The story of Blundstone starts with a tail of ill fate. James Cutbertson, along with his brother Thomas, set off on a boat to Melbourne. Upon nearing Australia, the ship was blown off course and instead had to land in Hobart, Tasmania. James decided to settle in Tasmania and founded a business that imported shoes. Fast forward to 1932, and James’ grandsons purchased the Blundstone business from John Blundstone and his son Sylvanus and merged their original shoe business to create the boot making giant that we know so well today.
Blundstone was itself founded in Hobart, Tasmania in 1870. Although the boots are no longer manufactured in Tasmania, Hobart is still the home of the business, with company headquarters still based there.
Sustainability is key to the business, with the use of recycled and recyclable materials used wherever possible in the manufacturing process. The business acknowledges the negative environmental effect that shoes can have and wants to minimize this impact wherever possible.
Travel may be off limits for the time being, so we thought we would satisfy your wanderlust with some Tasmania travel trivia below -
Tasmania – The Facts
- It is a myth that Tasmania was discovered in 1642 by Abel Tasman. Aboriginal people have lived on the island for over 35,000 years.
- Tasmania is the world’s 26th largest island and lies 240km off the southeast of Australia. It is surrounded by 334 other islands, which range from rocky outcrops to three other sizeable, inhabited islands.
- Tasmania is known to have the cleanest air in the world, as measured by the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Statin. This is helped by the isolation of its location, far from any other land masses.
- Tasmania has the oldest trees in the world. The Huon Pine trees are incredibly slow growing, with a 20 metre tree potentially being thousands of years old.
The infamous Tasmanian devil is only found in Tasmania and is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. Officially listed as an endangered species, there is good news for the species as research has shown that populations are gaining resistance to the facial tumors that have been so damaging in recent decades.
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