Australian Hat - Not Just for the Outback Anymore

When someone asks you to describe the typical Australian hat the first thing that probably comes to mind is the slouch hat, this is the one that you see all of the units in the Australian Army wear when they are in their dress uniforms. Of course the Australian Army is not the only one to wear this style hat as units from the militaries of the US, UK, Germany and many other countries have since adopted this hat and included it as a part of their standard uniform.

The "Other" Aussie Hat

While the digger hat or the slouch has long been considered the true Australian hat it is only one of the Australian hats that have made their way into other countries and become very popular. Perhaps the most famous of these is the original Australian outback hat. This is a flat brimmed leather hat that is often seen with a crocodile skin band with several crocodile teeth stuck into the band. This hat has been confused with the Indiana Jones hat, which was in fact in all three of his movies a fedora.

The movie that made this Australian hat famous was Crocodile Dundee where the larger than crocodile hunting Australian Mick Dundee was never seen without his black outback hat and his slightly oversized knife. Once this movie hit the theaters, thousands of these hats were ordered by fans as they sought to emulate Dundee and what they considered to be the true Aussie look.

More on the Subject of Hats

The outback is probably one of the best Australian hats to have for when the sun is beating down on you while you are doing your summer chores out in the yard. The wide extra wide brim will definitely keep you cooled down and the sun out of your eyes even when the temperature hovers near triple digits. The original design was also used because when the sun stops shining in Australia, the heavens open up and the rains come pouring down.

Here again the extra wide brim will keep the rains out or your eyes and from going down the back of your shirt. While it may not rain quite this heavily where you live, it can still be very nice to have a hat that will keep your face and neck dry when it does rain.

Of all the different Australian hats the one that brings more smiles to people faces and if you ask an Australian is not really one of their hats is the Aussie cork hat. This hat is similar in style to the slouch and the outback except that all around the brim are holes that have strings tied in them to which you are supposed to attach small corks to keep the flies away from your face.

There are a number of Australian hats on the market all of which are designed to suit the environment that they come from, which is plenty of relentless sunshine and heat followed by torrential downpours in the wet season. They definitely make great sun hats no matter where you live and are very comfortable.