Clipper Tours was an Australian coach operator in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Founded by Thomas O’Brien in 1945-46

History

Clipper Tours was formed by Thomas O’Brien in 1945-46 the first vehicle was a stretched passenger vehicle professionally converted by W.S Grice Summer hill bodybuilders. operating out of Sydney and Bowral NSW sold to Ray Cotrill in Campsie. In the late 50s the business was sold to Ron Deane who operated

Deanes Coaches Deanes Coaches was an Australian bus company operating route bus services and charter coaches on Sydney's North Shore. History Deanes Coaches was formed in August 1955 as Turramurra-Bobbin Head Bus Service when Ron Deane purchase route 166 T ...

on Sydney's North Shore."Denning Monocoaches at Clipper Tours" ''Fleetline'' September 1993 p. 186 In October 1985 the business was sold to Australian Rambler Coaches,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

proprietor Don Nugent and Jim Hawkesford. In March 1994, it was sold to Ross Adair. In the late 1980s, a depot was established in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

with an express service from Sydney to Canberra commencing in March 1989. This ceased in October 1990 with the Canberra depot closed. In January 1997 the business was purchased by

Driver Group Driver Group is a bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Australia. In July 2013 the five bus routes it operated were sold to CDC Victoria and was rebranded CDC Melbourne afterwards. History Driver Brothers was formed in March 1931, when Eric ...

. Driver's primary interest in Clipper Tours was the Gray Line franchise that it held. Having separated this from the business, Clipper Tours was sold back to the Deane family in February 1998. The Deane's by now had sold their North Shore operation and were operating South Trans. By this stage the operation had relocated from

Macquarie Park Macquarie Park () is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Park is located 13 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government ...

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

. In 2002, Clipper Tours was placed in administration. The trading name was purchased by former owner Jim Hawkesford with some of his Hawkesfords Coaches fleet having Clipper signwriting applied. In September 2011, Hawkesfords was placed in administration and liquidated.

Fleet

When Ron Deane purchased the business in 1964, it consisted of three Bedfords. By 1969, the fleet had grown to 13 coaches. In November 1970, the first of many Denning coaches was purchased. It later purchased

Mercedes-Benz O302 The Mercedes-Benz O302 is a coach chassis manufactured by Mercedes-Benz between 1965 and 1974. History The Mercedes-Benz O302 was launched in May 1965 as a replacement for the O321. It was manufactured by Mercedes-Benz's Mannheim plant. Its bo ...

s and

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products, no doubt helped by Dennis Deane being a Domino sales representative."Deane's Transit Group Queanbeyan-Canberra" ''Australian Bus'' March 2013 p. 10 It then purchased

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

Mercedes-Benz O303 The Mercedes-Benz O303 is an integral coach manufactured by Mercedes-Benz buses, Mercedes-Benz between 1974 and 1992. It was also available as a chassis, where the customer could choose to get the lower part of the front or even the entire front in ...

and

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

coaches. Under Deane's ownership Clipper Tours livery was a variation of the yellow with white and blue

livery. Following its sale in October 1985, the white with maroon and blue of Australian Rambler Coaches was adopted. When sold back to Deane's a variation of the South Trans livery was introduced.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Bus companies of New South Wales Gray Line Worldwide 2011 disestablishments in Australia Defunct bus companies of Australia