Kevin Weldon

Weldon began his career at Brisbane's Truth newspaper as a half-tone colour etcher in the process engraving department. It was there he was taught by his first boss, Horrie Hogarth, two guiding principles, "never compromise on quality; and, allow workers now and then to spend time with the boss." Despite the brevity of his tenure at Truth, Hogarth had an indelible impact on Weldon during these formative years.

Shortly thereafter, driven by his enduring fascination for all things maritime, he joined the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, a decision that was to have a major effect in charting the course of his life. Rising rapidly through the ranks he received his commission as a lieutenant in 1956. During this period he also became acquainted with Tony Pixley and thus began the next phase of his career, "He and I got on and his family was well known in the Brisbane business community. They had an agency for Grenville Publishing and they gave me a job selling books.”

By 1957 at the age of 24, Weldon had set up a new branch of Grenville Publishing in Queensland and employed a staff of eight. Two years later he was appointed general manager of sales and moved to Sydney, where in 1963 he published his first book, Cake Decorating and Icing by Beryl Gertner; it proved to be a success, selling 25,000 copies (a best-seller during this period was around 5,000). This was quickly followed by the equally popular best seller, Collecting Australian Gemstones.

In 1964 Weldon became the founding managing director of the Paul Hamlyn Group in Australia. Employing aggressive marketing strategies he published a string of best-sellers, including launching Australia's Heritage partworks. This transpired to be the most successful publishing venture Australia had seen to date, with 7.8 million units sold over a two-year period. Weldon's marketing success earned him the Hoover Award.

Another initiative he undertook was the launch of Music for Pleasure, Australia's first budget record company, and he became responsible for introducing music into supermarkets, namely Woolworths and Coles. The secret to the company's success was repackaging old records and advertising them on television (a repackaged Johnny Cash album sold 120,000 albums in just two weeks whilst a Simon & Garfunkel album sold a quarter of a million copies). Meanwhile, in 1971 he became president of the World Life Saving Movement.

The following year he established Australia's first large scale animation studio, a joint venture with Hanna-Barbera – the creators of such hits as Yogi Bear and the Flintstones. The venture, known as Hanna-Barbera Australia, evolved into Neil Balnaves's Southern Star Group. Not only did he increase the company holdings, acquiring Australian publishers Lansdowne Press (Melbourne), Ure Smith (Sydney), and Jacaranda (Brisbane), but he steadfastly continued to build a best-selling list in Australia and developed local publishing lists in New Zealand and the Philippines. Additionally, he expanded the Heritage partworks to include the Wildlife series both nationally and internationally, he developed a prestigious limited edition list and curated a significant library of rare Australian books. In 1979 Weldon resigned from Paul Hamlyn.

In 1980, Weldon, formed his own company, Kevin Weldon & Associates and launched a successful publishing list. He garnered instant success with A Day in the Life of Australia and the concept became one of this country's greatest publishing exports; subsequent volumes have been produced on India, China, Africa, the Soviet Union and the United States. The next few years saw him enter the local US market with joint ventures, notably in Texas, as well as guiding the takeover of British publisher Marshall Cavendish by Straits Times, Singapore. His brief tenure as chairman of Marshall Cavendish led it to a record profit of €6 million the following year. Meanwhile, he founded Earthwatch in Australia, a voluntary body to fund scientific research expeditions, and Weldon consolidated his success with the publication of The Macquarie Dictionary, a definitive work that is now the undisputed arbiter of the Australian language. In 1984, together with John Owen, Weldon founded Weldon Owen Publishing. The first US office was set up in Seattle, Washington in 1988 and subsequently moved to San Francisco a year later.[2]

He also entered into a joint venture with major newspaper groups John Fairfax Ltd (Sydney) and David Syme Ltd (Melbourne) for a major bicentennial work, Australians: a historical library. In 1985 he purchased 50 per cent of the Paul Hamlyn Group (Australia) with James Hardie Industries Ltd and snapped up the balance three years later. He proceeded to change the company name to Weldon International. Retail sales had increased by about $10 million a year and Weldon continued to diversify, taking an interest in films; he developed complementary book products including Wall of Iron and Over China. More importantly, he initiated a policy of devolution in which Weldon International was formed into relatively small, creative publishing and marketing units, which operated independently reporting to a small executive centre. No territorial limits were imposed on any of the companies, encouraging export. Thus, he catalysed a vigorous offshore drive that resulted in Weldon International exports accounting for 55 per cent of Australia's total export of book products.

The group's policy of devolution delivered growth, particularly in offshore activity. Weldon International rose to 183rd of Australia's top 500 exporters. Publishing companies of Weldon International were now firmly established in the US and UK and the Weldon policy of devolution continued as spin-off publishing activity warranted. Local and US educational publishing for elementary schools became so successful that it was reorganised for marketing overseas through jointly-owned marketing companies in U.S. and UK. Mimosa also became active in Canada, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and South Africa, producing national commemorative books for governments in Singapore, China, US and Indonesia. Meanwhile, his philanthropic activities continued with the establishment of Gwinganna in the Gold Coast hinterland for Indigenous study groups. Moreover, he became founding President of the newly formed International Lifesaving Federation. The Federation included over sixty member countries and over 25 million members, amalgamating the world's three largest water-safety organisations. For his service to the publishing industry and to water safety, Weldon received the Order of Australia on 10 July 1994.

In 2010 Weldon returned to Australian publishing to launch the 30th-anniversary edition of the 'Macquarie Encyclopaedic Dictionary' and the re-launch of the Australian classic, 'What Bird is That' by Neville Cayley.

In 2012 Weldon launched 'The New Long March' an historic co-publishing project between China's Qingdao Publishing Group and Weldon International. The book. celebrating 75th Anniversary of the Long March was launched at the London Book Fair and included the first Augmented Reality feature to be printed in a book. Activated through an app which triggered extra content.

In 2015 Weldon established The Ripper Group,[3] a new organisation using remotely piloted aircraft systems, technology and education in the area of search and rescue.