Tepper was born in
Neutomischel,
Posen, Prussia (now Poland) on 19 April 1841. He was the eldest son of Johann Christoph Tepper (c. 1815 – 14 November 1891), and Johanne Wilhelmine Tepper, née Protsch, and emigrated with them aboard
Gellert, arriving in South Australia in 1847. They settled at
Lyndoch, where he was educated before receiving tuition under Dr.
Carl Muecke. He became master of a small country school, then joined the Education Department and taught at
Monarto,
Nuriootpa and
Clarendon. In 1883 he was appointed natural history collector to the South Australian Museum and from 1888 until his retirement, on 30 June 1911 as entomologist, for which he gave valued service. He was a longtime member of the
Royal Society, and a foundation member and several times president, of the
Field Naturalists Society. He was elected a Fellow of the
Linnean Society of London in 1879, was a Life Fellow of the
Society of Science, Letters and Art, London, and an active member of around thirty learned societies including the
American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a correspondent and friend of the meteorologist
Clement Wragge. ==Family==