Summary

Game type: 'Ug Ug' (creeping game)
Alternative types: war games, imaginary play, role-playing games, play with props/equipment, team games

Handwritten description of the creeping game 'Ug Ug' compiled by R. Long, a student at East Fremantle Government Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard between 1954-1955. A 'creeping game' involves players creeping towards another player or place without being seen or heard, or without being caught moving. Long describes 'Ug Ug' as a game suitable for boys and girls aged 10 years and over, which requires 20 players divided evenly into an 'Indian' team and a 'White men' team. Additional equipment needed includes a rope and a chair or pole. To play, Long explains that the Indian team capture one of their opponents, tying them to either a chair or pole, before siting in a circle as illustrated by the accompanying hand drawn diagram. The Whiteman team must approach the Indian team, release the captive and return to their starting point without being heard. Long notes that if an Indian team member hears the approaching Whitemen, they call out 'ug'.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's game written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research.

Physical Description

Handwritten game description in blue ink on lined paper. Features an annotated, hand drawn diagram; text written on one side of paper only.

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