John D. TipperPrint Page

Tipper Lookout was named  by the Manly Historical Society in 1952 to commemorate John D. Tipper`s achievment in founding the Muogamarra Sanctuary in 1934.

John D. Tipper ( 1886-1970) belonged to the Wild Life Preservation Society of Australia. In 1928 he became founding president of the Rangers' League of New South Wales—a volunteer group dedicated to preserving natural bushland and preventing bushfires. In 1932 he helped to found the Australian Bushland Conservation Association, but his preservation ideals were constantly frustrated by continuing damage to Sydney's national parks. His desire for a region protected from fires and illegal trafficking in native flowers led him in 1933 to obtain a lease of some 2000 acres (809 ha) around Muogamarra Ridge (overlooking the Hawkesbury River) from the Department of Lands.

The reserve was established in 1934 and opened to the public in the following year. Called the Muogamarra Sanctuary, its name came from the Awabakal Aboriginal dialect and meant 'preserve for the future'. Tipper worked tirelessly to protect the native flora: he set up a volunteer bush fire brigade and, eventually, an environmental study centre and museum. Public access was limited during the six-week wildflower blooming season from mid-August to the end of September.

In 1953 Tipper surrendered his lease. Supported by the State government, Muogamarra Sanctuary was administered by trustees from 1954, with Tipper their president and resident curator. In 1967 the newly established National Parks and Wildlife Service assumed control of Muogamarra. Tipper grew increasingly angered by its management practices. Disagreements over the level of protection afforded to Aboriginal relics within Muogamarra combined with his own ill health to end his association with the sanctuary in 1968.

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