and throwing them at each other, who played the game in the 1880s.5
skipping, jumping, hopping, chasing each another,
hiding, singing and chanting strange words as they
counted out on their toes to decide who would be
‘he’ for the next game.
39
Dorothy Howard arrived in Australia on American

Independence Day, July 4, 1954. While she was
here, she visited 31 schools and corresponded
with 11 and 12 year-old students and their teachers
at more than 70. She travelled to every state and
territory except the Northern Territory, and sailed
from Fremantle on April 15th, 1955, after spending
a very productive 9 months in Australia. (She spent
a month in New Zealand at the end of 1954, and
visited Brian Sutton-Smith.) Her large research
archive of file cards, correspondence, photos,
papers and playthings is one of the most significant
elements of the Australian Children’s Folklore
Collection, held by Museum Victoria.
Downball is one of the most popular ball games in schools,
particularly among boys.
She wrote several monographs about some of the
games she’d collected over here, and we know The most popular ball game played against a wall
how they were played because many are described in today’s schools – called Wall Ball, Handball or
in detail. She wrote about the games that were Downball – has no rhyme and only one action. It has
widespread – Knucklebones, Australian ‘Hoppy’, a closer resemblance to the sport of Squash than to
ball-bouncing customs and rhymes, autograph the rhythmic, chanting games of the 1950s. A more
album entries, counting-out rituals and rhymes challenging version of Downball is played on a court
and marbles games. She also wrote about string with multiple squares, or anywhere there’s a flat,
games and a children’s gambling device called a even surface with a line across it, like a concrete
‘Toodlembuck’, a spinning toy which appeared in path. Also called Four Square, this game was
playgrounds around Melbourne Cup time6. recorded at 15 of the 19 schools visited during the
Childhood, Tradition and Change project, and there
Of the games Dorothy Howard wrote about, most was sometimes more than one version at the same
of them played right around the country at the school.
time, only counting-out has retained a similar level
of popularity among the many games in today’s Downball is a game of skill, employing different
Australian school playgrounds, and although there tactics and strategies. There are many rules and
was no monograph written about chasing games, even more terms associated with the game, some
children still play Tiggy and Chasey everywhere. for different kinds of bounces and ‘shots’ – it has
That’s not to say that nobody plays the other games a very strong verbal lore:
anymore – plastic knucklebones are still being sold
in shops so someone’s buying them – but they’re
‘fireballs’ ‘out of court’ serve
now more likely to be found in adult-planned
‘snakeys’ ‘doubles’
activities based around the ‘olden days’ than in the
quiet, tucked-away corners of schoolyards. ‘skinners’ ‘full’
‘cannonballs’ ‘enters’
Ball Games ‘normals’ ‘cherries’
Dorothy Howard remarked on the number of ball- ‘high tower’ ‘footsies’
bouncing games she encountered wherever she ‘ace’ ‘practice’
went – games like ‘Sevens’, ‘Tens’, ‘Oliver Twist’ ‘air ball’ ‘chance’
and ‘Two Ball’ – mostly played by girls, some with ‘trick’ serve ‘waiters’
increasingly difficult actions, others with a rhyme or
‘must accept’ serve ‘versing’ (playing
a chant. These games were played up against the against someone)
school’s brick wall, where the ball would rebound
and bounce off the hard bitumen surface of the
playground – a perfect combination for these types
of games.
40
This ball game wasn’t among the activities Hopscotch

described by the children who wrote to Dorothy Hopscotch was one of the first games Dorothy
Howard, so I think it’s fairly safe to say that it wasn’t Howard encountered when she arrived in Australia,
around at the time. and from then on she saw hopscotch patterns
chalked on footpaths and playgrounds everywhere
Another popular ball game in the 1950s was she went. She commented on the great variety of
‘Branding’, which was basically Tiggy with a tennis patterns and the wide variation in the children’s
ball. ‘Brandy’ was one of the ‘forbidden’ games names for them.
collected from several schools during the Childhood
Tradition and Change project. It’s mostly banned The most popular and widespread pattern was for
unless a soft ball is used or the school grounds are the game of ‘Kick Hoppy’ or ‘Base Hoppy’, and it
large enough to escape the notice of the teachers didn’t have numbers. Because the children were
on yard duty. using chalk, they could vary the game by using
different colours and writing their names or drawing
One ball game that has grown until it’s now taking shapes inside the squares, according to the rules of
over children’s playing time and space is Soccer. the game.
The worldwide craze for the sport is reflected
in school playgrounds, where Soccer is played In most Australian primary schools today, a
regularly on any flat, open area, mostly, but not hopscotch pattern – usually the ‘Aeroplane’
exclusively, by boys. As an indication of the impact pattern – is either painted onto a hard surface in
of the game on Australian school playgrounds a the playground or embedded into the artificial turf.
2011 study, listing the 20 most prevalent lunchtime Instead of a lively game, created and played by
activities, placed Soccer in fourth place after eating, children for their own enjoyment, it has largely been
talking and walking. Chasey or Tiggy came next on reduced to a design element in schoolyards all over
the list.7 Australia. When a hopscotch pattern is embedded
into artificial turf, there’s nothing lying on the ground
The amount of outdoor space being used almost nearby for the children to spontaneously pick up and
exclusively for Soccer in some schools has use as a taw, so if they use the pattern at all they
prevented other types of games, particularly simply hop or jump through the squares, as they do
traditional games like skipping, chasing, catching with the tiles on the floor of a supermarket.
games and different ball games like French Cricket
from being played there.
The rise in the use of artificial turf in schools has

