*** Australian boys clothes: garments -- headwear types








Australian Boys' Headwear: Types

Australian sailor caps

Figure 1.--This Australian Christmas post card is difficult to assess. We think the boy may be Henry Anderson, probably in Melbourne. He looks to be about 6 years old. He wears a sailor cap which lookks like it has ear muffs. This can not be. Not only does it not get that cold in Melbourne, but December is a summer month Down Under. We think I think what we are seeing is a ribbon (streamer) hanging down from his cap and it is about the same color as the collar om his jacket. Also notice the chin strap. Aloing with his sailor cap he wears a Norfolk collar-buttoning jacket with a lace collar. The card is not dated and unfortunately Australian postcard stamp boxes have unknown dates. We think Henry's portrait was probably taken in the 1910s.

We note Australian boys wearing both hats and caps. We have very little information on the 19th century. We believe that hats were common. We know a good bit by the turn-of-the 20th century. And without knowing where the photograpph was taken, it would be hard to destinguish between English and Australian fashions ith one exception. The only clue if the image is a full-length shot is that Australia boys were commonly barefoot. Hats included wide-brimmed sailor hats and boaters. Notice all the wide-brimmed hats that the younger boys are wearing on the previous page. We also see sun hats which the Australians refer to some as bucket hats. The softer style here was more likely to be called a bucket hat. After the eraly-20th century, there was a trend toweard caps. The primary cap we see Australian boys wearing is the traditional English school cap, the style also adopted by Cubs. We also see sailor caps. This was fairly common at the turn of the 20th century for younger boys. Many of the cap styles had social-class connotations. This wasespecially true of the sailor styles. We see some flat caps, but school caps were much more common as was the case in England.

Berets

We do not know a lot about berets in Australia. We first notice boys wearing berets in France (1870s). They of course hacvec a much more extensive history, butv this is when we first see bys commonly wearing them, often to school. They were a rather common everyday type of headwear. We also see them boys wearing them in Belgium, but not in many other countries. After World War I, they began showing up in America, Britain and other countries, even in Germny despite the strong anti-French feeling there. We do not understand this. In America many girls wore them, calling them tams. English girls and British Empire girls also wore them. Some girls' schools adopted them as part of the school uniform. Boys did not commonly wear berets, but we see some younger boys wearing them. The boys did notwear them as everyday clothing, they were more of a dressy, smart casual style. This was the case in America and apparently Australia as well. Presumably in part related to the Americans and British Empire forces serving in France. After World War II we see some Scouts wearing berets, presumably because some special forces units wore them during the War.

Caps

We know a good bit about Australian headwear beginning at the turn-of-the 20th century. And we see mostly caps of various descriotion. The sailor cap the boy here is wearing is a good example. And without knowing where the photograpph was taken, it would be hard to destinguish between English and Australian fashions with one exception. The only clue if the image wass a full-length shot is that Australia boys were commonly barefoot. After the eraly-20th century, there was a trend toweard caps. The primary cap we see Australian boys wearing is the traditioal English school cap, the style also adopted by Cubs. We also see sailor caps. This was fairly common at the turn of the 20th century for younger boys. Many of the cap styles had social-class connotations. This was especially true of the sailor styles. We see some flat caps, but school caps were more common, although not as common as in England.

Hats

We note Australian boys wearing both hats and caps. We have, however, very little information on the 19th century when we believe that hats were common. We know much more about the 20th century and we do not see Australian boys cimmonly wearing harts, excpt to some extent in the early-20th century. An exception werre basters worn at some private schools. Hats included wide-brimmed sailor hats and boaters. Notice all the wide-brimmed hats that the younger boys are wearing on the previous page. Basters were worn at some private schools. We also see sun hats beginning after World War I in the 1920s which the Australians refer to some as bucket hats. The softer casual style was more likely to be called a bucket hat.






HBC







Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Australian pages
[Main Australian page]
[Australian choirs] [Autralian movies] [Australian orphanage clothing] [Australian school uniform] [Australian television] [Australian youth groups]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main Australian headwear page]
[Return to the Main Australian garment page]
[Return to the Main country headwear page]
[Return to the Main country page]
[Australia] [Canada] [England] [France] [Germany] [Ireland] [Italy] [New Zealand] [Scotland] [United States]




Crerated: 8:08 AM 6/23/2015
Last updated: 6:17 PM 8/6/2023