John Hipwell was an Australian architect who practiced and designed mainly in Warrandyte

Warrandyte, Victoria

Warrandyte is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Manningham...

, Victoria, Australia. He worked with Fritz Janeba (former Bauhaus

Bauhaus

', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...

 student and notable architect) and was the longest surviving member of Hipwell, Weight and Mason architects. He also served in Papua New Guinea as Commanding Officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 of radar unit 334 with the R.A.A. F during the Second World War.

Early life

John Buckland Hipwell was born in Leongatha, Victoria on 16 November 1920. He is the only child and son to Conrad Edmund Hipwell, a presbytarian clergyman and Bessy Emily May Hipwell. His family lived in Maffra

Maffra, Victoria

Maffra is a town in Victoria, Australia, 220 km east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and is the site of one of Murray-Goulburn Cooperative's eight processing plants in Victoria...

, Victoria through much of his childhood and spent most of his primary school year at Maffra primary. Hipwell attended Scotch College, Hawthorn

Hawthorn, Victoria

Hawthorn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara...

, to complete his secondary schooling. As a boy he had an interest in art and he had considered studying art at university however his parents wanted him to pursue a career in engineering. Therefor a compromise was made in studying architecture at Melbourne University whilst residing at Ormond college. Hipwell was able to study architecture for 3 years after which he enlisted himself into the Australian Air Force

Royal Australian Air Force

The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...

during World War II. He spent three years in the war where he served as Commanding Officer in Papua New Guinea of radar unit 334, which had 30 men. After Hipwell had been discharged, he returned to Australia and continued his architectural studies at Melbourne University, graduating in 1948.

Personal life

Hipwell met his wife Elizbeth "Betty" McCallum before the war in Sydney, and became engaged whilst Hipwell was enlisted. The pair married in Sydney on the 13th January 1945. Elizabeth had been very attracted to the Warrandyte area and suggested to John that they live there. He and Elizabeth moved to Warrandyte, Victoria soon after. Elizabeth introduced him to Fritz Janea Bold textba starting a great friendship between Fritz and John. They had three children Alexandra Elizabeth Rosalie Hipwell (18 December 1947–), Pamela Margaret Edith Hipwell (1 July 1949–) and John Robert Crispian Hipwell (13 January 1953–).

Career

As a graduate architect, Hipwell began working immediately for Martin and Tribe who specialised in high class residencies in Toorak

Toorak, Victoria

Toorak is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district located on a rise on the south side of a bend in the Yarra River. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington...

 and South Yarra

South Yarra, Victoria

South Yarra is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Stonnington and Melbourne...

. When Horace J. Tribe resigned to open his own office, Hipwell worked with Tribe during 1949 to 195- during which time, Tribe went on to become the state's leading specialist in the design of modern pre-school centres, with examples as far afield as Swan Hill and Korumburra.

During the mid-1950s, Hipwell opened his own private practice in Russel Street, Melbourne. During this time he was working on residential projects and a number of churches.

J B Hipwell WW2 serivce career

• Training course-O19 G ( O-Officer's course and G-ground rader). This was under the Control of Professor Bailey of Sydney University, hence the graduates were known as "Bailey Boys".

• John Buckland Hipwell

RAAF Service No. 68939
Bailey Boy

• Commands: 3

1943-08-18 334RS PltOff
1944-1 2- 01 304RS FlgOff
1945-08-30 40RS FlgOff

• Rank Changes:

1943-05-22 PltOff
1943-11-22 FlgOff

334RS was formed in Canberra on 18 August 1943 and moved to Mascot on 10 September 1943, to Port Moresby on 5 October and Gusap ( on Ramu River) PNG on 5 November. P/O Hipwell was appointed as its CO from 11 August 1943 until relieved by F/O Siegle in January 1944.
304RS was formed on 20 October 1942 at Townsville and operated from 12 December 1942 at Port Moresby and from 10 January 1943 at Cape Pierson, Normanby Islan, PNG; and from 12 January 1945 at Gurney Strip, Milne Baay PNG. P/O Hipwell is not listed as CO but F/O C B D Blumenthal is shown as being in command from 13 November 1943 until 4 January 1945, an unusually long sojourn in one location.
40RS was formed 6 July 1942 and from November 1942 was located and remained at Merauke, Dutch New Guinea, CO P/O F A Hull. Four other COs were listed there prior to F/O Hipwell who was posted to it on 25 August 1645.
See also WW2 Nominal Roll