made it easy to permanently mark out soccer
pitches and other ground markings, and I think
this has contributed to the problem. Artificial turf
puts a layer between children and the ground, and
prevents them from interacting with the surface
beneath, limiting the kinds of games that can be
played there. Games that involve scratching letters,
‘mud’ maps, lines or shapes on the ground, digging
holes or making ‘tracks’ can’t be played on synthetic
surfaces.
Hopscotch patterns embedded into artificial turf are largely ignored
by the children.
With so many school playgrounds being covered
by artificial turf, it is now theoretically possible for
children, especially in urban areas, to spend their
whole time, day after day, without ever coming into
contact with natural ground.
41
During the Childhood Tradition and Change project,

in schools where children were allowed to use
chalk freely they drew a variety of things, including
hopscotch patterns, tracks and paths, circles and
other shapes. The hopscotch patterns were often
long, meandering paths of squares that were too
small to use. But once children know how to play
the game, their patterns change and become both
creative and playable, leading to extended games.
Clapping games
One widespread game in schools now, particularly
among girls, is doing hand-clapping rhymes. There
are only four descriptions of clapping rhymes in the
letters Dorothy Howard received, and all of them
came from adults who remembered them from the
early 1900s or the 1930s. The earliest comes from
the 1890s, and is 99.9% identical to this one, which
was collected in Orbost, Victoria in 1996:
My mother said, I never should,

Play with the gypsies in the wood.
If I did, she would say,
‘Naughty girl to disobey!’
Disobey one, disobey two,
Disobey over the waters blue. (Waterloo in 1890)
Clapping games are widespread, played mostly, but not exclusively,
by girls.
Clapping games are found in practically every school
in the country – there are 29 listed in the Childhood Marbles
Tradition and Change database, although several When Dorothy Howard visited Australia, one of the
variations are listed more than once. There can be richest and most popular games, particularly among
many versions of the same rhyme, with each school boys, was Marbles. The game itself had many
claiming that theirs is the ‘right’ one. Girls are the names, depending on how it was played – names
traditional custodians of the clapping patterns and like ‘Big Ring’, ‘Little Ring’, ‘Bunny Hole’, ‘Poison’,
rhymes. ‘Eye Drops’, ‘Follow-me-Taw’, ‘Kiss and Span’ and
simply ‘Alleys’.
Here we have a game that has grown in Australian
school playgrounds since the 1950s and is thriving, The names for different types of marbles and the
perhaps partly because it needs no props and can be terms used in describing the rules were part of the
played almost anywhere, without breaking any rules lore surrounding the game. It was a very specialised
that relate to the use of space or ownership of the language, with names like ‘Cat’s Eye’, ‘Commony’,
playground. In the battle for the playground, verbal ‘Blood Real’, ‘Agate’, ‘Bot’, ‘Tombowler’, ‘Peewee’
lore is the big survivor. and ‘Stanker’, and terms like ‘drizzy’, ‘knuckle down
and screw tight’, ‘knuckle up, sky high’, ‘fenudge’,
‘doogs’, ‘banks’, ‘clears’, ‘dub up’, ‘slips’, ‘skin the
ring’ and ‘fen funnicks’.
42
Dorothy Howard defined the use of children’s

special play language in this way:
Play language is the lingo of a particular peer

group in a specific community. A child, to fit in,
be one of the group successfully, must speak
the language.8
Something interesting happened during the

Childhood Tradition and Change project – not one
marbles game was reported. A few Principals and
teachers commented that they hadn’t seen Marbles
being played at their school for as long as they could
remember. It wasn’t banned, it just wasn’t played.
Now, just because there were no marbles games

collected during the project doesn’t mean they are
not being played anymore. Marbles is a seasonal
game – it suddenly appears in the playground and
everyone goes crazy and then it disappears again.
In my own research, I’ve found that there can be
a very rich marbles culture in some schools, but
it’s not there all the time. It’s a game that’s been
regularly banned by teachers over the years, but The ‘Chinese flick’ is one of several different ways of shooting a
which continues to thrive in schools where there is marble.
an acceptance of play in its many manifestations.

