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FLINDERS Active Lifestyle will close our Lindes Lane retail tenancy next week end, trading on both Saturday June 27 and Sunday June 28th. It will be the end of an era that commenced in 1950 with a manufacturing operation based in Gilles Street Adelaide that supplied the local market and most of the interstate outdoor stores. In those days the only people that manufactured in Australia were Flinders Ranges Camping in Adelaide and Paddy Made based in Sydney. We shared the history of the Australian Outdoor Industry. We watched the rapid expansion in the 1970’s as the conservation movement gained strength. A trip to Lake Pedder, or Federation Peak in the Eastern Arthurs in Tasmania were extreme adventures, Precipitous Bluff on the South Coast was negotiable only by battling through horizontal scrub. My first rucksack was an A frame purchased from the Scout Shop in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, along with a Japara tent (without floor) to equip me for my first trip through Cradle Mountain in 1963. In those days your gear needed to be reliable. Notable contributions to the Australian Landscape had their origins in this era. Lock Wilson, Roger Buckle (Outgear), Phillip Endersbee (Wilderness Wear), Ian Maley (Wilderness Equipment) and our writers were John Chapman, John Sisemen (The famous Cradle Mountain Guide Books) and Baxter (Wild Magazine). As we close our chapter in the industry, we bemoan the passing of Cigana, the business based in Queanbeyan, and many other quality manufacturers who were absolutely fastidious about quality. We came from an era where your gear had to be reliable, it could not, nor would it let you down. Fashion was a secondary concern. Remember the famous Rossi Falcon? Today our industry is essentially a lifestyle industry, where people go walking with a guide and sleep in a hut or in a bed and breakfast. Travel is so fast and cheap, that you only need to go for a week or a fortnight. The fleece is light and flimsy. It last only until next year when another colour is more fashionable. It is very gratifying to see a fellow walker on a Sunday in a 10 year old quality fleece, still going strong. Ah a person of taste and sound judgment. He knows his way by his familiarity with the Australian Landscape. He knows that creeks run downhill. He has a compass for safety. He remembers tackling Tasmania with a sketch map produced by the Hobart Walking Club in 1956 which showed the rivers, the ridges and the coast line. There were the characters that made Flinders Camping. Some will remember Aase Sheridan, Michael Stokes, Adam Cooper, the founder, Andrew Steiner. In my era it was Neil Teasdale and Marcus Trinchini who were steadfast in their commitment to quality, and that steady stream of quality young individuals that worked with us on their journey through university and who have gone on to make their mark in our community, some locally, some interstate and others internationally. What a pleasure it has been to watch you develop, ask for a reference, and perhaps some advice later in life. Your contribution and friendship nourished us all. And what of the future? Yes, there is another chapter to be written, but that is for tomorrow. |