This shows that J B Hipwell enlisted at Carlton in the Army as V158637 on 12 November 1940 and was discharged as a Lance Corporal from the 3rd Australian Survey Corps on 5 July 1942.
Subsequently he enlisted in the RAAF in Sydney on 17 August 1942 as 68939 and was discharged as a Flying Officer on 1 April 1946 from 2 Radio Installation and Maintenance Unit ( 2RIMU).
More information on units and personnel of the RAAF Radar units is available in the 'Pete Smith' collection at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook.

Residential

• The Nicholson residence, Koornong North Warrandyte

• The Knottenbelt residence, Warrandyte

• Mrs Ewan’s residence, Koornong, Warrandyte North

• Brian & Mary Hanrahan, Kangaroo Ground Round, Warrandyte North

• The Hipwell Residence (his family home) Research Rd, Warrandyte.

Churches

• Warrandyte uniting church, working on the spire and numerous internal details. Hipwell was very displeased with a new addition made in the 80’s of a large mural.
• Loch uniting church, this remains very much as Hipwell had designed it.
• The Foyer of Boxhill uniting church.
• He had regularly hired the Master potter Reg Preston to create many ceramic tile and plaques with religious themes, for these churches.

Hipwell later formed a partnership with Charles Weight and Peter Mason named Hipwell, Weight & Mason in 1960. In 1963 Peter Mason was killed in a car accident ending the partnership. Hipwell and Weight began a new partnership with Albert Ross becoming Hipwell, Weight and Ross until Charles Weight died in 19- from Hodgkin’s disease. From there Hipwell and Ross disbanded and Hipwell went on to work for the Department of works for the Victorian Federal Government. In this position Hipwell worked on the Papua New Guinea Army expansion Program, and the Bouganville Hospital; as well as the Darwin Gaol with prestigious architect Alfred Dolton. In the Late 1960s Hipwell resigned from his position with the Department of works.

Later career

Hipwell was the only non-potter founding member of Potters Cottage

Warrandyte, Victoria

Warrandyte is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Manningham...

 a noteworthy organisation based in Warrandyte. This experience, travel & idealism helped to lead to a new career path. They built up 'Betty Hipwell Cottage Industries' importing & wholesaling handmade goods from Developing countries. This spanned 1968–1989.

Hipwell Residence

John Hipwell designed and made his family residence off Research Road in Warrandyte. Unfortunately the original house, which was published as the cover story in Home Beautiful (October issue 1954) burnt down in a bushfire which ran though Warrandyte and surrounding areas in 1962. The original house burnt down due largely to the entire northern façade being completely glazed and the buildings structure being timber. This led Hipwell to design his new house, built in 1963, with bushfires in mind. He used non-combustible materials and an alignment which encouraged the fires to pass over the structure rather than attack and destroy the new house.

Later life

In December 1995 John and Elzabeth Hipwell moved to an apartment in Southbank

Southbank, Victoria

Southbank is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located direct south of the Yarra River opposite Melbourne's Hoddle Grid. The northernmost area is considered part of the Central Business District and Central Activities District of the city. Its Local Government Area are the...

, Victoria and remained there till John's death. Hipwell became very committed to helping architectural students often allowing interviews and photos. He also maintained an extensive collection of puppets which he had been interested in since childhood. Hipwell also had an interest in Electronic music, developing a number of scores and operas.

Sources

Biographical cuttings on John Hipwell, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals

Stafford, Brian, Richard, Preston. City of Doncaster and Templestowe heritage study contex publishing

External links

• http://www.mclaren-pottery.com/HISTORY/PottersCottage.html
• http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/47191/Post_war_study_Stage1_Vol2_ResidentialC.pdf
• http://twma.com.au/exhibitions/event/potters-cottage-warrandyte/
• http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/places/result_detail/22662?print=true
• http://www.mordiallocpreschool.org.au/history.html
• http://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/Gscot/07sepgs/75.htm