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In A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms (Sydney University Press in association with Oxford University Press Australia, 1990), Gerald Alfred Wilkes (1927-2020) defined the phrase the wider the brim, the smaller the property as a:
Formula for estimating the size of rural holdings.
However, the phrase the wider the brim, the smaller the property and variants have also been used figuratively of someone who talks boastfully without acting on their words—cf., below, quotation 1.
—Cf. also:
– to be all hat and no cattle;
– to be all mouth and (no) trousers.
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences that I have found of the phrase the wider the brim, the smaller the property and variants—with one exception, all are Australian:
1-: From The Fighting Edge (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922), by the British-born U.S. novelist William MacLeod Raine (1871-1954):
[page 135]:
Chapter XX
“The Bigger the Hat the Smaller the Herd”
[page 140]:
He did not make any claim about his ability to punch cattle, and he knew instinctively that real riders would resent any attempt on his part to swagger as they did. A remark dropped by Blister came to mind.
“The b-bigger the hat the smaller the herd, son. Do all yore b-braggin’ with yore actions.”
2-: From one of the unconnected paragraphs making up the column Listen!, by Sidney Mann, published in the Daily Mirror (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) of Wednesday 12th October 1949 [page 1, column 5]—here, property is perhaps used for intellect:
G.P.S. SPORT NOTE: Young fellow in fancy sports coat, gaudy pullover and exceptionally wide brimmed hat. One 14-years-old Grammar boy nudged his companion. “I always say, you know, the wider the brim, the smaller the property,” was his comment.
3-: From The Sun (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) of Tuesday 21st September 1954 [page 37, column 1]:
WIDE BRIMS, CLOSED SPACES
If you didn’t own a calendar, you’d still be able to tell when it was Easter and Show time from the sudden influx of wide-brimmed hats.
Once the wide-brimmer was the hallmark of the big-time sheep farmer or the cattle king.
But now it’s almost a uniform for the countryman—from station-hand to stock agent.
Perhaps, in future, we should use the yardstick: “The wider the brim, the smaller the property”.
4-: From the Daily News (Perth, Western Australia, Australia) of Saturday 24th September 1955 [page 13, columns 4, 5 & 6]:
WIDER THE BRIM, SMALLER THE HOLDING
IF you see a prosperous-looking man with a wide-brimmed hat at the Show, don’t think he owns a 1,000,000 acre sheep station.
The chances are his holdings amount to no more than a quarter-acre suburban block, and he has never been on a farm in his life.
Popular thinking has it that a man with a wide-brimmed hat is a man who runs thousands of sheep and two or three expensive cars.
But shop assistants who sell hats all day every day say many hundreds of ordinary people in Perth like wide brims.
Some like them because they keep the summer sun off; some like the look of them, and a few—very few—like to look as if they own 1,000,000-acre sheep stations.
Often, shop assistants say, men who really have big country holdings prefer neat, city-businessman clothes. This includes a hat with a narrow brim.
Occasionally they even wear bowler hats for going out.
There is a commonly-accepted “uniform” for the big-time farmer—a careless walk, good-quality but rough clothes, skin like well-kept boot leather, heavy shoes and a wide-brimmed hat (with the brim turned down all the way round).
But there is also a saying at Shows all over Australia: “The wider the hat the smaller the holding.”
5-: From Picnic Races (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1962), by the Australian novelist and playwright Dymphna Cusack (1902-1981) [page 189]:
‘I can understand why you chappies wear wide brims with a sun like this.’
Harry grunted: ‘There’s a rule for it: “The smaller the property the wider the brim.”’
6-: From The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1966), by the Australian poet and novelist Randolph Stow (1935-2010) [page 206]:
“You know how big this paddock is?” Rick said. “It’s twelve miles by nine.”
“I dunno,” Hugh said, “you bloody squatters and your delusions of grandeur. Every paddock has to show up on a map of the world. Just so you can wear a big hat.”
“It works the other way,” the boy said. “They say: The bigger the hat, the smaller the property.”
“Now I get it,” Hugh said. He pointed at Rick. “Now I understand why this broken-down bum staggers round under a sort of beach-umbrella.”
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