Item HT 41479 Document - Unidentified Author, Addressed to Dorothy Howard, Description of Chasing Game 'Scare Crow Tiggy', Aug 1954

Summary

Game type: 'Scare Crow Tiggy' (chasing game)
Alternative types: running games, games with actions

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'Scare Crow Tiggy' presumably written by an unidentified student at Errol Street Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard in August 1954. To play 'Scare Crow Tiggy', the author explains that a child assumes the role of 'he', the chaser. 'He' chases the other players, who must stand with arms extended like a scarecrow if caught. The author notes that other players can free the captured 'scarecrows' by touching their arm three times. If a player is caught three times by 'he', then they must assume the role of chaser.

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

Typed game description in black ink on paper. Features text on one side of page only.