Down Under: a History of the Slouch Hat

Added: 2026-05-08

[00:00:00]Good day, and wel- Good day, and welcome to another episode of The Hat Historian. This video, I will be talking about a famous hat from down under that has become emblematic of the Australian Army, and by extension, the country itself.

[00:00:23]The slouch hat.

[00:00:36]The slouch hat, officially the hat khaki fur felt, or KFF, sometimes also known as a digger hat or an Akubra, after the most famous manufacturer, is a wide-brimmed hat worn as part of the military uniform of Australia that is traditionally pinned up on one side, adorned with badges and pugarees, depending on the wearer's regiment.

[00:00:59]Its name of slouch hat comes from the brim's tendency to droop down or slouch off to one side, though this name also applied to other styles of hats in the past. Most closely associated today with the Australians, variants have been worn in hot climates by many other nations throughout history. So, let us see how this hat ended up down under.

[00:01:18]The slouch hat has a long history that predates the very existence of Australia as a nation. Forms of wide-brimmed hats were popular with both civilians and the military for the protection they offer from the elements, and were then customized to fit the needs of the wearer. The practice of pinning one side up was popular in the 17th century with the cavalier hat, which was often decorated with a large plume, and is so named because it was worn by supporters of Charles I of England during the English Civil War, who were known as the cavaliers. It was also popular and worn this way by the French musketeers.

[00:01:52]The cocking up of one side was both for style, as it gave a roguish look, but could also keep it out of the way of weapons the wearer might be wielding.

[00:01:59]This practice continued with, as I mentioned in the videos on the subject, bicorns and tricorner, which followed the same basic principle as the slouch hat, simply being pinned up on two or three sides rather than one. The act of pinning up one side of the brim also was popular in the Jäger units of the Austrian Army in the late Napoleonic Wars with a hat they called Corsican brim, it had little in common with the slouch hat.

[00:02:25]Slouch hats became especially popular in hot, sunny climates, particularly in the Southern United States and in parts of Africa. The term there referred generally to any wide-brimmed, shapeless hat, not necessarily one pinned to the side. In the United States, it was popularized by Lajos Kossuth, a Hungarian patriot who toured the country in 1852, drawing great attention. While official forms of it existed, such as the pattern 1858 officer's hat, it also applied to the wide array of civilian hats worn by soldiers in the South. This was particularly true of the Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, when many swapped the ill-adapted wool forage caps for more practical wide-brimmed slouch hats.

[00:03:06]At this time, officers would also wear the Hardee hat, which resembled something of a top hat with one brim pinned up, left or right depending on the regiment, which is the only way that it resembles the slouch hat. In truth, the term at the time was rather ill-defined and wide-ranging. Due to its practical nature in sunny climates, the wide-brimmed slouch hat was used in various other areas, notably in the tropical regions of the British Empire, such as Africa or Southeast Asia. And that is how it eventually made its way to Australia, where forms of it were known as the bush hat. But the slouch hat as we now know it was introduced in 1885 in the colony of Victoria.

[00:03:45]In the 19th century, the various Australian states were run as nominally independent colonies, and each was responsible for the forming of militia units. One that was raised in 1885 was the Victoria Mounted Rifles, which, as its name indicates, consisted of riflemen on horseback. Its founder, Colonel Tom Price, had served with various colonial regiments in India in the years preceding, and adopted various practices from his time there. He sought and obtained permission to dress his men in more discreet and practical khaki uniforms, as opposed to the traditional red and blue. And for their headwear, he used a bush hat pinned up to one side, a style he is said to have encountered being worn by native police in Burma.

[00:04:28]This hat featured a high dome crown and narrow brim. The right side of the brim was turned up and held in position by a cord attached to a hook, which protruded from a gilt lion's boss fastened high on the side of the crown. This uniform, suited to the environment, was rather popular and caught the attention of other Australian state armed forces commanders. As movement for the federation of the different colonies started to gain traction in the late 19th century, they decided to harmonize uniforms, opting for khaki, which was becoming popular amongst the troops of the British Empire.

[00:05:01]As their headgear, commanders decided that, with the exception of artillery who wore helmets, all men would wear the wide-brimmed hat with either the right side or left looped up, depending on the state.

