Figure 1.--The photo shows an all boys 4th grade class in Maylands, a suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It was a public (state) pimary. Notice that many of the boys wear the grey shirt and shorts common nin Australian and New Zealand schools during the summer. The boys wear open-toe Roman sandals or came to school bsrefoot. The photo was taken in March 1953.

Australian children have worn British styled school uniforms. A major exeption was footwear. Here there were substantial differences. Many Australian children went to school barefooy. We also bsee a vartriety of footwear types. Boot-like high-top shoes were common at the turn of the 20th century. Gradualy low-cut oxfords became standard. We only note leather shoes until the 1970s. The only exception was that boys and girls did wear plymsols for gyym. We note some primary boys wearing English-style school sandals, the ones with the "t"-strap. They were, however, never nearly as popular as in England. More common were open-toe sandals which were commonly called Roman sandals and worn during the summer term. Almost always. at least vwith the boys, they were worn as part of aschool uniform. They were also worn by girls. Many schools required children to wear leather shoes, often black leather shoes. Australian children by the 1970s began wearing sneakers to school. Sneakers were an American fashion influence, but did not become popular in Australia until the early 70s. For the most part they are still only allowed at public schools which did not have uniforms. They became common at schools that did not have uniforms.

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Created: 3:26 AM 7/25/2010
Last updated: 3:26 AM 7/25/2010