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Yulunga: diyari koolchee

This ball-throwing and hitting game was played by the Diyari people from near Lake Eyre in South Australia. The balls were called koolchee. The aim of the activity is to roll a ball to rebound off a wall in order to hit a skittle. The Yulunga: Traditional Indigenous Games resource was developed to provide all Australians ...

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Yulunga: koolchee

This ball-throwing and hitting game was played by the Diyari people from near Lake Eyre in South Australia. The balls were called koolchee. The balls used were as round as possible and were usually about 8–10 centimetres in diameter. Gypsum, sandstone, mud, or almost any material that was easy to work was used to make the ...

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Yulunga: koolchee koolchee

This ball-throwing and hitting game was played by the Diyari people from near Lake Eyre in South Australia. The balls were called koolchee. The aim of the activity is to roll a ball to hit a skittle. The Yulunga: Traditional Indigenous Games resource was developed to provide all Australians with a greater understanding ...

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Yulunga: weme

The Walbiri people of central Australia played a stone-bowling game. One player rolled a stone, which was used as a target by the second player. In the traditional game players alternated turns, with each one aiming at the other’s stone. This is a bowling game in which balls are rolled underarm along the ground to knock ...

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Yulunga: borna jokee

In parts of Western Australia mimic battles with toy spears frequently took place among the younger male members of the camp. Mock fights and duels were fought. There were also trials of skill with kyley and spear and kangaroo and emu hunts, the children taking turns at being hunter and hunted. In these activities the boys ...

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Yulunga: nanyima

Catch-ball games were played in many places. The balls used were made of seeds, stones, clay, seaweed, grass, hair-string and stuffed fur. In one game a player tosses a stone (ball) over his or her shoulder to a number of players and attempts to guess who caught the stone. This activity is suitable for younger players. ...

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Yulunga: yeeboo ngandoonyoo

In most parts of Australia young boys played fighting games or mock combat games for enjoyment and as a practice for adult life. In one part of Australia the boys would rise early in the morning to practise their self-taught skills of spear throwing. The little boys also indulged in imitating the skills of fighting as practised ...

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Yulunga: birray

Young children in the Bloomfield area of north Queensland played the game of birray (march-fly). It was observed by Walter Roth in the early 1900s. This is a game where a chaser (birray) attempts to tag (touch) other players. The Yulunga: Traditional Indigenous Games resource was developed to provide all Australians with ...

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Yulunga: tambil tambil

In many areas of Australia people played skills practice games, where they threw objects at each other. These included sticks, mud and stones of various sizes. A spear-dodging game called tambil tambil (refers to the blunt spears used) was played by the Jagara (Jagera) people of the Brisbane area, as part of sham fights ...

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Yulunga: waayin

The study of different animal and bird tracks was an important part of the education of Aboriginal children. These were drawn in the smoothed earth or sand by means of the fingers, fingernails, palms, small sticks and so on. A great deal of care was taken by adults in imitating the tracks of various animals for the benefit ...

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Yulunga: kolap

This object-throwing game was observed being played on Mer Island in the Torres Strait region in the nineteenth century. More recent versions have also been observed. A game based on throwing accuracy. Teams of one to two players throw objects, attempting to make them land on a target on the ground. The Yulunga: Traditional ...

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Yulunga: weet weet

The throwing of the play-stick, commonly called the weet weet (‘wit-wit’) was a popular activity among Aboriginal people in some parts of Australia, and various contests were held. The weet weet was often referred to as the ‘kangaroo rat’, because when thrown correctly its flight resembled the leaping action of this small ...

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Yulunga: jillora

Spinning balls or tops of various kinds were used as an amusement by Aboriginal people in most parts of Australia and by Torres Strait Islanders. The spin-ball used in the northwest central districts of Queensland was a round ball of about 2 to 3 centimetres in diameter. It was made of lime, ashes, sand, clay and sometimes ...

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Yulunga: kamai

Using a length of twine, adult women and young children of both genders often amused themselves for hours at a time with cat’s cradle (string-figure games). These were played almost everywhere throughout Australia and also in the Torres Strait. In some areas older boys and adult men also played these games. Elaborate figures ...

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Yulunga: makar

Various types of toy boats and canoes are found in parts of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. On Sunday Island in northern Australia, small models of the raft (kaloa) were made for children to play with. In other areas of Australia small replicas of dugout canoes were fashioned. In parts of the Torres Strait simple ...

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Yulunga: chuboochuboo

A chuboochuboo is a wallaby skin stuffed with grass and about the size of a football. Men, women and children played the game. The game generated a great deal of fun and enjoyment and never any arguments. It was observed being played in parts of South Australia. The Aboriginal people of the Lower Murray and surrounding ...

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Yulunga: ngor-go

A form of spin-ball was played among the lower Tully River people. The spinner was made out of a gourd of the Benincasa vacua. This game was played by women more often than men. It was known among the Mallanpara people of north Queensland as ngor-go, after the name of the gourd used. This activity comprises making and playing ...

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Yulunga: luka-pul pul

Finding-the-object games were played in many parts of Australia as well as the Torres Strait. The objects to be found were usually the eye lens of a fish or other animal. The hidden article would often be the lens, obtained after cooking, from the eye of a fish, possum, rat or wallaby. The usual method of hiding the lens ...

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Yulunga: Wanambi

Wanambi was a large snake. This game was observed being played by the Pitjantjatjara people of central Australia. This is a chase-and-tag game. Players in a line move towards another player, who suddenly chases and attempts to catch (touch) them. The Yulunga: Traditional Indigenous Games resource was developed to provide ...

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Yulunga: Bondi

The Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had many water and diving games, which were often indulged in at any convenient creek, waterhole or at the beach. In various parts of Australia, contests in diving, floating, remaining beneath the water, and many other aquatic activities, were undertaken. They ...