The Aboriginal Children’s Play Project

During the mid-1990s, a unique and highly significant collection of almost 70 oral histories documenting the experiences of childhood, playlore and growing up in Aboriginal communities were recorded throughout urban and rural Victoria. Known as the Aboriginal Children’s Play Project, this collection is part of the extensive Australian Children’s Folklore Collection located in Museum Victoria. From August 2008, following a lengthy process of clarification with participants about their preferred access arrangements for the interview materials, Museum Victoria has ‘opened’ this important historical resource to Aboriginal and nonAboriginal communities and researchers.