How childhood inspiration from the king penguins at Lusitania Bay led to the wearing of many hats.

The love and warmth of a toque

When I built my parents’ house, mum hung on the bathroom wall an Australian Geographic print of the king penguins at Lusitania Bay, Macquarie Island. Then and there the seed was planted! When I finally headed south, Mum even knitted me a few toques (Canadian for beanie) to send me on my way. Yeah, the AAD does issue the corporate black edition that‘s sleek and more than adequate, but it just doesn’t carry the love and warmth of family and friends. Toques would have to be the most underrated piece of kit.

In addition to mum’s assortment of colour, texture, and style (great for street wear in Macca’s Market Square or other tourist attractions) there is also a Pangnirtung or pang hat from Baffin Island in the Canadian province of Nunavut in the collection. It’s quite the fashion statement; but too hot for Macca unless you happen to be stationary outside, say having a beer at a barbie. There’s also the bullet proof crocheted number by Jessie. If you were heading off to war, this is your headwear. This thing is so thick and strong, projectiles would bounce off it!

I’d like to thank Brian our crash test dummy for working so tirelessly modelling the toques during the photo shoot in difficult and trying conditions. You know he didn’t complain once, not a word.

Dave Bone, Senior Field Training Officer

A suburban brick and colourbond house with a 4WD parked in the front driveway
Framed Australian Geographic photograph of hundreds of black and white penguins and their brown fluffy chicks on a beach with a green hill in the background.
A man stands on a beach with hundreds of black and white penguins and their fluffy brown chicks
A life-sized dummy wearing an orange suit and black beanie with an Australian Antarctic Division logo on it, sits on a balcony overlooking the Macquarie Island isthmus and plateau.
A life-sized dummy wearing an orange suit sports a hand knitted striped grey and blue beanie. He is leaning against green tussock grass and there is a copper log pine fence and two rusted steel cylinders behind him.
A life-sized dummy wearing an orange suit wears a hand knitted orange and green speckled beanie. He sits amongst green tussock grass with distant hills in the background.
A life-sized dummy wearing an orange suit wears a beige coloured beanie - in the background is a rocky beach and an elephant seal.
A life-sized dummy wearing an orange suit wears a traditional Pangnirtung or pang hat from Baffin Island. It is beige, green, purple and black. The dummy sits against a wooden wall holding an empty beer bottle. There is a sign on the wall saying Crabbe Inn Beer Garden
A life-sized dummy wearing an orange suit wears a red and purple hand crocheted beanie. He is leaning against an old wooden winch and there is green tussock grass, ocean and a large range in the background.

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