Why the Australian brand’s one-piece-of-leather boots are ready for anything .

Forget California’s giant redwoods and Iceland’s glaciers. Few landscapes can compete – at least as far as age goes –  with the 540-million-year-old Flinders Ranges, the largest mountain range in South Australia. Beginning around 120km north of Adelaide, and stretching out across more than 430km, this semi-arid expanse of peaks, peppered with hardy vegetation and home to various species of kangaroo and bat (but not so many people), is a territory as desolate as it is beautiful. Exploring it is a rite of passage for any southern Australian with an adventurous spirit, whether it’s cycling the 200km route that starts and ends at Rawnsley Park Station in the south, or taking a 4x4 through the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary to enjoy the view at Siller’s Lookout.

It was sights like these that inspired Mr Reginald Murray Williams to create R.M.Williams – a brand offering sturdy, Australian-made leather goods, now particularly known for its sleek yet hardwearing boots – in 1932. Born in Belalie North in 1908, Mr Williams struck off for a life in the Outback at the age of 15. It was his early appreciation of this tough environment that later led him to create his hugely popular boots – designed to answer the day-to-day needs of the Australian Outback stockman.

Today, as in the 1930s, R.M.Williams boots are crafted by hand in Australia from a single piece of leather, going through more than 80 processes before they are sent out across the globe. Though they’re still more than durable enough to withstand the tough environment of the Outback any time soon, they’ll also hold their own in an urban wardrobe, thanks in part to the expanded range of styles and colours that the brand has thoroughly perfected in the nine decades since its foundation. For the coming autumn/winter season, R.M.Williams has issued its classic Comfort Craftsman boots – designed by Mr Williams himself in 1932 – in an appealingly autumnal forest green colour, redolent of the red gum trees that dot the sparse landscapes of the Flinders ranges. With their Goodyear-welted soles, cushioned inner and worn-out leather upper, they’re a pair of boots thoroughly ready for an adventure.