FEIP headpiece – Paddle steamer c1980s

Summary

The Art and Heritage Collection holds an assortment of thoroughly whacky headdresses – anything from a seaside, fruit or Black Swan theme to the Westgate Bridge, a paddle steamer or Uluru. Each would have had its moment in the sun, this specific one perched upon a knowing head during the annual Easter parade as part of the Free Entertainment in the Park (FEIP) program. Trawling through albums of photographs documenting the parade has not been helpful in pinning most to a specific year, though we believe these sometimes makeshift, always creative headdresses were most likely made between 1980 and recent years.

In 1972, Melburnians were introduced to the first program of Free Entertainment in the Park (FIEP), an initiative of the City of Melbourne’s Department of Parks, Gardens and Recreation. Less than 10 years after finding its place on the city’s calendar of summer events, it could boast being the world’s largest free public event, attracting a none-too-shabby 35,000 or so participants. Its name was changed to Free Entertainment in Public Places before the program ceased for a period in the late 1980s, and then was reborn as Summer Fun in the Parks in the 1990s.