Slouch hat
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A slouch hat is a wide-brimmed felt hat with a chinstrap most commonly worn as part of a military uniform. The distinctive Australian slouch hat has one side of the brim turned up or pinned to the side of the hat in order to allow a rifle to be slung over the shoulder. While this style of hat did not originate in Australia, it has become associated with the Australian military since World War I, when it was manufactured by the Akubra company for the army. This slouch hat is still worn by the Australian military today.
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The slouch hat is also associated with the Gurkha regiments of the British Army and Indian Army (formerly the British Indian Army) and is still worn by the Gurkhas but is not worn on active service anymore. The 2nd Gurkha Rifles were the first Gurkha regiment to adopt the hat. The Gurkha hat is created by the fusion of two hats into one to make the hat more rigid and is worn at at angle, tilted to the right.
The Chindits and other units of the British Fourteenth Army who fought against the Japanese in the Far East during the Second World War also became associated with the slouch hat (which is also known as the bush hat in the British Army). The slouch hat was also used by a number of units in the British Empire, including the Royal West African Frontier Force.
External links
- Digger History page on Slouch hats (http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uniforms/slouch_hat.htm)
- Australian War Memorial history page (http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/slouch/army.htm)