Boys' Historical Uniform Headgear: Bush/Slouch Hats

Figure 1.--The bush is a type of slouch hat most commonly associated with Australia. We notice boys in German youth groupsing them in the early 20th century. Some look like bush hats while others like the ones here look more like boony hats. Here we see Germany boysearing slouch hats< along with military-styled caps. We do not know what the youth group was, but the photograph looks to have been taken around 1920.

We notice some boys wearing what is commonly called a bush or slouch hat. The bush hat is the more common term, but actually is a specific style of slouch hat. THe bush hat is primarily associated with Australia. This is a wide-brimmed felt hat, commonly made with a chinstrap because it was a military style often worn by calavalry troopers. It was a functional style because the wide brimmed protected the trooper from the sun, but the chin strap was needed to keep it from falling off. We are not enirely sure of the origins, but had the same functiionlity as the Mexican sombrero or the American stetson. The classic Baden Powell lemon-squeezer hat presumably had the same origins. One source places the origins to 18th century military hats. It was a style worn by British Empire soldiers (Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia, and Southern Africa), but we notice soldiers in other countries wearing these hats are similar styles, including France, Germany, the United States, and other countries). The bush hat name came from Australia where the style became especially popular, presumably because of the vast Out Back and stfrong summer sun. The Australians adopted it as a kind of national symbol. We notec some German youth group with these hats during and immediately after World War I. We suspect it was an artifact of the short lived overseas German Empire. Use by youth groups is more limited. German boys wore slouch hats of various design, including both bush hats and a related type, what Americans might call a boonie hat. The standaerd bush hat has one side of the brim turned up or actually pinned to the side of the hat with a badge or cockade. This style was adopted so the rifle could be slung over a shoulder and the brim would not interfere. The boonie hat was a less formally shaped slouch hat. Australian Scouts evenhtually adopted the bush hat as part of their uniform.