DRESS OF PIONEERS “The Parade of the Plains’

Evening Star, Issue 23503, 17 February 1940, Page 6 (Supplement)

DRESS OF PIONEERS “The Parade of the Plains’

Organisers of pageants, in particular, will be interested in descriptions that have been placed on record of the dress of the pioneers. The lato Mr T. H. Potts, of Canterbury, has written : " Blue and red shirts were the ordinary wear, instead of coats—the former by far the most common; in fact, the fashion of wearing red shirts w'ent out suddenly when the Government adopted them as the prisoner’s garb. Yet how well one can remember some of the older settlers arrayed in this gaudy colourj one of three brothers of a squatting family owed his nickname in a great, measure to this part of his dress—the ‘ Pirate of the Plains.’ The bearer . . . used to career across the plains on an old bay horse, dressed in. his red shirt strapped round the waist with a broad leather belt, in which was thrust a long sheath knife; his much bearded and whiskered countenance, bronzed by exposure, was shaded by a wide, flapping, Panama hat. Now this most formidable-looking individual was really a very harmless sheep farmer—harmless, 1 mean, in everything but being tedious, when over a glass of grog he gave rein to his dreary talk about * toot, blue grass, and scab.’ ” Men of this stamp (Mr J. C. Andersen has recalled in his ‘ Jubilee History of South Canterbury D, attracted the attention of Samuel Butler when he landed at Lyttelton. He described them as “ the healthy, clear-complexioned men, shaggy-bearded, rowdy-hatted, and independent, pictures of rude health, and strength." Again he said: “Hither came more of the shaggy, clear-complexioned men with the rowdy

hats; looked at them with awe and befitting respect.”

Men were more widely known by their nicknames than by their real names, a fact made ludicrously apparent in a serious instance—the drowning of one William Smith in the ißangitata. The notice of the death said; “ The name of the deceased was William Smith, but better known by the name of Billy Gooseberry.” Lady Barker, in ‘ Station Amusements in Now Zealand,’ describes young settlers of the ’sixties who “ stood before >us in their working dress of red flannel shirts and moleskin trousers, ‘ Cookham ’ boots, and digger’s plush hats.” These specialties of dress, how over, were not invariable, as the same writer makes clear in another passage : “ You have asked me about our wardrobes. Gentlemen wear just what they would on a Scotch or English farm; in summer they require perhaps a lighter hat, and long rides are always taken in'boots and breeches. A lady wears exactly what would be suitable in the country in England, except that I should advise her to eschew muslins; the country outside the home paddock is too rough for this material; she also wants thick boots if she is a good walker, and 1 find nails or little screws in the soles a great help for hill walking A hat is mv only difficulty; you really want a shady hat for a protection against the sun, but there are very few days in the year on which you can ride in - anything but a close, small hat. with hardly any brim at all, and even this must have capabilities of being firmly fastened on the bead. This being winter, 1 live m a short linscy dress, which is just right as to warmth and not heavy.