Bushgear was a retail store, managed by Loch Wilson. Along with Auski it was one of the first to make the Hardware Lane region of the central business
district of Melbourne (Australia) the central hub of adventure gear that it is today.
The original Melbourne city store (they also opened shop in Canberra in about 1978) was a rambling affair, spread over several floors and even separate
sides of a laneway.
Bushgear was also the label applied to a line of sewn goods, like gaiters, H-frame packs, woollen shirts and pants & breeches, and most significantly a
line of double skin nylon tents.
Significant because Australia had long remained in the thrall of the single skin Japara (tightly woven Egyptian cotton) tent, epitomised by Paddymade and
Flinders Ranges. But Bushgear quietly broke that mould with three tents of their own manufacture. The Viking was an vestibule-less Australian rendering
the 'transverse ridge' style of shelter favoured by the likes of Fjallraven and their Everest model. The Tawonga was a single pole tent, reminiscent of the
Blacks Good Companion, albeit in double skin nylon, and comprising a fully enclosed vestibule with a vertical door, making it ideal for backcountry ski
tours. The Baw Baw was a single skin, coated nylon pyramid tent that predated the popular Chouinard Pyramid (and all subsequent imitations) by at
least 10 years.
In later years the Bushgear name was taken over by the Queensland-based Mountain Designs brand and used to aggressively market various outdoor
apparel and equipment, including a tunnel tent that went up directly against the iconic Macpac Olympus 3 hoop tunnel tent.
It seems that Loch Wilson may have gone on to operate a retail bookstore in suburban Melbourne.