The rich 1950s marbles culture with its special rules So the game of Marbles, like most children’s
and terminology isn’t around in Australian schools folklore, has changed over time. Dorothy Howard
any more (in some ways its successor is Downball), says:
but there’s a much larger variety of marbles being
produced now, with a longer list of names for the Tradition, though stable, is never static. Tradition
changes slowly or rapidly but change it must.
different types of marbles children play with.9
It is only the printed word and the machine
which tend to arrest and hold in static form the
In 1950s Australia, Marbles was a game of skill and words and ways of games...The background
strategy. No-one rolled their marbles – everyone environment of children’s play customs
flicked them, and whether you won the game or everywhere on the earth is always changing;
lost your marbles often depended on how accurate sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly. In
you were at flicking. Most players typically used the Australia the pace of change appears to be
‘Aussie’ or thumb flick, which is deadly accurate and increasing with the increasing congestion of city
can split a marble in half if it’s going fast enough. play space; and may increase still more rapidly as
the impact of immigration begins to show effect.
The influx of Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s
For this reason, a study of Australian children’s
and 80s introduced other ways of flicking a marble,
play customs made in 1955 may have greater
like the ‘Chinese’ flick – using the middle finger as significance in 1975 than it has today. Certainly in
a type of catapult. But a lot of children don’t even 1955, we are wise to garner what we can of the
flick at all now. At some schools, they play a game playways of the generations before it is too late.10
where they just roll the marbles along – the rules are
rudimentary and the rich lore surrounding the game
has disappeared, but they still enjoy playing.
43
Finally, I must return briefly to the subject of ENDNOTES

‘loose parts’ play. I think the movement towards 1C
hildhood, Tradition and Change (2007-2010): Categories
adult-sponsored ‘free’ play is partly a result of the <http://ctac.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/browse_function.htm#r>
changes that Dorothy Howard identified back in 2C
hildhood, Tradition and Change (2007-2010): Chasey at School
08.
the mid-1950s – a gradual shift away from skilled
<http://ctac.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/biogs/E000024b.htm>
traditional games like Knucklebones, with rules
3C
hildhood, Tradition and Change (2007-2010): Extracts from
and rituals and lore, and ball-bouncing games that unpublished interview with students at School 08.
take time to learn and play and require practice 4 See for example Bruce McLachlan, ‘Project Play at Swanson
and passion to keep going, to more unstructured School’, and Marylou Verberne, ‘Australian primary school
playgrounds: the last play frontier?’, Play and Folklore, no. 61,
and imaginary play that anyone can do and which
April 2014, 4-14.
doesn’t have to be learned. I also think that there orothy Howard, ‘Folklore of Australian children’, The Journal
5D
are many adults who have forgotten just how of Education, vol. 2, no. 1, March 1955, 31-32.
much fun traditional play can be, so they look for 6T
hese monographs have been reprinted in Kate Darian-Smith
new alternatives to keep children occupied and and June Factor (eds), Child’s Play: Dorothy Howard and the
Folklore of Australian Children (Melbourne: Museum Victoria,
entertained. 2005).
7 Rebecca Stanley, et al, ‘The type and prevalence of activities
I’m going to leave the last word to a play specialist performed by Australian children during the lunchtime and
who worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital, after school periods’, Journal of Science and Medicine in
Sport, vol. 14, issue 3, May 2011, 227-232.
Melbourne, in the early 1990s when we installed an
8 Dorothy Howard quoted by June Factor, ‘Collecting Children’s
interactive exhibition of children’s traditional games Folklore in Australia’ in Graham Seal and Jennifer Gall (eds).
for the patients.11 After a month watching her Antipodean Traditions: Australian Folklore in the 21st Century
(Perth: Black Swan Press, 2011), 13.
patients play these games within the hospital, the
9 See Judy McKinty, ‘Beach Bums, Bloodsuckers and Ice-cream
play specialist said that it had made her realise that Jellies’, Play and Folklore, no. 59, April 2013, 16.
these games mean something special to children: 10 Dorothy Howard, ‘Folklore of Australian children’, The Journal
of Education, vol. 2, no. 1, March 1955, 34.
They come from within the child. They’re not 11 S
ee Judy McKinty, ‘From Playground to Patient: reflections
just games, but something basic that children on a traditional games project in a pædiatric hospital’,
understand. They’re simple, and it’s this International Journal of Play, vol. 2, no. 3, 187-201, published
online December 13, 2013.
simplicity that makes them so important. In the
12 ‘Tops, Tales & Granny’s False Teeth’ Diary (1990),
hospital [we] try to keep up with the latest toys
[unpublished] ACFC, reg. no. HT8476.1, 12/1/1, Museum
so the children won’t feel as if they’re missing Victoria.
out, but the traditional games seem to connect
with the children in a way that the others don’t.12
It’s worth remembering this, in the context of the

