By KATHY MARKS in Sydney
The blue singlet, for decades the favoured sartorial item of the Australian working man, is in danger of being consigned to the dustbin and replaced by fluorescent polo shirts.
Health and safety authorities have ruled that the singlet, worn by labourers, truck drivers and sheep shearers, is
too dull a colour. Instead, they want workers to wear brightly hued shirts.
"It's a safety issue," said Mark Crosdale, an official with the Transport Workers Union.
Crosdale said it was important to "visibly enhance" truck drivers when they stepped out of their vehicles at building sites.
"It is not actually a law, but over the last couple of years many of the big companies have phased it in for drivers to wear the bright shirts.
The dark blue singlet - usually stained with sweat and teamed with rubber flip-flops and ill-fitting trousers revealing a generous "builder's cleavage" - was popularised by Jackie Howe, a circus acrobat turned stockman.
Howe became an Australian legend after shearing 321 sheep in under eight hours with hand shears in 1892. His record still stands, and his trademark blue vest, worn by many rural workers, is still referred to as a Jackie Howe singlet.
After a lifetime of singlet wearing, many Australian men are reluctant to change their habits.
Wayne Thornton, a 46-year-old truck driver, said he felt ambivalent about the polo shirts.
"It was slightly embarrassing at first," he said. "Because they are so bright, I felt a bit silly."
Crosdale said that it was mainly short-haul drivers who had made the switch to fluorescent shirts.
"The long-haul drivers, particularly the interstaters who are in their trucks for long periods of time, tend to stick with the blue singlet."
- INDEPENDENT
