Cabbage Tree Hats

Sue Brian explains the traditional craft of making Cabbage Tree Hats and outlines a brief history of the hats. Recorded for The National Library of Australia.
Sue Brian learnt the art of making Cabbage Tree Hats during her five years on Norfolk Island where her husband, Don, was teaching.
The craft was passed on to her through the generosity of two Islanders Wayne Boniface and Greg Magri, both learned it on Norfolk from their respective grandmothers. Sue is passionate about sharing this important cultural tradition.

[@tonysuttor4207]

Thanks Sue, what a great discourse on cabbage tree hat-making; well researched and demonstrated.

[@DanielKellyFolkMusic]

Thanks for sharing Sue, and to Graham for uploading, fascinating stuff!

[@MelissaHirsch]

Hey there Daniel. Do you have contact information for Susan….I’m interested in joining one of her classes. Thanks.

[@lisascenic]

Thank you for sharing your fascinating insight into these hats. May I ask where you got the Hawaiian cutter, please?

[@zitaocarroll4925]

Hi, where did you get your Hawaiian leaf cutter from, beautiful. The hats are just gorgeous!!

[@corinnefidock141]

Really interesting. Classic Australian. Where can you buy them ?

[@bashkillszombies]

The weave is a thousand times bigger in these than in historic photos though, how did they get the weave so teeny tiny? Edit: Watching further answered my question - they had their blades much, much closer together. Like so close that it's about as wide as a piece of wool! Which means they would have taken ten times longer to make them - I wonder why? Perhaps the dry / moisture opening and closing function mentioned earlier in the video only happens if the gaps are small enough? There's got to be a logical explanation as to why historically they all had widths of 1mm - 2mm versus the whopping big 0.5 - 1 cm widths used by modern recreations, that or our ancestors were just masochists!

[@robynmcgrath7224]

Thanks for sharing. If you use the bark from the banana tree do you boil it?

[@lissa-janedesailles9636]

It's a great video. However, the hat is not woven. It is braided. Braiding is not weaving technically speaking. Nor is it plaiting, although colloquially it is called platting. The 'plat' is a braid.