The geography of Australia, the weather, and the nature of the societies that existed here, have ensured an important place for sport. Traditional Aboriginal societies had a rich diversity of games and pastimes.
There is very little left of the traditional games, even in isolated areas where some degree of traditional lifestyle may still exist. These games and sports are worth preserving and efforts need to be made to encourage people to play and understand them.
Traditional games provide the opportunity to learn about, appreciate and experience aspects of Aboriginal culture. They also provide essential training in social interaction.
It is possible to include traditional games in classroom lessons, outdoor education and adventure activities, physical education classes and sport education activities.
| KAI | PARNDO | GORRI | KOOLCHE |
| KOLAP | BUROINJIN | WOGGABALIRI | WANA |
| KEENTAN | WULIJINI | KOKAN | TAKTYERRAIN |
| KEE'AN | TARNAMBAI | MUNHANGANING | KALQ |
| WEME | YIRI |
For a more detailed look at each of the different games view the following
publications in Adobe Acrobat:
Click here to download Adobe
Acrobat
KAI
In this game from the Torres Strait a number of players stood
in a circle and sang the kai wed (ball song) as they hit a ball up in the air
with the palm of their hands. The game was played using the thick, oval, deep
red fruit of the kai tree which is quite light when dry.
PARNDO
This ball game was played by South Australian Aborigines in
the vicinity of Adelaide (Kaurna language). The parndo (ball) was made with a
piece of opossum skin, flattish in shape and about the size of a tennis ball.
This is a kicking and hand passing game.
GORRI
Bowl-ball or disc games were played by Aboriginal boys and
men in all parts of Australia. For example, in the disc-rolling game common
throughout Western Australia a piece of rounded bark (disc) was rolled by one of
the players for the other boys to aim at. The boy who set the disc rolling was
about 15 metres away from the throwers and would call out gool-gool
(going-going) as they started the disc rolling. The boy or young man who
succeeded in piercing the disc took the place of the roller. Accuracy of eye and
speed in casting the spear were easily learned from the disc game.
KOOLCHE
This ball throwing and hitting game was played by Aboriginal
people in the Lake Eyre district of South Australia. 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 balls. To play the game, players were in two teams and lined up on each side
of a dry claypan. Each team then rolled the balls along the ground to the other
side with the aim being to break up an opponent’s ball by hitting it while it
was moving. When balls cannoned out of play to the sides they were left until
the stock of balls was nearly used up. These were often retrieved by the small
boys and put into play again. The game was played for hours and usually until
the balls left were too few to cause any excitement. The balls were called
koolchees.
KOLAP
This object throwing game was observed being played on Mer
Island in the Torres Strait late last century. The game is named after the beans
of the Kolap tree which were used as throwing objects.
BUROINJIN
This is a ball game played by the Kabi Kabi people of
southern Queensland. The game was played with a ball made of kangaroo skin which
was called a buroinjin. Spectators used to mark their applause by calling out
‘Ei, ei’.
WOGGABALIRI
Children from the Bogan and Lachlan rivers area of New South
Wales played a kind of football with a ball made of possum fur. The fur was spun
by the women and made into a ball about 5 centimetres in diameter. It required
great agility and suppleness of limbs to play this game with any degree skill.
WANA
The young noongar (or nyungar) girls in the south- west of
Western Australia had many games they played just among themselves because after
a certain age they were not permitted to play with the boys of the camp. In one
of their games a short piece of stick was placed on the ground to represent a
nhoba (baby). Each girl had to defend her child from the wanas (digging sticks)
of the other girls — all of whom pretended to try and kill the nhoba (baby).
Wanas were thrown from all sides at the young ‘mother’, all of which she
tried to fend off with her own stick. The mother held her wana between her thumb
and forefinger, putting it over her head, behind her back, against her side, in
whatever direction the missiles came, thus learning to defend her young ones. In
real adult fights women sometimes stood beside their husbands and warded off the
kidjas (spears) of their enemies.
KEENTAN
A keep-away game of catch ball from the north-west central
districts of Queensland played by both genders. Because the action of the
players jumping up to catch the ball resembled the movements of a kangaroo the
Kalkadoon people sometimes described this game as the ‘kangaroo-play’. The
ball itself was made of a piece of opossum, wallaby or kangaroo hide tied up
with twine.
WULIJINI
This hand hitting or handball game was played with a zamia (Cycas
media) seed by the people of Bathurst Island in northern Australia. In the Meda
district of north-western Australia players used flat pieces of wood.
KOKAN
Various versions of hockey type games were played in many
areas of the Torres Strait and Papua and New Guinea. A hockey game called kokan
was played in Mabuiag. The kokan (ball) was between 6 and 8 centimetres in
diameter. The game was played on a long stretch of the sandy beach. The kokan
was struck with a rough bat or club, baiwain or dabi, which was usually cut from
a piece of bamboo, between 60 and 85 centimetres in length, on which a grip was
cut. On Mabuiag Island the game was played by both genders.
TAKTYERRAIN
In most parts of Australia the young boys (and sometimes
girls) played mock combat games for enjoyment and as a practice for adult life.
Toy spears or shafts were made from grasses, reeds and rushes. The spears were
held at their lighter ends and thrown either with the hand or with a toy woomera
(throwing stick).
KEE'AN
In areas of North Queensland a game of throwing skill was
played. A large sized animal bone (with twine attached to it) was thrown over a
net (used to catch emus) and into a pit or hole. Considering the distance to the
hole, great skill was required to correctly aim the bone and ensure that it did
not touch the net.
TARNAMBAI
On Bathurst Island the children collected the seed heads of
the spring rolling grass ( Spinifex hirsutis) growing on the sandhills near the
coast. They took the seed heads to the beach and tossed them into the air where
they were blown along by the wind. After a start, the children chased the seed
heads and tried to pick them up while running at full speed.
In many Aboriginal settlements in remote parts of Australia the children commonly played games with ‘rollers’. These could be toy trucks made from wheel rims or large tins filled with damp mud. The rollers are pushed or pulled with handles made of wire. Sometimes groups of children with rollers have races.
MUNHANGANING
The game of Munhanganing was reported being played by
children of the Arnhem Land in northern Australia. Children played this and
other running games in the flickering lights from the firebrands of the
grown-ups sitting about a camp site.
KALQ
This was a spear game 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) toward the next player. The spear would
travel around the circle of men who were armed only with their woomera— which
they used to deflect the spear to the next player. When the small boys played
they used spears with a blunted end.
WEME
The Walbiri people of Central Australia played a stone
bowling game. One player threw a stone which was the used as a target by the
second player. Players alternated turns with each aiming at the other’s stone.
YIRI
A spear game recorded being played by the boys at Ulladulla
in New South Wales. Small spears were thrown at pieces of wood which were placed
into running water. On Dunk Island in Queensland the boys used wood chips and
pieces of bark floating on the water or threw objects at small fish.
This is an archive copy of a document originally located at http://www.activeaustralia.org/isp/traditional.htm. All copyright remains with the creator.
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