13 Facts About Austin Chapman

Sir Austin Chapman was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1901 until his death in 1926.

Austin Chapman held ministerial office in the governments of Alfred Deakin and Stanley Bruce, serving as Minister for Defence, Postmaster-General, Minister for Trade and Customs, and Minister for Health.

Austin Chapman was the son of Monica and Richard Chapman, his father being a wheelwright and publican.

Austin Chapman attended the state school in Marulan until the age of 14, when he was apprenticed to a saddler working in Goulburn and Mudgee.

Austin Chapman moved to Sydney in 1887 and went into partnership with Edward William O'Sullivan in an auctioneering firm, of which he was managing partner.

Austin Chapman was the proprietor of the Emu Inn on Bathurst Street.

In 1891 Austin Chapman was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as MLA for Braidwood.

Austin Chapman was an active supporter of federation of the Australian colonies.

In 1901 Austin Chapman was elected to the first House of Representatives as MP for the Division of Eden-Monaro.

Austin Chapman was criticised by both Nationalists and the Country Party and he resigned in May 1924 on the grounds of ill health and was made a KCMG.

Austin Chapman had a significant role during the selection of Australia's national capital site, Canberra.

However, once Canberra had been selected, Austin Chapman strenuously advocated the development of the site on the Molonglo River near Queanbeyan, which like Dalgety was in his electorate.

Austin Chapman was still MP for Eden-Monaro at the time of his death in Sydney on 12 January 1926 of cerebro-vascular disease, before he could sit in the first Parliament House in Canberra, which opened in May 1927.