Yes, I would agree with that assessment - "dingers" were unofficial uniform at my country boarding school. And there was a pecking order: RMs at the top, Blundstones and Redbacks were further down.

However, given their price you'd be mad to use RMs for anything work related other than as actual riding boots (dingers) IMO. They were definitely my "going down town" boots. If I had farm work to do it was a pair of steel toed work boots from the co op for me.

James.