Previous Studies and Related Publications
Research for Childhood, Tradition and Change has produced several publications and conference papers. Analysis continues and this list will be added to.
Read the Final Report of the Childhood, Tradition and Change Project.
Previous Studies
Childhood, Tradition and Change builds upon a rich body of previous research. The following projects are of particular interest.
- Dorothy Howard and the Folklore of Australian Children
- The Australian Children's Folklore Collection
- Playground Game Characteristics of Brisbane Primary School Children
- Play and Friendships in a Multicultural Playground
- Invisible Tracks: Play and Place in a Primary School Playground
- The Moe Folklife Project
- The National Library of Australia Children's Folklore Project
Child's Play book available
Child's Play: Dorothy Howard and the Folklore of Australian Children, edited by Kate Darian-Smith and June Factor, is published by Museum Victoria.
Child's Play re-publishes US scholar Dorothy Howard's essays on Australian children in the 1950s, alongside contextual essays by international scholars in the fields of history and folklore. It contains photographs from Museum Victoria's Australian Children's Folklore Collection.
It is available for purchase from Museum Victoria.
Publications
2010
Darian-Smith, Kate, 'Children', Sydney Journal, 2, no. 2, June 2010: 1-15
Darian-Smith, Kate, 'Children', Dictionary of Sydney, 2010
Darian-Smith, Kate, 'Australian Children's Folklore: Playing with Intangible Heritage', Historic Environment, Volume 22 Number 3, 2009, pp 48-53
Davey, Gwenda, 'Do Children Play the Way They Used To?', National Library of Australia Magazine, December 2010
Davey, Gwenda, 'History of children's folklore research in Australia' in Selected research papers from the National Folklore Conferences 2005-2010, Jennifer Gall and Graham Seal (eds), Black Swan Press, WA. (in press)
Davey, Gwenda and Judy McKinty 'Contextes adultes pour le jeu des enfants (sauf votre respect)' (With respect: adult contexts for children's play), Andy Arleo & Julie Delalande (eds.), Cultures enfantines: universalité et diversité, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes, (in press)
Factor, June, '"It's only play if you get to choose": children's perceptions of play, and adult interventions', Play and Culture, vol. 9, 2010, ed. Cindy Dell Clark, University Press of America
Factor, June, 'Verbal Play - Flexibility, Invention And Experiment', Play and Folklore, no. 54, 2010
Factor, June, 'Reflections on children's folklore in Australia', in Selected research papers from the National Folklore Conferences 2005-2010, Graham Seal and Jennifer Gall (eds), Black Swan Press, Curtin University (in press)
Factor, June, '"Fais-moi confiance, je m'y connais !" Cultures ludiques de l'enfant, interventions et interférences des adultes', Andy Arleo and Julie Delalande (eds.), Cultures enfantines: universalité et diversité, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes, (in press)
Factor, June, 'Foreword', in Helga Ramsey-Kurz and Ulla Ratheiser (eds), Antipodean Childhoods: Growing Up in Australia and New Zealand, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, United Kingdom, 2010
Seal, Graham and Jennifer Gall (eds), Selected research papers from the National Folklore Conferences 2005-2010, Black Swan Press, Curtin University (in press)
2009
Darian-Smith, K, 'The Aboriginal Children's Play Project', Play and Folklore, no. 51, April, pp. 3-5, 2009
Davey, Gwenda and Factor, June, Co-Editors, Play and Folklore, Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Editions 51 and 52
Factor, June, 'Australia', Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society, ed. Rodney P. Carlisle, vol.1, Sage Publications, Los Angeles, 2009
2008
Davey, Gwenda, 'Politics and Technology: Friends or enemies of the story?' Journal of the Oral History Association of Australia No. 30, 2008
Davey, Gwenda, 'Lollies or Lolita? The perils of modern childhood research', National Library News, November 2008, Canberra ACT
Factor, June, 'Childhood, Tradition and Change', OSCAR, Community Child Care Association, Vic. Term 4, 2008
Conference Presentations
2010
Darian-Smith, Kate and Nikki Henningham, 'Longitudinal Research and Consent: The Childhood, Tradition and Change Project', Australasian Ethics Network Conference 2010, Melbourne, 18 November 2010.
Darian-Smith, Kate and Nikki Henningham, 'Conducting social research and children's privacy: the Childhood, Tradition and Change project', Watch this Space: Children, Young People and Privacy Conference, Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, Melbourne, 21 May 2010.