[00:05:13]I should take a moment to examine why they decided to pin up one side of their hats, a decision which could seem impractical as it negates protection from the sun and the brim provides. The reason is straightforward. It is to keep the brim out of the way when shouldering a rifle, though other joking reasons were sometimes given.

[00:05:30]It is similar reasons for tricorner to be worn the way they were in the 18th century, or bicorns the 19th century, as I explain in my videos on the subject.

[00:05:38]If not pinned up, the brim would get in the way of the rifle and the hat risked being knocked off when the rifle was brought up.

[00:05:47]The reason it was pinned up sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left was that different states had different rifle drills, and so it was adapted to each.

[00:05:55]This was similar to the American Hardee hat, which was pinned on the left for infantry to keep clear of the musket on the left shoulder, but then on the right for the cavalry, who tended to use a saber in their right hand. The brim side for the Australian hat was later standardized to the left when the army was federated. I should note that technically, the hat is only required to be pinned up for ceremonial occasions and parades. For normal service, both in the past and now, it is often worn unpinned, which allows the left side of the face to be shaded as well. While spreading and gaining popularity in Australia, the slouch hat gained international prominence and association with the country during the Second Boer War in South Africa in 1899. This conflict saw British Imperial forces facing the Boers, mostly Dutch-descended settlers in Southern Africa. Forces from all over the Empire were sent, and amongst them were light horsemen from Australia, who wore their famous hats.

[00:06:47]As opposed to regular British troops, who were more used to traditional infantry tactics, the Australians were well-versed in bushcraft and commando tactics favored by the Boers, and thus had a lot of success against them. Added to this is that climates in parts of Australia is similar to that of South Africa, and thus the men were used to it and their equipment adapted to it. Tom Price himself, founder of the Victoria Mounted Rifles, and man who introduced the slouch hat to the country, participated in the conflict. The mystique the Australians gained from their success added cachet to their distinctive hats, and its practical nature led to it being adopted in some form by many other parties in the war, even by the Boers themselves, who already wore wide-brimmed hats. Some British and Canadian troops adopted them as well, amongst the variety of wide-brimmed hats they used, including the campaign hat, which I talked about before, as there was a shortage of their own standard hot weather headgear, the pith helmet. But this conflict truly helped cement the image of the hat-wearing Australian soldier in the minds of various members of the British Empire.

[00:07:48]A few other countries adopted the slouch hat after the Boer War, particularly for the colonial troops in hot climates as an alternative to the pith helmet.

[00:07:55]Notably, the Schutztruppe, the German colonial forces, and the Indische Leger, the Dutch ones, wore a form of slouch hat pinned up usually on the right by the national cockade. A version was even tested out in the 1910s by the French Army in what they called the tenue boer, or Boer outfit, though it ended up being rejected as too radical a change.

[00:08:16]After the various colonies unified into the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, the slouch hat was adopted as the standard headgear for Australian forces in 1903, and the pinned up side was normalized to the left one. It once again gained international attention during World War I, with the diggers, the nickname applied to Australian soldiers due to the mining industry back home and their efficiency at digging trenches, were deployed to various parts on the front alongside other British and Commonwealth forces.

[00:08:44]Most famously, as part of the ANZAC, the Australian New Zealand Army Corps, which fought in an eventually doomed battle at Gallipoli in Turkey. However, due to supply issues, not every Australian soldier wore a slouch hat, many being issued standard British peak caps instead. Famous amongst the Australians were the light horsemen, who wore an emu plume in their hat as a distinguishing mark. This tradition stems from the horsemen chasing down emus, fast and agile flightless birds, and plucking a feather from their tail as a mark of their horsemanship. It was so important to them that some protests erupted when British commander tried to prevent them from wearing them upon arriving to Egypt, and the Ministry of Defense had to declare that it was allowed as long as they acquired them themselves. In some cases, colored bands were put on the hats to help identify regiments.

[00:09:33]As Australian national identity and autonomy grew in the aftermath of the war, the slouch hat was integrated as one of its symbols. It should also be noted during the war, as with all forces, steel helmets were introduced for combat, and cloth hats were relegated to behind the lines.

