His Worship, Wagga Mayor Dallas, Tout gets to work on some civic duties in his official robes of office. Photo: Chris Roe.
A few weeks back, we took a look at the moment when the municipality of Wagga Wagga officially transitioned to city status in 1946.
At the time, a reporter for the Murrumbidgee Irrigator speculated on what the change actually meant and concluded that the only difference would be the option of a new outfit for the mayor.
“It was officially pointed out that the change will give the council no new power or rights,” it explained.
“The mayor, for example, will not be Lord Mayor, although it is considered probable that the councillors’ decision not to wear robes of office may be reconsidered.”
Clearly it was, and Wagga’s current Mayor, Dallas Tout, can often be spotted out and about, officiating at events in his red robe, lace cuffs, gold chain and an antique bicorn hat in a style that was popular when Governor Arthur Phillip first planted the Union Jack Down Under in 1788.
Wagga Mayor Dallas Tout in the city regalia at a recent citizenship ceremony. Photo: Michael McCormack.
The origins of civic regalia are literally medieval and date way back to 1300s England. In the late Middle Ages, the mayor was responsible for law and order in their district and the robes served as a symbol of authority.
While the colour of the robes varied, red dye was the most expensive and was the most popular choice as a projection of wealth and power.
Leaping forward in time to colonial Australia, mayors were entitled to wear official British regalia, but the practice does not seem to have been popularised until the early 20th century.
Wagga did not have an official set of robes until 1946; however, Wagga Mayor George Coleman tried to start a movement in 1899 and a photo shows him decked out in mayoral regalia that inspired jealousy among his regional counterparts.
According to the Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser, Wagga’s Mayor appeared at the first meeting of the new council in March “garbed in state robes handsomly set off with ermine and trimmed with crimson silk”.
It was a sight they described as “a new departure, designed to add dignity and impressiveness to the Mayoral office”, and suggested that others should take the “hint” from his awe-inspiring display.
While the fashion didn’t catch on immediately, a Daily Advertiser story from 1937 describes a lighthearted event where Mayor Harry Gissing was wrapped in a robe and a “cocky’s chain” made from tin lids and bottle caps was placed around his neck. It may have been done in jest, but Gissing apparently took the moment to heart and nine years later laid out the case for a ceremonial kit.
“I do think that it is a fitting thing for the Mayor of a city to wear robes on public occasions,” he said just days after Wagga was proclaimed a city.
“It is a matter of local government tradition, and, after all, tradition is one of the finest things we have left in a very material world.”
After the motion was unanimously carried, the follically challenged Mayor JV Doyle quipped: “I hope you include a wig!”
Mayor JV Doyle ordered Wagga’s first official set of robes in the weeks after the municipality was declared a city. Photo: Museum of the Riverina.
The council immediately moved to “procure such robes for the use of His Worship, the Mayor, and also robes for the town clerk” and a subsequent photo of Alderman Doyle in 1946 captures him wearing a lace collar and a dark robe trimmed with white ermine fur.
A Daily Advertiser story from November of that year reported that the robes were worn for the first time at a civic reception for “Mr L R McColvin, Librarian of Westminster”.
The Museum of the Riverina retains two sets of municipal regalia that have been in the collection since 1983 and it is the town clerk’s ermine-trimmed gown that matches the one worn by Doyle.
The undated set of mayoral robes in the archive reflects the current red-and-black-velvet regalia with brown fur trim regularly modelled by “His Worship, the Mayor” Dallas Tout.
Made by the Australian manufacturer Blashki and Sons, the polyester fabric suggests that the robes were replaced in the early ’80s, around the time the previous set was retired.
The naval-style black bicorn hat, with its gold braid and black plume, is likely much older and was crafted by London’s Ede & Ravenscroft, which has been supplying the Royal Navy since 1689 and is recognised as the world’s oldest tailor.
