![]() ![]() ![]() For us at least, this investment in the development of our children, while not without risk, has given us a bunch of young people whose feet are firmly on the ground and who are a pleasure to be with.īeing in the equipment game has made it easy for us to adapt products, strip away superfluous stuff and go as light as possible. As well, from the age of three moths right up to adult independence, so called 'family holidays' have almost all been multi-day backpacking, paddling, X-C skiing or sailing expeditions. In spite of these conventional demands on our time and energy we have always managed to make time for challenging, extended trips into the hills and back-country. Like any reasonable small business we looked upon our staff (up to 25 at times) as co-workers for whom we accepted certain responsibilities. Our heads may have drifted off into the mountains or to running down some river but our bodies were mostly in the factory or at home with young children. Friends worked part-time and the drug squad cops raided the house following a tip-off from neighbours regarding the frequent comings and goings.įrom the early nineteen eighties right up to this day, life has been the full-time balancing act most of us understand all too well. Down-filled continental quilts were a side-line. From two rooms in the family home (parents retired and travelling), using local and imported fabrics we turned out tents, daypacks, cycle panniers, synthetic sleeping bags and jackets. In August 1977, back home in Western Australia, we purchased two industrial sewing machines, started WE but also went back to studies. The tent never let us down and was frequently admired by fellow travellers, one in particular who worked in Sydney's Sussex street outdoor shop Norski. We spent '76 bushwalking and cycle touring all around Australia. Through the particular dedication of other long-time members we have kept the SFDF Inc functioning to this day. With generous donations and bequests the SFDF has quietly provided crucial support to many of the public campaigns that have lead to new national parks and protected areas of forest. The unwritten aim of the SFDF was to challenge clear-felling through legal action and a number of court actions were undertaken. In 1976 the South-West Forests Defence Foundation was formed with the backing of some Western Australian academics and professionals. ![]() (This work was later picked up by the then Department of Sport and Recreation and lead to the canoeing guides for these rivers). In 1975 the Department of Conservation covered my expenses to complete a full canoe-based exploration of all the karri forest rivers. It started with membership of the Campaign to Save Native Forests and a parallel campaign we ran through the Swan Canoe Club and the conservation sub-committee of the Amateur Canoe Association of WA, to bring the concept of protecting 'Wild and Scenic Rivers' before the public, the Forests Department and Government. This experience, added to that of many bushwalks in the heart of the unique and magnificent karri made a strong, personal stance for conservation inevitable. The extremely wet winter of 1974 made it feasible to paddle much of the length of the Shannon River and out into Broke Inlet. The mid-seventies saw the start of clear-felling and wood-chipping in the karri forests of SW Australia. That was the first TR TENT, with its two upright poles, traverse ridge and double vestibules. One week searching out locally available materials, another to sew it. ![]() In 1974 I made a tent I couldn't afford to buy at the time, the Fjallraven 'Original' model. Bad weather and difficult terrain have become familiar and welcome challengers of both our comfort and our products, drawing out inspiration and giving meaning to the satisfaction that comes when a product earns wide respect. These early encounters with nature have made us who we are. We did the testing ourselves, on weekends and longer expeditions, and personally suffered the consequences of a bad idea, design oversight or sloppy work. From behind pattern tables and sewing machines, we learnt what was possible and how best to do it. Changes of direction were common and in my case I chose a creative route, making my own outdoor equipment, advancing the design of the gear that had let us down or proved inadequate on our back-country adventures. For many of us tertiary study was not the headlong rush to paid employment it seems to be now. The nineteen seventies was a time when you could still lift the bonnet on the engine of your car, understand what you were looking at, and have a hope of fixing it. ![]()
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