Ian Maley
Conservationist, outdoor adventurer and businessman
Ian’s active involvement in what could be called the ‘self-propelled outdoor pursuits’ started over 50 years ago. In 1971, as a first-year engineering student at UWA, he joined the outdoor club and soon began bushwalking, canoeing, caving and cycle-touring, He went on to add backcountry ski-touring, mountaineering and, more recently, offshore cruising in his family yacht.
In the mid-seventies, Ian made a canoe-based survey of all the karri forest rivers of southwestern Australia for the then WA Department of Conservation. He has organised and led remote expeditions (including in the Kimberley, on the Franklin River in Tasmania and Iceland), conducted outdoor workshops, instructed on bushwalking skills courses and was involved with the early days of national outdoor leadership certification.
Ian also has had a lifelong passion for making things. In 1977, he began the outdoor brand Wilderness Equipment (WE) with a product range that includes backpacks, tents and outdoor clothing. His passion for lightweight but durable design is evident in the WE range. He manufactured much custom-built equipment, including tents for the Australian Antarctic Division. In 2000, forced by commercial circumstances, Ian took his business to Viet Nam and has since built close relationships with manufacturing partners there. With his deep technical understanding and factory experience, Ian continues to manage product development and production while one of his four children looks after the sales and marketing in Australia and overseas.
As well as his business career, Ian has maintained a lifelong commitment to both nature conservation and outdoor education (which Wilderness Equipment supports nationally). His four children still proudly complain about their years growing up, ‘being dragged on foot around the south-west coastline and through the forests’, and never really having had a ‘proper’ holiday. Ian and his wife, Peta Kelsey, have no plans to retreat from the outdoor lifestyle that has energised their entire adult lives.
(2025)
