Historic frontier clothing

QLD Police Museum Brisbane Roma Street 2021

Historic frontier clothing collection

With the help of historic photographs and examples of original clothing and reproductions from museums, like the Queensland Police Museum, Kowanyama Collection is developing a representative collection of uniforms and other equipment.

Kowanyama Collections has entered an interesting stage in its development with a number of recent acquisitions of historical objects in 2020. Some acquisitions are covered in this issue.

A number of objects representing the arrival of European contact in the region as early as the 1860’s with The Jardine Expedition and the expansion of the cattle industry just two decades later with the establishment of the Native Mounted Police at Cairo Lagoon 1885-1900 on Highbury. Highbury Station was established later as an early part of the Wrotham Park Holdings. Maddock Hughes moved from Highbury in 1914 where he worked, to take up the vacant Koolatah block. An earlier attempt to establish Old Koolatah on the Alice River had been made in the late 1880’s after the establishment of Dunbar by Hungerford and Geddes. The settler named the Alice River after his wife.

Kowanyama Project’s intention is to provide an iconic Historic and Cultural Collection for Cape York and Gulf Region. Something that will become an asset for us all to tell the story of the history of Cape York.

Kowanyama Collection Part of the Historical Collection

Kowanyama Collection is on the lookout for help from our readers

Let us know if you have these, or a friend who does that could be on offer for purchase or donation.

Slouch hat with puggaree

(1879 through to 1940’s) Old Kowanyama Police ones even better

Khaki QLD Police pants, shirt

(Mid late 1800’s through to 1940’s)

Pair of Victorian era Police suspenders

Pair of QLD Police boots

(Mid late 1800’s through to 1940’s)

Tailor for accurate reproductions

We are looking for a men’s tailor who could produce faithful reproductions of a Native Mounted Police uniform from photographs. (1885 to 1900). We also have a pair of grey Confederate US Civil War trousers almost identical in pattern to the Victorian era white duck trousers worn in North Queensland.

Insp. Urquart with his Native Mounted Troopers in the Central West of QLD during the 1800’s. In 1900 Urquart became QLD Commissioner of Police

Wrong clothing for the “job”

Police and Native Mounted Police adopted the lighter white trooper’s trousers finding the standard woollen blue uniform used in the south very hot as they moved into the tropics. The white trousers were made of heavy cotton duck and would still have been uncomfortable in Cape York summer. Any local experienced and worth his salt in spear fighting knew trousers restricted quick movement if they became a target for harassed tribesmen. Little wonder there are reports of troopers removing their trousers often, quite apart from the heat. When the shirt was removed as well, the red banded cap stayed on the head to identify them to avoid being killed by “friendly fire”.

Our friends at Hills Hats did a great job in the reproduction of the Native Police caps for our collection. We are now after the original small QV crown buttons that held the chin strap. Thank you everyone in the land of the long white cloud.