Figure 1.--This group perhaps on a church picnic shows children wearing a wide range of garmentsm including ruffled blouses, suits, sailor suits, Fauntleroy suits, and other outfits. Note the wide-brimmed sailor hat one boy is wearing and even larger one on the ground in front of another boy. Also notice the bonnets and pinafores that the girls wear. The photograph is undated, but was probably taken about 1905-10. It is from the collection of the National Library of Australia (an2504973-v). |
Australian boys until after World War II (1939-45) esentilly wore the same garments and styles as English boys. Garments such as sailor suits, Eton suits, and Norfolk jackets werewidely worn. Even Fauntleroy suits appeared. The principal difference with England was that because of the climate, more Australian boys went barefoot than in England and it did not have the same social stigma as was the case in England. Short pants were very common in Australia during the 20th century for school, play and even dressing up. After World War II, Australian boys clothes became much more casual and more adapted to the Australian rather than the English climate. These changes were especially notable beginning in the 1960s. There is also a wider range of influences with many American styles like jeans appearing in Australia. By the late 20th century sun-safe garments began to appear.
Australian boys like English and other European boys in the 19th century commonly wore dresses until breeched at about 5 years of age. This varied smewhat from family to family and socio-economic factors had an impact on the age of breeching. HBC is not sure if this was more or less common in Australia than England, but the same style of dresses were worn. We still have, however, only limited information on the dresses worn by Australian boys.
Pinafores were worn in Australia, much like the pattern in England. HBC has few details, but clothing catalogs at the turn of the 19th century mentioned both childrens and girls pinafores. This suggests, of course, that younger boys and girls both wore pinafores and because they were identical they were sold as children's pinafores. The available advetisment from Lasseters unfortunately lists prices, but not ages and sizes.
Smocks do not appear to have been commonly worn in Australia. We have little information about the 19th century. We note an Australian whose family emifrated to Australia I think in the 1940s from Italy ran into trouble when his mother sent him to school in a checked smock with a bug blue bow.
British immigration to Australia began to reach significant levels in the mid-19th century. Thus the tunics worn in England during the early 20th century had little imapct on Australia as there was not yey any substantial English population. This was different by the turn of the 20th century. We note some boys wearing tunic suits at this time. The style follows English styles. We do not know how common these suits were in Australia.
Although the weather in Australia is more mildthan Britain, is does get chilly in southern Australia and Tasmania during the winter season. As a result, sweaters are a necessary garment in Australia. Many boys once had sweraters knitted by mums and grandmothers--except for unifirm school sweaters. Thus knitting magazines are an important source of infornation about sweater styles. Since the 1960s, however, this has become incrteasingly less common. Sweaters are now largely bought in stores.
We have very limited information on Australian boys' blouses at this time. We believe that styles were quite similar to those worn in England. Boys commonly wore blouses in the late 19th century, sometimes quite fancy ones. Shiorts became more common in the 20ty century. Some boys still wore blouses in the 20th century, especially the early 20th century. Fancy Fauntleroy collars gradually were replaced with plainer styles like the Peter Pan collar.
Australia like England and America was caught up in the "Fauntleroy craze" that followed the publication of Mrs. Burnett's book in the mid-1880s. We still have little information on the phenomenon in Australia. We assume that styles followed the English pattern and the chronology was similar to that in England. English boys commonly wore knicker-style pants with their Fauntleroy suits than Ameerican boys who more commonly wore kneepants. As in England the Fauntleroy suits were often worn with wide brimmed sailor hats. By the turn of the 20th century the lace collars had given way to larger ruffled collars.
It was once thought that a deep tan was a healthy look for summer. As we have learned more about skin cancer, modern partents are increasinly aware of the dangers of too much exposure to the sun. The concern is increasingly accepted in New Zealand and Australia. The growing hole in the ozone layer has creating great concer, especially in the countries
cloesest to the hole. Clothing companies now market Sunsmart styles and schools are introducing sunsmart garments as part of the school uniform. Sunsmart styles may have a significant impact on school uniforms.
This is not a topic that HBC has been able to address yet to any great extent. We note that going barefoot appears to have been very prevalent in Australia. We have received some comments from readers.
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