Scott Eathorne Quikmark Media
…the fashion & their role in shaping Australian society

Over the centuries, uniforms have played an important part in Australian history, from the landing on Gallipoli to the High Court decision on the Mabo case. They’ve made soldiers and firefighters braver; humiliated convicts; empowered sporting heroes; both liberated and shackled women; and made corporates fashionable.

In the new book Badge, Boot, Button: The Story of Australian Uniforms (NLA Publishing, $44.99), historian Craig Wilcox provides a fascinating look at the various civilian, corporate, sporting and defence uniforms worn in Australia from 1788 through to today, and how their evolution mirrored a changing nation.

Wilcox examines all aspects of the various uniforms—what they look like, the materials they’re made from, how they’ve changed and what they reveal about Australians and our history. Covering more than 200 years, Badge, Boot, Button examines the uniforms worn by people from all walks of life, including:

• convicts, servants and military men and women
• sporting teams, school students, scouts, police and nurses
• transport workers, emergency service workers and corporate employees
• flight attendants, the legal community, and vice-regal and ecclesiastical men and women

Richly illustrated with photographs, drawings, postcards and pages from magazines, Badge, Boot, Button provides a fascinating insight into the role uniforms play in defining and strengthening ties in Australian society.

Additional Information
• A unique insight into Australia’s social history told through centuries of uniform changes
• Includes uniforms unique to Australia: the slouch hat that became the emblem of Australian fighting men and women; the red-and-yellow caps and shirts of volunteer surf life savers; and the Qantas staff ‘wardrobe’ that made corporate livery fashionable

Craig Wilcox is a historian who lives and writes in Sydney. He has worked at the Australian War Memorial and had fellowships at the National Museum of Australia and the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies in London. His previous books include A Kind of Victory: Captain Charles Cox and His Australian Cavalrymen, published in 2014, and Red Coat Dreaming: How Colonial Australia Embraced the British Army, published in 2009.

W: www.quikmarkmedia.com.au