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I was lucky enough to visit the Akubra factory in Kemspey, NSW recently. Not open to the public, Roy Wilkinson, the company secretary, let me in to give you this special glance into the making of an Australian icon. Words and photography by Simone Costi In 1874, Benjamin Dunkerly, an English hatter arrived in Tassie and started a hat making business, Dunkerly Hat Mills. Alongside Arthur Pringle Stewart and Stephen Keir, the company developed and just under 40 years later, the name was changed to Akubra. Now, 130 odd years since Dunkerly hit Australian shores, the company is in its fourth generation of family ownership and producing a stark symbol of Oz: the Akubra hat. The term ‘akubra’ is Aboriginal for head covering. Aptly, Dunkerly Hat Mills adopted this in 1912 as their new name and now Akubra is known as ‘Australian for hat.’ Akubras are made from rabbit fur, which is processed into felt. Felt is one of the strongest, smoothest, lightest and most durable fabrics known to man, making it the perfect choice for a hat. But how does rabbit fur come to look like a hat? It’s quite an involved procedure, but Akubra has it down pat. The Akubra factory is a series of interconnected buildings, much like a rabbit warren. Each one has a specific function, from sorting the hides, right through to packaging the finish product. The factories are large, hot, noisy and filled with rabbit fur particles. I made the big mistake of wearing black when I toured through them. When I came out I reckon I had enough on me to make a hat or two! Even now, a few months down the track, I’m still finding remnants of it around the place. Akubra processes around 70,000 rabbit skins a week, and this is the first stop in the factory. All of them are individually checked for quality and the best ones go to the next stage. Then the tips of the fur are cut away as they aren’t used and the remaining hide are fed through a machine which shaves the under fur off the pelt. The under fur comes out one side and the skin, which also isn’t used, is shredded and disposed of. The under fur is graded and packed into storage bags before being moved to the next step in the hat making process. The bags of fur are emptied into another machine where it’s cleaned and mixed. Then it is rolled out of the machine between two big rollers. At this stage, it’s like a very soft, spongy blanket. Next, the blanket is put into a forming machine. The fur is sucked into a compartment that looks like a massive fairy floss tank that has a huge spinning cone that resembles a giant thimble in the middle of it. The fur, combined with some hot water ends up sticking to the cone in an even layer and starts to somewhat look like a hat. When it comes out of the forming machine, the hat is about three times the size of the finished product. They have to go through heaps of machines to be reduced in size. Each time it goes through a shrinking machine, the fur fibres lock together more and more, therefore getting stronger. Once the hats are at working size, they are dyed into a variety of colours; brown, green, tan and black being the most common. Then to make them more durable, they are soaked in shellac. The hats are still a funny looking shape, much like an elf hat, so to get the ‘hat’ shape, they are stretched and cast with wooden blocks. Now that they look like hats, they are dried in ovens overnight. After this, they have to be moulded again, so the brim is stretched and the body is formed with the blocks. Next, they’re ironed and pounced to give a smooth finish. Akubra has a range of hat styles, the brims being the same, but the body having different shapes. So the hats then go into another moulding machine to set then in the correct style. Then they get a once over in a flanging machine to perfect the shape of the brim and all the final touches – bows, buckles, and feathers – are added, and there you have it – an Akubra. This entire process can take around two weeks and goes through a pile of machines and people. That’s one of the amazing things about the Akubra factory, although machines are used to make the hats, there are more men and women than machines, and they all have a hand in the production. Akubras really are dinky-di. They’ve been donning Aussie’s heads since World War I. In fact, Akubra supplied the Australian Defence Force with the digger’s hats in both World Wars. Sports are a huge part of the Australian culture and Akubra has been with our sports stars for years, particularly at the Olympic Games. All our athletes wore them at the 1956 Melbourne games, then at the 1984 Los Angeles games, the 1988 Seoul games and 1992 in Barcelona. And of course, in the 2000 Sydney games all the medal presenters in the medal ceremonies wore them. Well known Aussies have also sported the famous hat, golfer Greg Norman wore the Great White Shark and Fairway varieties in his competitions, female surfer Pam Burridge wears one, country music singer, Lee Kernaghan has a signature one called the Outback Club, and who could forget Slim Dusty, who was never without his faithful Akubra. But as you and I know, these iconic hats are also worn by us, regular Aussies. The best thing about them is that they’re made by everyday Aussies like us, by an Australian, family company. Akubras are more than just a hat, they are a symbol of Oz. Thanks…
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