Slouch cont'd

3 old slouchies that have been there and done the job.


Australian Army khaki fur felt slouch hat with World War One pattern leather chin strap. The hat is also fitted with a World War Two pattern khaki woolen hat band and an oxidised brass general service 'rising sun' hat badge.	Associated with Lt Col G F Smith, DSO, ED. He served with 6 Infantry Brigade in 1939; as a Major with 2/6 Bn from 1939-1941; as commander of 17 AITB from October 1941 to March 1943; as Lt Col commanding 24 Bn from May 1943 to October 1944; and CO of No 1 AIF Reception Camp in the UK from November 1944 to September 1945.	This old slouchie saw service in South Viet Nam in 1967

In WW1 & in WW2 the slouch hat was work dress. Now it's use is strictly ceremonial. Today the hat is worn almost square on the head as it was when first introduced. In WW1 & WW2 it was tilted well to the right to give it's wearer a cocky appearance.


WW1	WW2	Current

In WW1 the Rising Sun badge was worn on the turn-up or leaf except for Monash's units. Firstly 4th Brigade on Gallipoli and later 3 Division, who wore it on the front ABOVE the hat band and with the brim down.

During WW2 the badge stayed the same and in the same place but a colour flash (identical to the shoulder patch) was added on the puggaree or hat band on the right hand side.


WW1, 3Div, brim down, badge to front above plain woolen no fold hat band.	WW2, RSB on turn-up (leaf) with colour flash on 7 fold khaki cotton puggaree, right hand side	Viet Nam, Corps badge on turn-up (leaf) with cloth RSB on left sleeve under "Australia" badge.

Currently the regulations call for a space equaling 3 fingers between the top of ear to brim.

After about 1954 Corps badges were worn instead of the Rising Sun by all but recruits.

Today the Rising Sun badge is back on the turn-up (leaf) with the Corps badge to the front. (see photo above, at top of page, left)

<<< Image from Army Training Manual.

Lieutenant General Bernard Law Montgomery wearing an Australian Slouch Hat which was presented to him on 1942-08-14 At 24th Brigade Headquarters, 9th Australian Division, near El Alamein. The Unit Badges were added by the General later.

4 Light Horse troopers , probably from Tasmania, wearing wallaby fur hat bands.

Malaya, c. 1941. Group portrait of three members of the 2/29th Battalion. Left to right: VX35493 Private (Pte) Sydney Riley, presumed dead, Malaya, 22 January 1942; VX36974 Pte Robert (Bob) G. Towers, died of illness as a prisoner of war (POW) in Japan, 8 November 1943; and VX36789 Pte Allan W. Clinch, presumed dead, Malaya, 10 February 1942. Pte Towers is wearing a silver brooch with his identity discs around his neck. When Towers left for overseas service he gave his friend, Miss Lois Henriksen, a brooch which was the coat-of-arms cut out of the centre of an Australian florin, a two shilling coin. He wore the outer part around his neck. Miss Henriksen joined the Australian Army Medical Service and when working in a hospital treating returned POW's discovered her friends fate from a former POW in her ward. She gave this man Towers' mother's address, and he passed it on to an officer who he knew had brought Towers' effects back to Australia from Japan, who in turn returned Towers' few possessions to his mother. Miss Henriksen went to see her sweethearts mother and was surprised to find among Towers' effects the corresponding part of her brooch. Both parts of this brooch are now held in the collection of the Australian War Memorial. (Reference REL27148) (Donor L. Rourke)

Cotton grosgrain; Elastic; Fur felt; Khaki felt AANS hat with brown, red and white grosgrain headband, plain brown grosgrain inner headband and a twisted elastic strap.

The felt under the inner headband is stamped "D ^ D WA".

Dora Elizabeth Burchill was born in Melbourne in 1904 and began training as a nurse in 1926. After graduating she completed midwifery and in 1930 joined the Australian Inland Mission where she was based at Innamincka in central Australia. In 1936 she sailed to England to answer a call for nurses to assist in treating victims of the Spanish Civil War. After returning to England from Spain she continued her studies. She spent the summer of 1938 nursing in Newfoundland before returning to Australia, where she enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service on 21 December 1939. She embarked for the Middle East in April 1940 and was assigned to 2 Australian General Hospital (2 AGH). She also served with the British 61st General Hospital (based at Nazareth). In December 1940, 2 AGH transferred to Kantara, Egypt, where casualties from the Western Desert fighting, the Greek Campaign and the invasion of Crete were treated. Although promoted to Captain, Burchill felt her skills were not recognised and applied for a transfer. She was discharged on 3 October 1941. She returned to Australia in late 1941 aboard the troopship Queen Mary in company with 800 Italian prisoners bound for Australian POW camps. Burchill then worked as Sister-in-Charge of Heidelberg Military Hospital for a year; managed the Medical Aid Post at Toorak, an Australian Army Women's Service training centre, and completed the war as Night Supervisor of 106 Army Hospital at Bonegilla, Victoria. AWM text and image.