Hats at Kilbreda

With Summer coming on, thoughts turn to being SunSmart. In modern times, there are numerous places around Kilbreda for students to escape the sun. In former times, before the days of ‘slip, slop, slap’, the students sought out the sun, lying around on the concrete even, in search of a perfect tan. The first photo of a Kilbreda girl wearing a hat was not until the 1930s. Included is a list of boarders’ requisites from the 1932 annual which includes a hat. When the first Kilbreda uniform was unveiled in 1932 it included a hat, but none of the students modelling the uniform are seen to be wearing one.

On a trip to the beach in 1933, the boarders can be seen wearing what I would consider to be sensible hats. My mother and aunt, as well as students out on an excursion in 1956, are seen sporting the wider-brimmed hat. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, two hats – one for winter and one for summer – were worn. However, with much narrower brims, they seem to me to be more ornamental than useful. Those belonging to staff member Marian Le Bas can be seen on display in our Heritage Room, as can examples of most of the others mentioned. One interesting acquisition in the Archives in recent years was a little plastic cover for the winter hat, to protect it from rain.

Students only began wearing caps from the late 1980s, particularly for sporting activities. One version prior to 2007 was green with a large red K, as seen in one of the photos from 2001. For a decade or so this century, we returned to broader-rimmed hats, which can be seen in the photo from 2004.

Damian Smith

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