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Akubra
Akubra /əˈkuːbrə/ is an Australian hat manufacturer owned by Tattarang since November 2023. The company is associated with bush hats made of rabbit fur felt with wide brims that are worn in rural Australia. The term "Akubra" is sometimes used to refer to any hat of this kind, however the company manufactures a wide range of hat styles including fedora, homburg, bowler, pork pie, and trilby.
The name is claimed to derive from an Aboriginal (possibly Birpai) word for a head covering.
Benjamin Dunkerley was born 1840 in Cheshire England. He came from a family of cotton weavers. He later became a hatter and developed such skill with hat making machinery that he visited Germany from time to time to help manufacturers there set up operations. In 1874 Benjamin left England for Tasmania, Australia to check out the hatting prospects. Once immigrated and established in Australia, he sent for his wife Harriet and six children to join him.
In 1876 Dunkerley and David Gledhill established the Kensington Hat Mills in Glenorchy, near Hobart in Tasmania. The business rapidly expanded and was soon employing 30 workers and producing 750 hats per week. However, the business was declared bankrupt in 1879. Once the restrictions on his bankruptcy were lifted, Dunkerley in 1885 re-established Kensington Hat Mills in partnership with H.J Hull. To improve production, Dunkerley invented and registered in 1892 a fur-cutting machine that mechanised the difficult and tedious task of stripping the fur from the skin of rabbits. Realising its potential, he travelled to Manchester in England and took out a patent, which after some delay he was granted in August 1893. During the wait he travelled to New York and filed for a US patent and also sent an application back to Victoria, Australia. He was successful, being granted in all three countries.
Later in that year of 1893 in partnership with James Dugdale, he took out another patent in England, for an invention that improved cones employed in making hat bodies.
Ending his partnership with Hull after a decade working together, Dunkerley relocated to Melbourne in 1895. When a business slump hit the city in 1900, he moved to Sydney, setting up a hat making factory on Crown Street in Surry Hills.
In 1901 Stephen Keir (14 October 1879 – 11 November 1957), who came from a family of Manchester hatmakers, immigrated to Australia and after working for another hatmaker, entered the employment of Dunkerley in 1904 where he became romantically involved with Benjamin's daughter Ada Dunkerley, who also worked in the factory. They married in 1905.
While information is missing on what Dunkerley was calling his business in Melbourne and Sydney, in 1911 Dunkerley Hat Mills Pty Ltd was registered with seven shareholders, 19 employees with Stephen Keir as managing director and Arthur P. Stewart as chairman.
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Akubra
Akubra /əˈkuːbrə/ is an Australian hat manufacturer owned by Tattarang since November 2023. The company is associated with bush hats made of rabbit fur felt with wide brims that are worn in rural Australia. The term "Akubra" is sometimes used to refer to any hat of this kind, however the company manufactures a wide range of hat styles including fedora, homburg, bowler, pork pie, and trilby.
The name is claimed to derive from an Aboriginal (possibly Birpai) word for a head covering.
Benjamin Dunkerley was born 1840 in Cheshire England. He came from a family of cotton weavers. He later became a hatter and developed such skill with hat making machinery that he visited Germany from time to time to help manufacturers there set up operations. In 1874 Benjamin left England for Tasmania, Australia to check out the hatting prospects. Once immigrated and established in Australia, he sent for his wife Harriet and six children to join him.
In 1876 Dunkerley and David Gledhill established the Kensington Hat Mills in Glenorchy, near Hobart in Tasmania. The business rapidly expanded and was soon employing 30 workers and producing 750 hats per week. However, the business was declared bankrupt in 1879. Once the restrictions on his bankruptcy were lifted, Dunkerley in 1885 re-established Kensington Hat Mills in partnership with H.J Hull. To improve production, Dunkerley invented and registered in 1892 a fur-cutting machine that mechanised the difficult and tedious task of stripping the fur from the skin of rabbits. Realising its potential, he travelled to Manchester in England and took out a patent, which after some delay he was granted in August 1893. During the wait he travelled to New York and filed for a US patent and also sent an application back to Victoria, Australia. He was successful, being granted in all three countries.
Later in that year of 1893 in partnership with James Dugdale, he took out another patent in England, for an invention that improved cones employed in making hat bodies.
Ending his partnership with Hull after a decade working together, Dunkerley relocated to Melbourne in 1895. When a business slump hit the city in 1900, he moved to Sydney, setting up a hat making factory on Crown Street in Surry Hills.
In 1901 Stephen Keir (14 October 1879 – 11 November 1957), who came from a family of Manchester hatmakers, immigrated to Australia and after working for another hatmaker, entered the employment of Dunkerley in 1904 where he became romantically involved with Benjamin's daughter Ada Dunkerley, who also worked in the factory. They married in 1905.
While information is missing on what Dunkerley was calling his business in Melbourne and Sydney, in 1911 Dunkerley Hat Mills Pty Ltd was registered with seven shareholders, 19 employees with Stephen Keir as managing director and Arthur P. Stewart as chairman.
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