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• TLF-IDM006628

This is a version of a game played by the young Noongar girls in the southwest of Western Australia. A girl used her wana (digging stick) to stop the other girls hitting a short stick placed on the ground. Players practise their throwing, catching and hitting skills. (This is a practice activity version of the game called ...

• TLF-IDM006553

The young Noongar girls in the southwest of Western Australia played many skill games. In one of these a short stick was placed on the ground and girls attempted to hit the stick while one girl defended it using her wana (digging stick). Players use an underarm throw to hit a target, which is defended by the player with ...

• TLF-IDM006568

This hide-and-seek game was described as being played by the Aboriginal children in an unidentified part of Queensland. It was called thirring-nunna (Where are we?). It is a hide-and-seek game where all players hide from a player who looks for them. The Yulunga: Traditional Indigenous Games resource was developed to provide ...

• TLF-IDM006623

This was a spear game observed being played by some Aboriginal groups on Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland. The men used a throwing stick (woomera) to project a big killing spear (kalq) towards the next player. The spear would travel around the circle of men, who were armed only with their woomera, which they then ...

• TLF-IDM006635

Tree-climbing activities and climbing contests were widespread and helped to develop a skill of practical use. There were a variety of methods of climbing trees used in different parts of Australia. Some of these involved the use of vines or notches cut into trees. The Victoria River people in the Northern Territory arranged ...

• TLF-IDM006643

A ‘secret’ play-language game was reported on Waiben (Thursday) Island in the early 1970s. It was spoken by girls in Torres Strait Creole and was introduced to Dauan Island, where it was spoken in the local language. The language was spoken fluently in unprepared talk. This is a play-language game in which players insert ...

• TLF-IDM006573

Although not a universal activity, athletics-type events were common. On Tiwi (Bathurst) Island the children collected the seed heads of the ‘spring rolling grass’ (Spinifex hirsutis) that grew on the sand hills near the coast. These were taken to the beach and released. The children allowed these to be blown along by the ...

• TLF-IDM006666

Water games and contests were played in all areas of Australia. In some parts of central Australia a frequent expression of ‘opposition’ between the generation groupings in a camp takes the form of light-hearted abuse and spectacular waterthrowing battles. The aim of the activity was to saturate certain kin in the opposite ...

• TLF-IDM006678

The lessons learned around the camp fire were often required for survival. Tur-dur-er-rin, war-rok-minder- neit, or work-ern-der-eit, was a wrestling game from Victoria in which the most skilful, or perhaps the strongest, proved to be the winner. The old men and women and the children acted as spectators and sat down around ...

• TLF-IDM006686

Regular mock warfare tournaments took place in the Cardwell and Tully River areas of north Queensland. The Mallanpara people called this a prun. It was essentially an entertainment activity, though the opportunity was taken to settle disputes, real or imaginary. The event also gave the men a chance to show off their prowess ...