A Typology of the Traditional Games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Ken Edwards Author Ken Edwards has studied health and physical education, environmental science and sports history. He has taught health and physical education at both primary and secondary school level and has been a Head of Health and Physical Education at various schools. Ken completed a Ph.D. through UQ and has been an academic at QUT and Bond University and is now an Associate Professor in Sport, Health and Physical Education at USQ (Springfield Campus). Ken has had involvement in many sports as a player, coach and administrator. Wener ganbony tilletkerrin? What shall we play (at) first (Language of the Western people of Victoria) A Typology of the Traditional Games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Ken Edwards Artwork by Aboriginal artist Maxine Zealey (of the Gureng Gureng people in Queensland). Copyright © 2012 by Ken Edwards. All rights are reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the Copyright owner. ISBN 978-0-9872359-0-9 Paper size: 16.5cms X 23 cms Page printing for ebook: Scale to fit A4 Acknowledgements Great excitement existed amongst the players in this game, which was begun in this manner: each player had one of these toys in his hands, standing at a mark on the ground some 30 yards or 40 yards from the disc. The thrower standing on the mark would measure the distance with his eye, and turning round would walk some few yards to the rear, and suddenly turning to the front would run back to the mark, discharging his weitweit with great force at the disc. Its rapid flight under this vigorous impulse is so rapid that the eye cannot follow it. (Worsnop, T., 1897: 165). Worsnop, Thomas. The Prehistoric Arts, Manufactures, Works, Weapons, etc., of the Aborigines of Australia. Government Printers Office, Adelaide, S.A., 1897: 165 This book is dedicated to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in recognition of their ‘ownership’ of play and movement expressions which contribute towards the Australian sporting culture. Ken Edwards Artwork by Maxine Zealey Table of Contents Acknowledgements Preface ............................................................................ 1 Introduction .................................................................... 2 Definitions and Terminology ............................................ 4 Regions of Australia .......................................................... 5 Play ...................................................................................... 6 Definition of Traditional Games ............................................. 7 Traditional Games: Related Terms and Concepts ............... 10 Overview of Traditional Games .............................................. 11 Outline of Types of Traditional Games .................................. 20 Various Accounts of Traditional Games ................................ 25 Traditional Games and Culture .............................................. 31 A Proposed Typology of Traditional Games .......................... 32 Overview of the Proposed Typology ....................................... 41 Explanation and Outline of the Typology .............................. 45 Overview of the Categories and Sub-Categories ................. 47 The Typology ............................................................................. 49 Conclusion ........................................................................ 101 Selected References ........................................................ 102 Appendices ........................................................................ 107 List of Figures Figure 1: Continent of Australia. Figure 2: Torres Strait Islands Region. Figure 3: Map of Regions. Figure 4: Structure of the model employed to classify Aboriginal Games and Pastimes (Salter, 1967). Figure 5: Proposed typology of traditional games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Figure 6: Structure of the classification areas developed as part of the proposed typology. Figure 7: Integration of the classification areas developed as part of the proposed typology. Appendices Appendix 1: Representations of the various typologies/classifications of the traditional games of Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples. Categories of Games (Roth, 1902). Games and Toys (Haddon, 1912). Categories of Games (Love, 1983). Categories of Games (Kovacic 2011). Structure of the model employed to classify Aboriginal Games and Pastimes (Salter, 1967). Proposed typology of traditional games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Edwards, 2011). Appendix 2: Games and Pastimes of the Australian Aboriginal. Major components outlined by Michael Salter. Preface The faculties and talents that sustained people and societies for generations were activities such as making fire, tracking, finding raw materials and properly preparing them, fashioning implements and using them correctly, swimming, climbing trees, navigating, assessing distances, predicting weather, assisting childbirths and treating wounds or illnesses, dancing, singing, playing games, telling stories. Dissanayake, E. Art and Intimacy: how the arts began. University of Washington Press, Seattle, USA, 2000: 118. Since the time of first European settlement material on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples has been collected and a significant amount relates to traditional games. Although there are doubts about the objectivity and accuracy of descriptions of a significant proportion of this information the sheer volume available does allow the opportunity to examine various aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Taken as a whole the accounts reflect a degree of ‘playfulness’ within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Traditional games were regularly closely associated with the process of learning the basic survival skills: the procuring of food, the making of gathering, hunting and fishing implements, or simply imitating adults in whatever they were doing. Despite the number of accounts of traditional games they often tell us little of how they were played, by whom, when, where and to what end. Overall, the traditional games undertaken were commonly associated with simple and unwritten ‘rules’. This publication is designed to outline information on traditional games and details relevant to A Typology of the Traditional Games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The typology has been developed as a result of an extensive review of information on traditional games which has been researched over many years. The use of a typology provides a convenient way of classifying and organising the body of knowledge about the traditional games in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. It also allows for a greater understanding of the similarities and differences between different types of traditional games and provides the opportunity to identify their integration within culture as well as with other cultural aspects. Ken Edwards 1 Introduction Australia is one of the oldest land masses in the world, the sixth largest country in total area and the biggest island on the planet. Only a small proportion (just 6 per cent) is fertile country and it is one of the driest land areas. The Australian landmass stretches 4000 kilometres from east to west and 3700 kilometres from north to south. The Commonwealth of Australia covers the continent of Australia (Figure 1.) with an area of around 7,659,861 square kilometres and a coastline of 36,700 kilometres in length (or more than 120,000 kilometres if estuaries and all the islands are included). It includes sundry smaller islands (around 1800 in total) such as Fraser Island; the large island of Tasmania (68,332 square kilometres); and, the over 100 relatively small and mostly uninhabited islands or cays (of which only about 40 are regularly marked on maps) of the Torres Strait Islands region. Figure 1: Continent of Australia. The main states and territories of Australia are New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. The Torres Strait Islands region (Figure 2.) covers about 48,000 square kilometres within a 150 kilometre wide area between Cape York in North Queensland and Papua New Guinea. The Commonwealth of Australia also has control over some areas of land that are well offshore including Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island and Christmas Island as well as designated territory in Antarctica. 2 Figure 2: Torres Strait Islands Region. The Torres Strait Islands have islands with local and names given to them by colonists. Some islands are known by both names and there is an increasing acceptance and use of the local names. The Eastern Islands include Mer, Erub, and Ugar Islands. Central Islands are Iama, Masig, Warraber and Poruma Islands. Western Islands consist of the islands of Badu, Moa, Mabuiag, Waiben, Kiriri, Ngurupai and Muralag. Saibai, Boigu and Dauan are the Northern Islands. In addition to the various islands there are Cape York communities of Bamaga and Seisa The name Australia derives from the Latin word Australis, meaning ‘of the south’. For centuries, it was legend that there was an unknown great south land – Terra Australis Incognita. This description was used in writings about exploration to the region. The name ‘Australia’