Play, games, amusements, pastimes and selected physical activities of the Aboriginal Peoples of northern Australia: with a bibliography of all works by Walter E. Roth which include information on these topics

Play, games, amusements, pastimes and selected physical activities of the Aboriginal Peoples of northern Australia: with a bibliography of all works by Walter E. Roth which include information on these topics

Dr Walter E. Roth was a medical doctor and a Queensland government Protector of Aborigines from 1898 until 1905. In his travels through North Queensland and Cape York, Roth acquired many Aboriginal artefacts, took many photos and gathered cultural information, all of which he recorded meticulously. In 1905 he sold his collection to the Australian Museum. The information presented here is intended to provide an extensive overview of work by Walter E. Roth covering play, games, amusements, pastimes and selected physical activities such as tree-climbing. The two main published works by Roth containing a detailed examination of games, sports and amusements of are:
Roth, Walter E. 'Chapter VIII. Recreation, Corroborees, Sports and Games.' In Ethnological Studies Among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. Edmund Gregory, Government Printer, William Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 1897: 117-131.
Roth, Walter E. North Queensland Ethnography: Bulletin No. 4. Games, Sports and Amusements. Edmund Gregory, Government Printer, William Street, Brisbane, 1902.
In a separate publication various corrections and additions to the Bulletin No. 4 have been undertaken. The original publications are available from other sources. Other than listing works by Roth the main focus of this document is to outline information taken from original handwritten reports that were often used as the basis for published works. Some excerpts from published works (apart from Bulletin No. 4) are also presented. It is interesting to read the manuscript materials as they relate to specific areas. Much of the information in the manuscript materials was used in larger published works but there is some that was not. There is also, at times, some variation between the manuscript materials and what was published elsewhere.

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The publication involved extensive review of manuscript material and transcribing and compiling this information as well as providing relevant information and background to the information presented.