Chippers Leap, Historical granite outcrop at Greenmount Hill, Western Australia
Chippers Leap is a granite outcrop on the northern side of Great Eastern Highway, near the border of Swan View and Greenmount on Greenmount Hill. A plaque set at the rock commemorates the 1832 leap of John Chipper. The outcrop lies close to the highway, with a small parking area about 100 metres west.
On 3 February 1832, John Chipper and Reuben Beacham, an 11-year-old boy, were driving a cart from Guildford to York when a party of Noongars attacked them. Chipper was speared in the side and shoulder before leaping from the rock; he ran about 6.4 km to Governor James Stirling's house at Woodbridge. A plaque dedicated by the Western Australian Historical Society on 3 February 1932 marks the event.
The name comes from John Chipper's jump on 3 February 1832. A plaque placed by the Western Australian Historical Society on the centenary in 1932 records the attack; it gives the boy's age as fourteen, while the article says eleven. For decades a white-painted "All have sinned" stood on the rock face west of the plaque.
The plaque stands beside a busy highway with no pedestrian facilities, so stopping there is not advised at any time. A small parking area lies 100 metres west, just before the Perth Hills sign. The rock is on the northern side of Great Eastern Highway, near the Swan View–Greenmount boundary.
The granite formation survived multiple road construction projects since the 1930s, with authorities altering their plans to protect this site. This demonstrates how the local community valued the historical significance of the rock.
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