Clipper Tours

History

Clipper Tours was formed by Ray Cotrill in Campsie. In October 1964 the business was sold to Ron Deane who operated Deanes Coaches on Sydney’s North Shore.

In October 1985 the business was sold to Australian Rambler Coaches, Melbourne 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 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’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 Deanes by now had sold their North Shore operation and were operating South Trans. By this stage the operation had relocated from Macquarie Park to Waterloo.

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 O302s and Domino products, no doubt helped by Dennis Deane being a Domino sales representative. It then purchased MAN, Mercedes-Benz O303 and Scania coaches. Under Deane’s ownership Clipper Tours livery was a variation of the yellow with white and blue Deanes Coaches 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.