National Library of Australia

 

FROM THE CHRISTMAS ISLAND LIFE STORY COLLECTION

Access conditions: Written permission from Margaret Neale is required for research and public use

This recording is part of a collection related to the social history of Christmas Islanders. A book was produced, We Were the Christmas Islanders: Reminiscences and Recollections of the People of an Isolated Island, the Australian Territory of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Published by B. Neale, Chapman, ACT, 1988.

Selected excerpt from this collection

We were called the 'barbarians' by the other kids and the teachers because we came in from the jungle. South Point and Camp 4/5 kids were always picked on ... After we got home from school we would first of all eat, then shower, do our chores and start our homework. At 5 o'clock every kid was in the park which was directly opposite our house. There we played all sorts of games like a kind of 'rounders' using rocks for bases, or a game we called 'boompa' which is the sound made by the two sticks we hit together instead of a bat and ball. Another game we played was something like poison ball. Each kid gets a hole and a number, the ball is rolled and if it goes into your hole you have to get it and throw it at someone. Every time you miss, a pebble is put into your hole and when you get ten pebbles you are punished by all the other kids. The four pebble kids hit you six times and so on. Swordfighting like in the movies was always popular. We played lots of different marble games with real marble marbles. Sometimes if we ran out, we would steal them from the chooks' nests. Mum and Dad used to put dummy marble eggs under the chooks to make them lay more. We loved to play cherry guns when the special tree was in season but we would get the cane if my Dad caught us doing that game. It was dangerous for the eyes...

Children's folklore items found in this collection

TRC 2047/11. View record

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