Don Bradman’s baggy green, National Museum of Australia, September 2025
A baggy green cap worn by Australian cricketer Don Bradman is on show in the Museum’s Landmarks gallery.
This distinctive dark green woollen cap was one of two given to Bradman for the 1946–47 Ashes series. The Ashes was suspended during the Second World War and this series marked a return to normality, when the English team travelled to Australia on a tour to re-establish sporting relations.
Ashes victory following friction
Bradman was nearing the end of his career when he captained Australia to win the series, in an important social and sporting moment for the nation.
The tour took place at a time when Australia was grappling with its postwar identity. Politics often played out on the sporting field and Australia’s victory over England resonated strongly at a time when the nation was seeking to define its new global position.
England was initially reluctant to send a touring team to Australia so soon after the war. The MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) eventually agreed after lobbying by Australian Attorney-General Dr HV Evatt.
The MCC considered this a goodwill tour before the return of regular, serious cricket in 1948. Some critics resented Bradman’s competitive approach and leadership style in what was seen by some as a ‘friendly’ series, intended to boost morale.
There was also tension among Australian players who had served overseas during the war and Bradman, who had not.
Bradman’s fitness was also under question ahead of the first match. He survived a dispute from the English team over a controversial ‘not out’ decision in the first Test in Brisbane and went on to score an impressive 187 runs.
Sporting glory
Earlier, Bradman’s dominance at the crease and his exceptional batting skills provided a focus for national pride during the Depression, in a golden age of cricket.
Bradman began his cricket career in the late 1920s and his skills with the bat drew huge crowds. His Test batting average of 99.94 runs in 52 tests remains unrivalled.
Bradman’s cap is on show in the Museum’s Landmarks gallery, with a bat he used in the first Ashes Test of 1934 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
Also on show is a cricket ball reputedly used by Eddie Gilbert, a Kanju man from North Queensland, who dismissed Bradman for a duck in a Sheffield Shield match in 1931.
Baggy green acquisition
Bradman’s cricket cap was acquired by Ron Saggers, wicketkeeper for the Australian team in the 1946–47 series. It was gifted to a colleague who gave it to an Australian amateur collector.
It is understood the cap was sold in 2003 to the individual who sold it to the National Museum. The Museum paid $438,550 for Bradman’s cap, with the Australian Government’s National Cultural Heritage Account contributing half of the cost.
Symbol of national pride
Bradman is considered one of the world’s great batsmen. His baggy green shows signs of wear and tear and sweat marks but is remarkably well preserved This cap is embroidered with ‘1946–47’, from a time when players were issued new caps at the start of each series.
Since the 1990s, many Australian Test cricketers follow an unofficial tradition of wearing the same cap issued at the start of their Test career. The increasingly worn and sometimes dilapidated state of the baggy green is as a symbol of seniority and national sporting pride.