changes occurring in school playgrounds throughout
the country.
Judy McKinty is an independent children’s play researcher, based

in Melbourne, and a co-editor of Play and Folklore. She is also
an Honorary Associate of Museum Victoria and a member of the
Australian Children’s Folklore Collection Reference Committee.
Unless otherwise attributed, all photographs in this article were

taken by Judy McKinty.
44
A short list of online play resources
American Journal of Play Fish Trout, You’re Out!

http://www.journalofplay.org/ http://www.nla.gov.au/fishtrout/
Published by The Strong National Museum of Play, This is the Children’s Folklore section of the
this site contains the latest journal and past issues National Library of Australia’s Oral History and
to download, back to Summer 2008. Folklife Collection. The page describes four types
of children’s folklore and gives examples, and from
Australian Children’s Folklore Collection online here you can also follow links to other collections of
http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/ children’s folklore held by the Library.
articles/24
This Museums Victoria site contains over 8,000 International Journal of Play
items. Scroll down the page to see images of http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rijp20
playthings in the Australian Children’s Folklore A Taylor and Francis (Routledge) publication, this
Collection and scanned documents from the Journal began in 2012. It is published in print
Dorothy Howard Collection, including Howard’s (black and white) and online (colour) and obtainable
monographs on Australian children’s games, by subscription. Complete issues or individual
children’s handwritten descriptions of their games articles can be purchased from the web site, and
and transcripts of interviews. occasionally selected articles are granted open
access and can be freely downloaded. Members of
Childhood, Tradition and Change The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) receive
http://ctac.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/ the International Journal of Play as part of their
This is a publicly-accessible database which resulted membership.
from a national study of Australian children’s
playlore, carried out in nineteen schools over four Kidsplaybook
years from 2007-2010. It contains descriptions of http://www.kidsplaybook.com/
games, background information about the schools, This is a website and database of outdoor games
de-identified images and other resources. of children from all over the world, filmed by Jules
Oosterwegel, a film maker from the Netherlands.
The games are shown in streaming video with
commentary, and there is a huge international
bibliography of play and games.
45
Play and Folklore Playtimes: a century of children’s

