Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens Kaialgumm Games Trail
Playing to learn is something children do all over the world. Here
in Australia, Indigenous children traditionally used games to
practice skills such as hunting, fighting and even looking after
their babies. Many of these games have been handed down for
generations and are still played today.
The Kaialgumm Games Trail takes you to six sites where you
can use the QR reader on your smart phone or tablet to find
out more about traditional games and how to play them.
The word kaialgumm comes from the local Yugambeh language of the Gold
Coast. The kaialgumm was traditionally the chief in hunting. Practice the
games with your friends and find out who is the kaialgumm in your group!
Let’s get started
Follow the map above to start the trail.
Use the QR reader on your smartphone or tablet to scan the QR codes located
along the trail. This will link you to a website telling you how to play each game.
Don’t have a QR reader on your device? Just go to the App Store and search for
QR Reader. It’s free to download the app, or pick up an instruction sheet from the
Friends Centre.
Most of the games only use simple equipment, such as balls, beanbags, or even
seed pods from a tree. If you don’t have these things with you, please speak with the
volunteers at the Friends Centre, who will be happy to lend you some equipment.
Kai
This game comes from the Torres Strait
and traditionally uses the thick, red,
oval fruit of the kai tree, which is
light when dry.
Number of players: Teams of 4-8
Equipment: Small beach ball or
soft sponge ball.
• Teams stand in a circle
1 metre apart.
• Start by throwing the ball
in the air.
• Each player takes a turn to
hit the ball upwards with the
flat palm of their hand.
• Keep the ball in the air for
as long as possible, counting
through the letters of the
alphabet with each hit.
• The team that is able to
work their way furthest through
the alphabet without dropping the
ball wins.
• Start again if the ball hits the ground,
if players don’t keep their hands
flat, or if any player hits the ball twice
in succession or passes it back to the
previous player.
• Older players should hit the ball at
least a metre above head height.
Kee’an
Kolap
Taktyerrain
Weme
Woggabaliri
This game comes from North Queensland
and was used to practice throwing skills.
Traditionally a large animal bone with twine
attached to it was thrown over an emu
catching net and into a pit. The skill was to
get the bone into the pit without touching
the net. Kee’an means ‘to play’ in the WikMungkan language of North Queensland.
This throwing game was played on Mer
Island in the Torres Strait in the 1900s.
The game is named after the beans of the
kolap tree, which were used as throwing
objects.
This is a team throwing and dodging game.
Taktyerrain means ‘to fight’ or ‘to hit one
another’ in the Wembawemba language of
Victoria. In most parts of Australia, children
played mock combat games as a practice
for adult life. Toy spears were made from
grasses, reeds and rushes. Spears were
held at their lighter ends and thrown either
with the hand or with a toy woomera
(throwing stick).
This is a stone bowling game played by
the Walbiri people of Central Australia.
One player threw a stone which was then
used as a target by the second player.
Players alternate turns with each aiming at
the other’s stone. Weme means ‘throwing
something at something else and hitting it’
in the Eastern Arrernte language of
Central Australia.
Children from the Bogan and Lachlan rivers
area of NSW played a kind of football with
a ball made from possum fur. The ball was
spun by women and was about
5 centimetres wide. To play this game with
skill req uired great agility. Woggabaliri
is the word for ‘play’ in the Wiradyuri
language of Central and Southern NSW.
Number of players: 1-4 players, playing
alone, one against the other or in teams
of two.
Equipment: Soccer ball, volley ball or
beach ball.
Number of players: Up to 8 players, singly
or in teams of two.
Equipment: Foxtail or comet balls or
a tennis ball in a long sock; a net (e.g.
volleyball or badminton net); plastic bin;
bucket or plant pot for hole.
• Set the bin on one side of the net, in a
central position, about 2 metres back
from the net.
• Players stand on the opposite side,
about 6 metres back from the net
(closer for younger players).
• Each player takes turns to throw the
ball over the net and into the bin.
• This game is mostly played for fun and
recognition for a successful throw.
• A simpler version of this game can be
played without the net.
Number of players: 2-4 players in two
teams.
Equipment: Two small mats/towels; 4-8
small flattish objects suitable for throwing
(e.g. beanbags, coins or small stones). You
may also find fallen fruits or seeds from
nearby trees that you can use (but please
don’t pick fruit from the trees).
• Two players stand 2-3 metres behind
each mat.
• Each player has 4 ‘kolaps’ and teams
take their turn to try and throw these
onto the mat in front of them.
• Kolaps must land completely on the
mat to count as one point.
• The team that reaches the combined
score of 20 first wins.
Number of players: Two teams of
4-8 players.
Equipment: A soft ball for each
player, (e.g. sponge balls, paper balls);
line markers.
• Teams stand 6 metres apart.
• On the signal to start, players throw
their balls to try and hit the players of
the opposing team.
• Balls that land in the opposing teams
side can be used by that team. Any
balls in the middle area are retrieved
when there is a stoppage in play.
Equipment: Balls/bowls such as bocce balls; two line markers.
• Set the line markers 10 metres apart.
• Players stand behind one line, and the
first player rolls their ball underarm
toward the second line. (If the ball
passes beyond the second line, the
second player scores a point).
• The second player rolls their ball to try
to hit the first ball. If the ball is hit the
second player scores a point.
• Both players collect their balls and
restart the game from the other end. The
second player now has the first turn.
• The first player to reach 11 points is
the winner.
Number of players: 4-6 players.
• Players do not take sides – this is a
cooperative game emphasising skill.
• The aim is to keep the ball from hitting
the ground.
• One player kicks the ball up in the air
and the other players try to kick it (one
touch only) again before it hits the
ground. Less experienced players may
use two touches.
• All kicks must be made with feet or
knees and players must have one foot
on the ground when kicking the ball.
• Players mustn’t push each other out of
the way to reach the ball.