Australia's only last maker Bruce Millar (has made lasts for R.M.Williams since 1968) has told me that he will be closing up by the end of the year and last making in Oz will be no more. The government doesn't support him, beaurocrats hijack him with excessive paperwork and costs, he gets very little support from local footwear industry and greedy people in general have made his business unviable. He spend $80,000 in training a worker who is now very unwell, so now there is no skilled workers left to help Bruce. 

It looks like R.M.Williams will now be buying lasts from o/s, and this is a big deal because they were absolutely determinded to keep everything to do with their boots in Australia. Now the local industry who like to skimp on costs and support China will also be stuffed because there will be no-one to fix and alter the crummy Chinese lasts that they buy. Yeah, i've seen the Chinese lasts from these massive factories, a piece of junk, but Bruce's lasts were good and worked properly. Try pulling these Chinese lasts out of the shoos and you'll almost end up being thrown through the back wall,in fact, me and another bloke tried pulling a Chinese last out of a shoo all morning and we were both buggered and were ready for a nap afterwards.

The end of an era folks.