Akubra Craftsmanship

January 5, 2024

It's a funny old thing, to see someone take a brand new hat out of its box, one that's cost them a fair hand of dosh, a piece of craftsmanship that takes 19 stages and 60 sets of hands to create, to see a bloke take that beautiful hat from its exquisite boxing, and throw it on the ground and stomp on it.

And yet, to me, that's a perfectly fine thing to do. The Akubra is made to take a battering, and if you're an old cocky like me, you like it to look like it’s been through a bit of wear and tear. Of course, you have your Sunday best hat that you keep for the saleyard or the races, and you keep that pristine, but your workaday mustering hat? Throw it on the floor and jump on it.

Akubra Hat Creation

However, if you get one of their more fashionable numbers like the Stylemaster or the Banjo Patterson, you're not gonna be stomping on your new hat, will you now? It's their country and western hat styles we're talking about here like the Cattleman, Territory, and the Rough Rider, they simply look better worn in.

Akubra still has all its operations up there in Kempsey, up past Port Macquarie and just inland from the appropriately named Hat Head. Awww, it still gives me a giggle when we pass a sign to Hat Head. What a funny old name!

The Keirs have been making hats out of Kempsey since the seventies. Before that, they were in Sydney, and before that, Tassie. In 1870, Benjamin Dunkerley invented a machine that took the tip from rabbit fur, just leaving the lovely soft felt for making material with. The Keirs are the great, great grandchildren of Benjamin - the business hadn't changed hands until recently. In November 2023 Akubra was sold to Tattarang, which is owned by Andrew and Nicola Forrest.

Akubra made hats for our diggers right through both world wars, but the association died off til recently, and Akubra are back supplying Aussie soldiers with the best hat money can buy.

The Keirs used to say It's a labour of love. They were in the hat-making business, so they liked making them here, despite the extra cost. It's the craft of the thing. They had a lovely quote from a retired worker who was involved in the move to Kempsey - he called it "artisan manufacturing". Isn't that a beautiful phrase? The art of making each hat is very important to Akubra.

And let me tell you - you really couldn't find a better hat.

For more on choosing the right Akubra: