Summary

Game type: 'Blind Tiggy in the Dark', 'Off the Ground Tiggy, 'The Miller's Ground' (chasing games)
Alternative types: running games, rhymes, language play, games played in the dark, hiding games

Typed descriptions of the chasing games 'Blind Tiggy in the Dark' written by Isobel Abel and 'Off the Ground Tiggy' and 'The Miller's Ground' composed by Marlene Cutler, students at Errol Street Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard in August 1954. It has been assumed that Dr Howard typed these versions of the original descriptions at a later date. Abel describes 'Blind Tiggy in the Dark' as a game suitable for girls and boys, which is played by a minimum of two players in a darkened room preferably during the summer months. To play, Abel explains that players select names. One child volunteers to be blindfolded and leave the room, while the remaining players turn the light off and hide. When the blindfolded child returns, they must locate the hidden players as they move quietly around the dark room. Abel notes that the blindfolded child must successfully identify any captured players.

Cutler describes 'The Miller's Ground' as a girls' game, which is played on the street. To play, Cutler explains that one child assumes the role of the 'miller' and stands between two lines drawn about twenty feet apart. The remaining players recite a rhyme before running between the two lines whilst trying to avoid capture by the 'miller'. Cutler lists other players of 'The Miller's Ground' including Jeany Acken, Barbara White, Joyce Quinn, Janice Quinn and Jean Bedd. To play 'Off the Ground Tiggy', Cutler writes that one child assumes the role of 'he', the chaser. She states a large number of boxes are required on which the other players must walk in order to avoid capture by 'he'.

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 descriptions in black ink on paper. Features text on one side of page only.

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