CABBAGE-TEEE HATS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 131, 29 November 1929, Page 19

CABBAGE-TEEE HATS

AUSTRALIA'S LOST INDUSTRY

Fifty years ago cabbage-tree hats were met with all over the State; they were vfery popular among the drovers and sunbaked settlers, who found them protective and exceedingly durable, says a writer in the "Sydney Morning Herald."

Cabbage-tree hat manufacture was a cottage industry then, while to-day it is a lost art. Why not revive it? Cabbage Tree [Hollow, or Fox Hollow, as it is called today, is a wild gorge through which Big Wheeny Creek flows on its winding way to join the Hawkesbury. Now, Fox Hollow supplied ■ good palni at Kurrajong, whore the hat-making flourished in the days o£ the good old pioneers, such as the late Mrs. Thomas M'Mahon, who recently died at Comeroy, aged ninety, years. That lady was an expert hand! at'the business. Numerous settlers along the Lower. Hawkesbury were constantly engaged in this rural remunerative work, the hats bringing from £2 to £5 each, according to the sinnet and workmanship. Nearly all the members of a family would be engaged in their spare moments, especially after tea, while children plaited the sinnet to and from school, and often plied their nimble fingers under cover of the desk undetected when they had finished their sums before their mates. They received 10s per hundred yards for plaiting, and made many a bright pound, while housewives were able to-improve the shining gossip-hour'at. their front gate while indulging in some bit'of chatter relative to the latest local development. -, The bark of the cabbage palm is almost as tough as the horn, and the tree tried an axe in felling. Once down, the best "hands" were taken home and subjected to scalding for about ten minutes, when a vigorous shaking would cause the leaf to open out like a fan ready for bleaching white, or as white as possible in the dewy night air. The leaf was then split into narrow strands of equal width by means of a home-made splitter, consisting of a short, light wooden baft, into the end of which were inserted peg-tooth points, or teeth, filed from stay bußks, the- implement thus resembling a miniature rake in appearance, six inches in length. Having a supply of plaited sinnet, the hat maker started at the centre of the crown, widening the circles ever outward. Then the sides were made and blocked on a crown-shape of wood, and well ironed into permanent form. Next came the brim and its attachment, the lining, the black velvet band, the leather chin strap, and, finally, the "button" over the crown centre. This was neatly made, and, with its ornamental stitches of coloured silk, added the finishing touch to the hat. The quantity of plait used in the making of a vat varied with the size and fineness and closeness of the sinnet. The main thing was the stitching at every "corner," which took time, but gave greater' strength and durability to the hat, which, if well made of the best sinnet, would last a man three years.

The jolly drovers come' in from the blazing west were very partial to the cabbage ti'ee.^and many a man invested in a new tile at Kurrajong when passin" through with his mob for Homebush, and it frequently happened that he was commissioned with orders for others on some outback station. One hat was usually kept for ordinary rough wear, while a real "dandy" was carefully boxed up at home for special occasions, suck as the annual races or show, on which occasions it was quite a common thing to see one man walk up to another, lift his mate's hat off, ask him its makers name, its price, and wind up by making him a sporting offer for it.