The Collectors
SEARCH
Friday 30 November 2007
watch entire episode 
download entire episode
This week Niccole packs her play lunch and takes a walk down memory lane to the Melbourne Museum. The Australian Folklore Collection documents children’s playground culture, cleverly recorded by means of photos, notes, video footage and audio recordings that capture everything from games and jokes, to the rhymes, riddles, and school yard taunts that children grew up with.
The exhibition includes many traditional items like those that were readily manufactured as well as those more individual items that were hand-crafted by children themselves. A wonderful example of this is an ingenius football made out of a rolled up newspaper, tied together by string and featuring the pages of various football teams on the outside.
All of the folklore than comes in to the Museum is ordered according to how children use the material such as skipping rhymes, clapping games, chants and superstitions. The staff document the exact wording, where and when it took place, and the gender and age of the child it came from.
Niccole suggests recording the folklore from your own past, whether it’s to show your children or pass onto the Museum for their collection - either way the experience is sure to be an enjoyable trip back through your childhood.
