He told the Courier-Sun it was “a nice feeling to be honoured” however, “there are many members of the community doing so much and who deserve to be acknowledged too.”

Mr Lipscomb describes the Bellingen Shire as a unique community attracting a host of talented people who contribute to the common good in a variety of ways.

“When one is surrounded by socially and environmentally aware individuals who are trying to change the world, it is not difficult to get involved,” Mr Lipscomb said.

“I am constantly amazed at the number of artistic, creative, and altruistic people who have chosen to settle in the shire. It is really all very inspiring.”

Mr Lipscomb was born and bred in Sydney. He was educated at Macquarie University and Southern Cross University, Lismore, where he gained degrees in Human Geography and Law.

His life has spanned a range of careers and accomplishments – as a soldier (during the National Service era), a civilian analyst with the Department of Defence in Canberra, a hippie vagabond, a university lecturer, an eco-tourism adviser, a businessman, a travel writer, and a lawyer.

In 1988 Mr Lipscomb settled in Bellingen and since then his activities have included: Chair of the Bellingen Neighbourhood Centre Management committee in the early 1990s “through a tumultuous time in that organisation’s existence when its continued operation was being jeopardised by local political disharmony”.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Mr Lipscomb helped establish and operate the Bellingen District Loan Fund – a socially-responsible co-operative that considered “people and ethics to be equally important as profit and security”.

In the early 1990s he lobbied Bellingen Shire Council, on behalf of various conservation groups, to adopt recycling principles in its waste management scheme. Within a decade council began implementing recycling policies.

Mr Lipscomb was instrumental in developing the ‘Farmstay B&B’ tourist accommodation concept in Bellingen and was involved as chairperson, director, volunteer, and on-air presenter with the local community radio station 2bbb-fm over two decades.

Mr Lipscomb is deputy team leader of the local Red Cross Disaster management team and in this role has assisted residents during Urunga’s 2009 flood, and during the 2011 floods in Queensland where he helped set up an Evacuation and Recovery Centre in the town of Gatton.

In 2007 Mr Lipscomb moved to Urunga, where he established his own law firm and undertook mainly civil and criminal litigation. He frequently gave pro bono legal assistance to Bellingen seniors and to members of the local Aboriginal community. He also authored several academic papers on legal and human rights topics (on occasion as co-author with Nicholas Cowdery AM QC). He retired from active legal practice last year.

Mr Lipscomb’s activities have also extended beyond the boundaries of the shire. He travelled widely as a young man, and was a keen observer of the customs and lifestyles of the people he encountered en route. His wanderings took him to Africa, Israel, PNG, Afghanistan, India, and North America.

His particular interest in the South Pacific led him to spend two years in the Solomon Islands in 1994-96 under the auspices of Australian Volunteers International (AVI). Mr Lipscomb was based in Gizo, the capital of Western Province, and introduced eco-tourism concepts to the islands, offering local villages alternative ways of linking into the formal economy so they would not have to rely so heavily on the sale of timber and fishing rights to multi-national companies which continue to cause irreparable long-term damage to the islands’ environment.