https://museumvictoria.com.au/about/books- games and rhymes
and-journals/journals/play-and-folklore/ http://www.bl.uk/playtimes
From this Museum Victoria web page you can This is a British Library site containing an online
find and download every issue of Play and Folklore collection of film and audio recordings documenting
(formerly the Australian Children’s Folklore 100 years of UK children’s songs, rhymes and
Newsletter) from Issue no. 1, September 1981. The games. It contains digitised audio recordings from
publication is listed in decades, and each individual the ‘Opie Collection of Children’s Games and
issue is a pdf document, so you can browse Songs’, and video from ‘Children’s Games and
through the articles, find what you’re looking for and Songs in the New Media Age’ – a 2009-2011 study
download the whole publication for free. There are of playground culture at two primary schools in
also three types of Index available, by Subject and London and Sheffield. The final report of the project
Author, Category or a complete Table of Contents. can be found here:
http://www.dieponderzoek.nl/wp-content/
Playground Ideas uploads/2011/09/end_of_project_report.pdf
http://www.playgroundideas.org/
This is a non-profit Australian-based organisation Rethinking Childhood
that assists communities to build playgrounds https://rethinkingchildhood.com/
anywhere in the world, using recycled materials. Tim Gill is one of the UK’s leading thinkers on
The organisation ‘supports anyone anywhere to childhood, and an internationally-recognised
build a stimulating space for play using only local advocate for positive change in children’s lives.
materials, tools and skills’. The website gives ‘For over 20 years his...work has focused on the
access to freely downloadable playground designs, changing nature of childhood, children’s play and
manuals, step-by-step building instructions and free time, and their evolving relationships with the
guides, and a report, The Case for Play, which people and places around them’. His best-selling
‘highlights the most significant research findings book No Fear: growing up in a risk-averse society,
on the impact of play interventions, particularly for which is freely downloadable from his web site,
children living in poverty’. argues that childhood is being undermined by the
growth of risk aversion.
Playground Rhymes
http://folksong.org.nz/playground_rhymes.html Saharan, North African and Amazigh
This website of New Zealand Folk Chants has a Children’s Toys and Play
page of contemporary rhymes of New Zealand http://www.sanatoyplay.org
school children, collected by Janice Ackerley’s Dr Jean-Pierre Rossie is a sociocultural
students during their studies for the National anthropologist researching Saharan and North
Diploma of Children’s Literature. The content is African children’s play, games and toys, and an
based on Ackerley’s article ‘Playground Rhymes associated researcher of the Musée du Jouet
Keep Up With the Times’, published in Play and in Moirans-en-Montagne. He is internationally
Folklore no. 42, September 2002. There are also recognised for his studies, over many decades,
links to two documents by New Zealand researchers of African children’s toys, play and culture. The
Laurie and Winifred Bauer, ‘Elastics’ and ‘Skipping website has a list of his publications, many available
Games and Rhymes’, and another link to Maori to download in English or French.
songs.
46
An art work to visit:
The painting ‘Children’s Games’ by Pieter The original vision for the tapestry was ‘to
Breughal, painted in 1560, regularly appears create something special for patients, families,
in presentations, publications and other staff and visitors to enjoy, which would capture
information about children’s traditional games the freedom, joy and innocence of childhood’.
and play. In the Royal Children’s Hospital,
Melbourne, is a modern version of Breughal’s A collaboration between the Melbourne
work, called ‘The Games Children Play’. Tapestry Workshop and artist Robert Ingpen,
this remarkable art work has to be seen in
Commissioned in 2008, in honour of Dame person to be fully appreciated.
Elisabeth Murdoch’s 100th birthday, this vibrant
tapestry depicts children playing games that Find out more about the tapestry at:
will be familiar to children and parents alike: https://www.austapestry.com.au/tapestries/pg/
they include skipping; Hopscotch; Elastics; featured-tapestries/2/96/the-games-children-
Marbles; top, hoop and yo-yo spinning; play
clapping; ‘Cat’s Cradles’; ball-bouncing games http://www.rch.org.au/education/rchcreate/
and French Cricket. tapestry/
47

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no.

66, December 2016

Play and Folklore: partner in cultural diversity

Using North African children’s play culture

Documenting play: from the front line

A short list of online play resources An artwork to visit

It’s hard to say goodbye to something that’s been an important feature

Like the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection, Play and Folklore

Gwenda Beed Davey, June Factor and Judy McKinty

The Australian Children’s Folklore Collection: 4

Play and Folklore: partner in cultural diversity 11

Documenting the Dorothy Howard Collection: 15

Using North African children’s play culture 19

A history of their own: the historiography 25

Documenting play: from the front line 31

Losing our marbles: what’s happening 37

A short list of online play resources 45

The Australian Children’s

My first instinct was ‘This is important. I can’t just

Dorothy Howard noting Marbles rules at an Australian primary

Another co-editor was Wendy Lowenstein.

That became the Multicultural Cassette Series, part Moving on

Gwenda and I recognised the importance – and the

A Liberian Bush-child’s doll, one of the many playthings donated by

Heather documented much of what she saw – for

Amy Saunders making string figures with a

Children’s play exhibitions We created an interactive exhibition which we

So it made a bit of a splash, and I have mostly

Mabuyag Island – children’s dances.

Play and Folklore:

children transmit, maintain, and transform their

‘Merry Christmas from Chile’ (Issue 10) was the first

The mystery folk doll is similar to many material

In writing my final contribution to Play and Folklore,

Documenting the Dorothy Howard

With thanks to Michael Jones, eScholarship

Deborah Tout-Smith is Deputy Head of Humanities Department

Using North African children’s

I begin with an exhibition and a few seminars that I

animator, quickly became aware of the content and

Manar, the president of the youth association,

One of the leading officers of the preschool section

In this context, the Museum of Childhood

Fig. 4 Italian children creating masks and toys inspired by Moroccan

Stela Maris Ferrarese Capettini, a teacher of

In Neuquén, at the primary school no. 1 Ciudad de

Fig. 6 Flemish preschool children created a Saharan oasis.

In addition to seminars and workshops for children ENDNOTES

Holidaying at Sorrento, 1909.

A history of their own: the historiography

Histories of Aboriginal children and youth have

Australian scholars have played a leading

memories of childhood that are generally celebratory

In addition to oral history and autobiography,

Documenting play: from the front line

Mapping the playground.

Mapping The second layer of mapping required us to

As we worked, we would sometimes intervene

At both schools, traditional verbal lore such as the