Factor, June, 'Children's Folklore & Writing for Children Workshop' at John O'Brien Festival, Narrandera, New South Wales, March 17-19, 2010
Darian-Smith, Kate, 'Do Children Play the way they used to? Part 1', talk at Museum Victoria, Seminar Series on History and the Meaning of Things, May 12, 2010
Davey, Gwenda, 'Obstacles to Children's Play', talk at Museum Victoria, Seminar Series on History and the Meaning of Things, May 12, 2010
Factor, June, 'Do children play the way they used to? Part 2', talk at Museum Victoria, Seminar Series on History and the Meaning of Things, May 12, 2010
Factor, June, 'Children's folklore and the Australian Children's Folklore Collection', talk at RACV Club, October 12, 2010
2009
Darian-Smith, Kate 'Australian Children's Playlore and Oral History', The Talk About Town: Urban Lives and Oral Sources in 20th Century Australia State Library of Victoria, 27-28 August, 2009
Davey, Gwenda, 'Fish Trout You're Out! Sound recordings of children's folklore in the National Library of Australia: a pilot project in on-line guides to collections',National Folklore Conference, National Library of Australia, April 2009
Davey, Gwenda, 'Immigration and Children's Lore', The Talk About Town: Urban Lives and Oral Sources in 20th Century Australia, State Library of Victoria, 27-28 August 2009.
Davey, Gwenda, 'Fish Trout You're Out! Sound recordings of children's folklore in the National Library of Australia: a pilot project in on-line guides to collections',Islands of Memory: Oral History Association of Australia 16th National Conference, Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston Tasmania, 17-20 September 2009
Factor, June, 'Dorothy Howard', Key Thinkers Seminar, University of Melbourne, August 27 2009
Factor, June, ‘Reflections on more than a century of collecting children’s folklore in Australian suburbs’, The Talk About Town: Urban Lives and Oral Sources in 20th Century Australia, State Library of Victoria, August 28 2009
Factor, June, Factor, June, ‘From then till now: children’s play in school playgrounds’, Talking Spaces Symposium, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, October 29-31 2009
2008
Darian-Smith, Kate, ‘Childhood, Tradition and Change: Collecting Children’s Playlore’, Childhood (Re)Discovered: An interdisciplinary conference, St Patrick’s Campus, Melbourne, ACU National, 3-4 July, 2008
Darian-Smith, Kate, ‘Australian Children’s Folklore: Playing with Intangible Heritage’, Intangible Cultural Heritage: A New Field of Endeavour Symposium, St Peter’s Hall, 15 Gisborne St, East Melbourne, 1-3 July 2008
Davey, Gwenda, ‘The Australian Research Council's Childhood, Tradition and Change Project’, National Australian Folklore Conference 2008, National Library of Australia, March 2008
Davey, Gwenda, ‘Enemies of Childhood', Open Forum on Play, National Folk Festival, Canberra, March 2008
Davey, Gwenda, ‘Friends and enemies of children's play’, at Childhood (Re)Discovered: An interdisciplinary conference, St Patrick’s Campus, Melbourne, ACU National, 3-4 July, 2008
Davey, Gwenda, ‘Childhood, Tradition and Change: An Australian Research Council Project’, Australian Teacher Education Conference: Teacher educators at work: what works and where is the evidence? Mooloolaba Queensland July 2008.
Factor, June, ‘The Games that Children Play: the Role of Play in the Early Years of Education’ – keynote presentation, and workshop, Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (Vic. Branch) , March 14, 2008
Factor, June, ‘Childhood, Tradition and Change’, National Folklore Conference, National Library of Australia, Canberra, March 20, 2008
Factor, June, ‘Presentation to Open Forum on Children’s Play, National Folklore Festival, Canberra, March 24, 2008
Factor, June, ‘Dorothy Howard: An American Pioneer in Australia’, Childhood (Re)Discovered: An interdisciplinary conference, St Patrick’s Campus, Melbourne, ACU National, 3-4 July, 2008
2007
‘With Respect, Adult Contexts for Children’s Play’, by Gwenda Beed Davey and Judy McKinty, paper presented at the conference Children’s cultures: universality and diversity, 15-17 March 2007 University de Nantes, France
Child's Play in the News
'Fun lives on as pupils play by the old rules', by Elisabeth Tarica, The Age, August 1, 2011.
Davey, Gwenda, 'You can get the kids away from the box': Review article of Parlour Games for Modern Families, M. Jones and S. Tsintziras, Scribe, Melbourne, 2009, Neos Kosmos, English Edition, 30 November 2009
Davey, Gwenda, 'Child's play is serious business', Neos Kosmos, English Edition, 29 June 2009
'Making History Mere Child's Play', by Larry Schwartz, The Age, June 18, 2007.
Factor, June, 'Schools must explore full riches of learning', The Age, 23 March 2009.
'Poets in the Playground', by David Astle, in Cassowary Crossing: A Guide to Offbeat Australia.
'Let Kids Rule the Playground', by June Factor, The Age, October 29, 2007.
Play & Folklore magazine available online
Play & Folklore is a forum for discussion about childhood and children's culture. It publishes articles, letters, memoirs and research studies that examine what children do when largely free of adult direction or control - their colloquial speech, songs, games, rhymes, riddles, jokes, insults and secret languages, their friendships and enmities, their beliefs and hopes.
Play & Folklore is published twice a year, by the Australian Society & Technology Department, Museum Victoria, and is edited by June Factor and Gwenda Beed Davey.