Australian WW1 AIF Light Horse Slouch Hats 

WW1 AIF Light Horse Slouch Hats for Sale

 

The Australian Army Slouch Hat is one of the world’s most iconic items of military head-dress, particularly when the distinctive Light Horse Emu Feather Plumes are added.

 

Sabre is pleased to offer a range of Light Horse Slouch Hats for sale that have been carefully created using authentic contemporary issued Australian Army KFF / Slouch Hats, real Emu Feather Plumes made by a current supplier to Australian Army RAAC Units and repro AIF Rising Sun Badges.

 

Ideal for display and historical re-enactment use, these Light Horse Slouch Hats evoke a classic period of Australian military history. 

 

With last year being the 100th anniversary of the famous charge at Beersheeba, the famous Australian Light Horse are front of mind with many militaria collectors and enthusiasts. 

 

The distinctive Emu Plumes are a truly amazing feature of the Australian Light Horse tradition, instituted after Queensland Mounted Infantry soldiers were called upon to help break the 1891 Shearers Strike at Barcaldine.

 

Light Horse lore has it that soldiers would test their horsemanship by chasing down emus and plucking out their chest feathers whilst on the run and placing them in their hat bands.  Initially permission was granted to QMI to legitimise this embellishment as standard dress, and then extended more broadly to other Light Horse Regiments.  Light Horse Units nicknamed the plumes "Kangaroo Feathers". 

 

Today units of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, including the 2nd 14th Light Horse Regiment QLD Mounted Infantry based in Brisbane, keep up this tradition by wearing Emu Plumes as part of their Regimental uniform. They are prized by the soldiers who wear them as a symbol of unit history and the continuation of the boldness and tenacity of mounted warfare. 

 

Whilst these units no longer have horses, they certainly have plenty of horse-power with vehicles such as the Abrams Main Battle Tank, ASLAV and 113 APC in their arsenals as modern Armoured cavalry soldiers.

 

The professional and mechanistic tempo of modern warfare may be a far cry from the romanticised cavalry charges of old, but the traditions of Australia’s Light Horse live on and are faithfully preserved by these modern warriors.