Banjo Patterson Hat

The Banjo Paterson from Akubra’s Heritage Collection of outstanding hats is a great style suitable for town or country wear, named after the Australian poet and writer. The pre-creased crown has a wide center crease with side dents in the front. The crown is 4 inches high at the front, 4-1/2 inches at the sides.

The brim is 2-3/4 inches wide. The striking hat band, 1/2 inch wide, is made from the skin of the Barramundi, one of Australia’s fine food fishes found in the Condamine and other northern rivers of Australia. Premium quality pure fur felt, fully lined. Reeded roan leather sweatband. Made in Australia.

Available in Heritage Fawn or Graphite Gray 

Mansfield High Country  

Mansfield High Country takes its name from the Victorian Alps region of Australia. The pinch front crown is 4-1/2 inches in the front, rising to 4-3/4 inches on the sides and dropping to 4 inches in the back.

Discontinued due to covid.

$280.00 until gone

Above photo is how they came in, below is one I shaped the crown to 4″ in front and curled the brim.

Lightning Ridge

The Lightning Ridge from Akubra’s Heritage Collection is a classic hat in the best Australian tradition, a hat you can wear in the city or out in the field. The pre-creased crown is 4½ inches high at the sides, the 3 inch raw-edge brim is tilted down in front and back. The neat leather band sports an opal (8 mm. oval triplet) on the side, as might suit the successful opal miner. Premium quality pure fur felt, fully lined. Reeded roan leather sweatband. UPF rating 50+. Made in Australia.

No longer being made. We have some left.

$295.00 until gone.

We are very sad these aren’t being made any longer   

Sold Out

Magazine photo from

“Quigley Down Under”

More Popular Styles That We Can Shape Hats Similar

        We offer customers the following custom hat services:

• crown and brim adjustments

• crown and brim shaping

• brim trimming

• long or wide oval shaping

• professional fitting

• All these services are included in our prices

Akubra Hats Are Pure Fur Felt :

• Every Akubra hat is made from pure rabbit fur felt and depending in the style, anywhere from 10 to 14 rabbit skins make an individual hat.
  Felt is the strongest fabric known because every fibre is interlocked in every direction with a number of other fibres. That is what makes Akubra hats so durable.
  The prime factors in the quality of fur felt are the quality of the fur used and how tightly it is worked together in the felting process.The basic fur in a felt hat is the under-fur of rabbits, and the quality of this fur is a prime factor in the quality of the hat produced. Fur from wild rabbits gives the best quality.
• Akubra not only uses more wild rabbit fur in their hats than any other hat company, but also a better fur, as they cut their own fur from the skins, keeping control of quality of the hats from start to finish.
• Akubra is the only major hat company making fur felt hats from start to finish, beginning with the raw skins through all the processes of preparing the fur, forming the hood, dyeing, blocking and pouncing the hat to the final trimming. Their control of the entire process allows them to produce an exceptional quality of fur felt.
• The quality of Akubra’s felt is attested to by the fact that they have no need for the colored powders used by many manufacturers to even out the color and hide flaws in the felt. The reputation of Akubra hats is built on the long lasting quality of their fur felt and the comfort of their reeded leather sweat bands.

Akubra: About The Company:

In the early 1870s, Benjamin Dunkerley arrived in Australia, determined to set up a hat making factory. His skills as a hatter were backed by his ability to invent machinery, and soon after arrival he had developed a mechanical method of removing the hair tip from rabbit fur so the under-fur could be used in felt hat making. He moved his business from Tasmania to Sydney and set up a small factory.

Stephen Keir I joined the business soon after. Whilst working for Dunkerley Hat Mills, he married Ada Dunkerley. Following Benjamin Dunkerley’s death in 1918, Stephen steered the Company to greater things; he moved the factory to larger premises, increased production and began branding the hats “Akubra”. The Company won large contracts for the supply of the famous military Slouch hat in both World Wars, and in the early 1950s obtained the prized licenced manufacturing agreement from Stetson of America. In the 1970s, Akubra moved to its current site in Kempsey. Although modern techniques are used and new machinery has been installed, the traditional family values are still clearly evident.

Over the years, Akubra has maintained its ability to be in vogue. “Akubra’ in fact has become the generic term for hat. Always at the forefront of the industry, Akubra adorns the heads of State, Royalty, Presidents, film and sporting personalities – the famous and sometimes the infamous.
Now in its fourth generation of family ownership, Akubra hats are appreciated worldwide. This Australian family company is set to move confidently into the next century. Akubra takes great pride in maintaining the traditions of quality and style established so long ago in this superb Australian product.

Reeded Leather Sweatbands:

• The leather sweatband inside the hat is the only part which touches the head and hence is the key to a comfortable hat. Good leathers are breathable, soft and absorbent.
• In the best hats the leathers are “reeded” in order to conform better to the head. A reed, once a thin piece of rattan, but now commonly a plastic fibre, is encased in an impervious ribbon of oiled silk or synthetic material, and attached to the bottom of the leather. The ribbon helps to keep perspiration from staining the body of the hat.
• The reeded leather sweatbands used by Akubra are made of the finest roan sheepskin, specially tanned to ensure comfort.