Businessman newspaper publisher
Chapman was born at Coonabarabran, New South Wales, on 27 May 1874 where his parents had a farming property. His father came from Stoke, Plymouth, England, and married Julia Downing, whose family claimed to be descendants of the family after which 10 Downing Street was named.
Chapman attended Street John"s College in Dubbo.
Chapman"s father, after whom Mount Chapman in Papua New Guinea is said to have been named, was believed to have been eaten by cannibals on an expedition. After leaving school he was a jackaroo, then a station manager, and later took up land in Queensland. He imported an electrical "water finder" from England and succeeded in finding many bores, which was financially lucrative.
Chapman married Jessie Swan, a pastoralist"s daughter from Roma, Queensland.
Chapman led an expedition from Queensland to Central Australia after mineral wealth in 1932. Although eminent geologists were firm in their opinion that there was no quantity of gold in the Tanami Desert, Chapman pegged big areas in an area known as The Granites, about 600km northwest of Alice Springs.
The geologists were proved wrong, and large quantities of gold were foundation In October 1949, Chapman drove into Alice Springs with 2000 ounces of gold in jam tins, worth about £26,000, just after a rise of £5 an ounce in gold prices.
Chapman founded the Centralian Advocate newspaper, which published its first edition on 24 May 1947.
Chapman built the first Olympic-size swimming pool in the Northern Territory on his property, The Pearly Gates, which he stocked with fish. Chapman paid for and opened a public swimming pool in Alice Springs in March 1954.