[00:09:49]After the war, further standardization of the Australian armed forces cemented the slouch hat as the regular headgear of the Australian Army outside combat, when the British Brodie helmet was worn.

[00:09:59]Minor changes included the pugaree, a folded band around the crown, which was based on the Indian accoutrements, originally supposed to be dipped in water to help keep cool, but by then a decorative element, or other badges on the hat. There was some rumor in the late 1930s about talks of replacing it with a more standard peak cap, but by then it was too ingrained into public consciousness.

[00:10:21]It continued to be worn by Australian troops in World War II, as well as as by some other British and Indian forces in the Far East theater, most notably the British 14th Army, and also the Gurkhas.

[00:10:32]Australians also wore it during the Korean War, and the French used it as inspiration for their chapeau de brousse modèle 49, a cloth hat used by some colonial forces, which in turn inspired the boonie hat, as I mentioned in my video on the subject. But by the time of the Vietnam War came around, the shortcomings of the traditional felt hat started to come to light. While practical, it was also heavy, cumbersome when not worn, and hard to keep presentable. It couldn't be brought easily out into the field when the helmet was worn, and so was relegated to ceremonial occasions. For field wear, it was replaced by the so-called giggle hat, a cloth bucket hat, which I talked about in my video on the boonie hat.

[00:11:11]However, the slouch hat was too ingrained in culture to be abolished. It took on the role it continues to have, that of the service and dress headgear for the Australian troops. The slouch hat continues to be an important symbol of Australia today. It is the standard hat for multiple orders of dress for members of the Australian Armed Forces, most notably the soldiers of the Australian Army. It is worn pinned up with the service dress, which serves as the formal hat fit, with the rising sun badge on the cocked side, a regimental badge on the front, and a pugaree, which can be of various colors, depending on the affiliation of the wearer. The pugaree has seven folds, which are said to represent the six states of Australia, with the seventh representing its territories. The hat can also have a unit color patch on the right side to identify the wearer's unit. The khaki fur felt hat is also the standard for general duties dress, the working uniform, in barrack setting, and on representation missions. In this case, it is worn with the brim unpinned, so the left side is down, and the rising sun badge is removed to not face the ground. While the Australian Army also has berets to wear with their fatigues in the field and in formal situations, the slouch hat remains the default for all times the Army is being represented to the public. And of course, the units descended from cavalry continue to wear emu plumes behind the pinned side on ceremonial occasions.

[00:12:28]Beyond the Army, on certain occasions, the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy wear a slouch hat as well, with their own badge and pugaree added, though they never pin up the side.

[00:12:38]Beyond Australia, the slouch hat is used in a few other countries as well.

[00:12:41]Unpinned, a hat with similar heritage, the mounted rifle hat, is used as the service dress headgear of the New Zealand Army. Another group that uses unpinned hats are the famous British Gurkhas, soldiers of Nepali origin, who wear a terai hat, named after a region in Nepal, which is made by fusing two hats together to make it rigid, and worn at a steep angle, negating the need to pin up the side.

[00:13:05]Pinned-up versions have been worn in the past by several other countries, such as Canada, Nigeria, where it was known as a bunga bunga hat, or Ireland, where it was popular during the Irish War of Independence, though it has been retired in these places.

[00:13:18]It does still exist in some Indian police forces, though replacements are being studied, and is used in the United States, where it has a history even post-Civil War, notably by the famous Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. There it is still used, pinned up on the side, as the headgear for female drill sergeants in the US Army and Air Force. And arguably, the boonie hat, which, as I mentioned, is indirectly descended from the slouch hat, can be seen as one when the sides are worn folded up by the chinstrap.

[00:13:47]While much rarer, some civilian versions exist, and hot weather bush hats are made that have a small button allowing one or both sides to be fastened up, making them slouch hats of sorts.

[00:13:58]Originally a practical sun hat pinned up to allow for easier rifle drill, the slouch hat was used by many nations, but strongly associated from its early days with Australia, it evolved to become something of a symbol of its armed forces, and through this, of the country itself, with Akubra producing its 2 millionth slouch hat in 2015. And given the attachment soldiers and the public have towards it, it seems unlikely to go anywhere soon.

[00:14:23]So, I hope once again you found this video interesting, and will join me again soon for another hat. Until then, I tip my hat to you.