Australian Childhood in the 1950s
Research into the experiences of children growing up in Australia in the fifties. Drawing in part upon the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection at Museum Victoria, this project investigates the ways in which physical environments influenced postwar childhoods. It combines archival research on house design, school architecture and urban planning with oral history interviews.
Project contact: Carla Pascoe
Childhood, Tradition & Change
A multidisciplinary research team will produce the first comprehensive national analysis of the continuity and variation of Australian children's playlore from the 1950s to the present.
Fieldwork documentation at selected primary schools, together with material collected from the wider community, will be contrasted with previous playlore research to construct longitudinal cultural maps of children's play within their wider demographic and social contexts. The project makes a major contribution to international playlore and cultural heritage studies, and to Australian histories of childhood.
Supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant, and in partnership with The University of Melbourne and the National Library of Australia, outcomes include scholarly publications, a significant new archive of contemporary children's playlore, conferences, and exhibitions.
Project contact: see http://www.australian.unimelb.edu.au/CTC/index.html