THE names on the Tippet family tree extend out on branch after branch, hinting at the long and rich history of one of Wangaratta’s oldest families.
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But there is one branch that stops short, one that never got the chance to grow: that of Percy Tippet, who at 19 boarded a ship from Australia bound for the fateful shores of Gallipoli.
He was one of the first soldiers from Wangaratta and part of the 6th Infantry Battalion.
Seriously wounded at Gallipoli, he succumbed to his injuries on April 28, 1915, and was buried at sea.
Yesterday, as the nation commemorated Remembrance Day, Wangaratta commemorated the young soldier by naming the small reserve at the corner of Tone Road and the Greens Road overpass after him.
It is an unassuming square of grass on the side of Wangaratta’s busiest road, but one of great importance to the Tippets — the name has been synonymous with Wangaratta since the 1850s and the block is where Percy and his family lived until it was compulsorily acquired in the 1960s.
It was a lot different in those early days, a constant hive of activity with the Hume Highway on one side, the Melbourne-Sydney railway on another and the Whitfield rail line on a third.
“The semis would go past and the windows would rattle,” grinned Percy’s nephew Ivan Tippet, who lived there for 12 years.
He was appreciative of the gesture to name the land Percy Tippet Reserve, saying it allowed the family name to continue.
In fact, it was perhaps Percy’s own legacy to Wangaratta, according to his great nephew-in-law Steve Mulqueen, who spoke on behalf of the family yesterday.
“It was always a bit sad to see that full stop on the family tree next to his name,” he said.
“But I think that full stop has been removed today, and we’re really happy about that as a family.”
Wangaratta RSL president Dr Warren Garrett said the plaque commemorating Percy had been made possible by to a Victorian Government grant.
“The Tippets are fairly well known in the area, but it’s that memory of Percy and him being wounded in Gallipoli we believe much of Wangaratta is not aware of,” he said.
Murray Valley MP Tim McCurdy and Wangaratta Council chief administrator Ailsa Fox also spoke at the unveiling, of the sacrifice made not just by Percy, but all soldiers who served Australia.
