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Uncovering a hairy history Beards had a long association with sailors long before the hipster movement, and in recent years there has been a growth in all things beardrelated. Navy beard regulations date back to the late 19th century. Significant changes to facial hair policy were made in 1879 with the introduction of the Queen’s Regulations and Admiralty Instructions. Proud beard-wearing naval historian John Perryman said that in 1862, the officers, petty officer and seaman of the fleet were not permitted to wear beards. “A shift in the 1879 regulations permitted ‘all officers and men’ to wear beards,” Mr Perryman said. In a period of history when wood was giving way to steel and sail to steam, fresh water on board, which had primarily been used for consumption and domestic duties, had more vital uses. “Without fresh water you did not have steam and without steam the ship would not move,” Mr Perryman said. As fresh water was a precious commodity on board, shaving was not considered a priority. As the regulations of 1879 state, “the use of the razor must be entirely discontinued”, a specification that still stands today, as outlined in ANP44261203: “when permission to grow a beard is given, the use of the razor is to be discontinued except for the removal of shaggy growth at the extremities of the beard, in particular on the neck”.
Commander CJ Clare, Officer of the South Australian colonial naval forces.
Mr Perryman said that after three weeks, “you present to the The long and short of it Beards have long been associated with naval service. POIS Lee-Anne Cooper looks at the history of facial hair and how regulations governing it have evolved. coxswain and if you have good coverage then you may continue to grow a beard. “If your face resembles Arizona – full of wide open spaces and you have clumps of hair or peach fuzz – then the chances are you are going to be disappointed. “They are probably doing you a favour, if I am honest.” A topic of interest within the bearded community is ‘terminal length’. The 1879 regulations gave captains discretion about length, but a luscious long flowing beard is now a thing of the past. According to Mr Perryman, by the end of the 1980s restrictions in length were introduced but it was common for command to turn a blind eye to long beards. “Horatio Nelson only had one eye, and would ignore signals from senior officers. [Hence the saying to turn a blind eye]. His flag lieutenant would present a signal and Nelson would hold his telescope to his eye patch and say ‘I see no such signal’,” Mr Perryman said. “As long as the beard was wellkept and clean, Navy would tend to turn a blind eye, unless it was a safety hazard.” Current regulations state: ‘beards are to be neat, trim and closely cropped, to a minimum bulk of 4mm and a maximum of 50mm’. Hazards relating to beard length drove the change, with risks of hair being caught, hooked, ignited and reducing the effectiveness of protective equipment. With aspirations of sporting a beard similar to VADM Sir Allen Everett, First Naval Member and Chief of the Australian Naval Staff, WOET Andrew O’Shea first flirted with the idea in 2000.
WOET Andrew O'Shea shows off his beard at the Russell Precinct, Canberra. Defence images.
“I was posted to Coonawarra and my wife hated it, it was jet black and I looked like a criminal out of a bad eighties TV drama,” WO O’Shea said. As his facial hair changed colour with age, WO O’Shea thought he would give the beard another go – and this time his wife approved. Now boasting a fine example of a naval beard, WO O’Shea said it actually involved more maintenance than being beard-free. “It needs to be brushed and cut well; it can change a person’s appearance completely,” he said. “I thought it would take less time in the mornings – I was wrong.” Mr Perryman said that after almost 150 years of Navy culture, beards still distinguish a sailor from the other services. “When you leave the service and put on a suit and medals to march on Anzac Day there is very little outward embellishment to identify you as a sailor,” he said. “A lot of ex-serviceman will opt to keep their beard as it is a mark of the sailor.” POIS Lee-Anne Cooper
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