Figure 1.--This portrait measures 6" by 4.5". It came from a group showing scenes from Lake Powlathanga and other scenes in Charters Towers, Queensland around 1904-09. He looks to be about 8-9 years old. |
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We know virtually nothing about sailor suits in Australia at this time. Our Australian archive is still limited. The British princes began wearing sailor suits (1840s). This is about the time that that the British settlement of Australia began in a significant way. We are not sure when Australian boys began wearing sailor suits. We assume it was in the mid-19th century. We suspect that Australian boys wore sailor suits. Unfortunately we have virtually no Australian 19th century images. Thus we can not yet confirm that sailor suits were worn in the 19th century, but given the prevalence of British fashions it surely must havevbeen the case. Without a substantial Australian archive we can not assess prevalence. We do have a few 20th century images. We note Australian boys wearing sailor suits in the early-20th century. After World War I in the 1920s, the popularity of sailor suits seems to have declined much as it did in Britain. As far as we know the styles and conventions in Australia were the same as in England at least for the affluent classes. This mean that younger boys tended to wear sailor suits than on the Continent. Of course the uniforms for the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy when established were the same. Thus there were no dufferences in the national uniforms. And because Australian fashions were largely set in Britain, we do not yet know of any differences in sailor suits. Climate of course was a factor. This may hsve affected the fabric and the weight of the material. Hopefully as HBC expzands we will be able to address this topic in greater detail.
We know virtually nothing about sailor suits in Australia at this time. Our Australian archive is still limited. The British princes began wearing sailor suits (1840s). This is about the time that that the British settlement of Australia began in a significant way. We are not sure when Australian boys began wearing sailor suits. We assume it was in the mid-19th century. We suspect that Australian boys wore sailor suits. Unfortunately we have virtually no Australian 19th century images. Thus we can not yet confirm that sailor suits were worn in the 19th century, but given the prevalence of British fashions it surely must havevbeen the case. Without a substantial Australian archive we can not assess prevalence. We do have a few 20th century images. And we note Australian boys wearing sailor suits in the early-20th century. The unidentified Queensland boy here is a good example (figure 1). After World War I in the 1920s, the popularity of sailor suits seems to have declined much as it did in Britain.
As far as we know the sailor suit styles in Australia were the same as in England at least for the affluent classes. Of course the uniforms for the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy when established were the same. Thus there were no dufferences in the national uniforms. And because Australian fashions were largely set in Britain, we do not yet know of any differences in sailor suits.
This mean that younger boys tended to wear sailor suits than on the Continent. Most of the Australian boys we see wearing sailor suits look like pre-teen boys to anout 10 years old. We see much older boys on the continent wearing sailor suits. Even though Englans was wear the sailor suit was first used as a child's garment. Age convebtions were a first very loose, we see both younger and older boys wearing sailor suits. Mostly we see younger boys, we we also see some older boys. Conventions began to hsrden by the 1880s. As age conventions became set, the sailor suit in England became seen to be a younbger boy's outfit, we think because of the importance of boarding chools which had uniform in determing boys' syles and clothing concentions. In contrast we see si=omewhat older boys, including teen agers wearing sailor suits. This was mostly younger teens, bur boys as old as 15 years might wear saklor suits. this we do not see in Britain or Australia.
Climate of course was a factor. This may hsve affected the fabric and the weight of the material. The one major difference we note is thtAutralian boyswere more likely to go barefoot. Otherwise we do not notice many significan differences until after World War II.
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