Cowboy hats become fashion statements as well as family heirlooms

A cowboy hat is a wardrobe staple for many outback residents looking to protect themselves from Australia’s harsh sun.

But sunburn isn’t the only thing country folk are thinking about when they don a hat.

For many, the way a hat looks is just as important as the function it serves.

“You can tell who’s a wannabe cowboy and who’s a real cowboy,” station worker Georgia Elliot said.

“If it’s dirty and you’ve got [sheep] tags on it, you’re the real deal.”

Ms Elliot was gifted an Akubra for her 21st birthday before she started working at El Questro station in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

She was eager to break it in.

“Seeing it getting a little bit dirty it just reminds me of the places and things that I’ve seen and what I’ve done,” she said.

“It’s really special.”

The Yellowstone effect

Perth-based hat maker Ben Beckingham said he had seen a rise in demand for cowboy hats in recent years.

He attributed it to the hit TV series Yellowstone featuring the trials and tribulations of the Dutton family, who own the largest ranch in Montana.

“I’ve had a fair few requests for the Wheeler hat,” he said.

“All we do is just distress the hat with a little bit of burning.

“Some people [are] coming in who want a hat that looks like it’s been worn for generations by a cowboy.”

He said some buyers were eager to make sure their hats did not look as though they were fresh out of the box.

“They want the prestige, and they want people to notice, hey, he wears that hat, he obviously works in it.”

But Mr Beckingham said there was no substitute for genuine wear and tear.

“It’s very obvious to me the difference between a hat that someone has distressed and a hat that has been worn through a lifetime,” he said.

“The ones worn through a lifetime don’t have that quite that same aesthetic value.

“But they hold the stories, and the story to me is really what makes the hat.”

Family heirlooms

The Wright family has been travelling around Australia, and wide-brimmed hats are an essential item for the children.

“Their hats used to be Matt’s hats when he was a little kid,” mother Ingrid Wright said.

“His brother and sister-in-law found it in their dress up box before we left home and gifted them to the kids.”

Children Ellie and Claire Wright have found ways to add their own personality to the hats and cherish the family history.

“My mum made this little band that has a little charm on it with the letter E for my name and next to it is a little love heart charm,” Ellie said.

“If my parents aren’t here with me, I would know that I have a piece of them with me.

Ben Beckingham said hats held meaning in a way other clothing did not.

“You’ll often see a hat or watch handed down as an heirloom, but you don’t get that with t-shirts, shirts, jeans and shoes,” he said.

“Hats have this way of holding history.

“You get hats with blood stains and bullet holes and rips and tears, and every hat has its story.

“That’s part of the fascinating thing about them.”

Mr Beckingham was once asked to reshape a hat that belonged to someone’s late friend.

“I believe the hat was worn by someone who’d been attacked by a crocodile, and the hat survived the attack,” he said.

“To have the honour of someone trusting you to work with something so precious with so much story and history is fantastic.”