sketcher and public servant, son of Henry Chapman, a merchant, and Christina, née Neate, was a family friend of Governor Phillip who offered to take him in the First Fleet. His mother refused as William was too young, but allowed him to accompany another family friend, Philip Gidley King , to Norfolk Island in 1791. King’s ship, the Gorgon , arrived at Sydney on 21 September 1791 and a few weeks later sailed for Norfolk Island. There, on 10 December, Chapman was appointed storekeeper at Phillipsburgh.
He became a close friend of King’s and accompanied him to New Zealand in 1793. By early 1800 he was deputy-commissary at Norfolk Island. In December he transferred to the same position in Sydney when King was appointed governor of New South Wales. Chapman became King’s secretary from April 1801 to March 1804, then sailed for England, later going to Madras to become a trader. He settled in Java (Indonesia) as a planter and died there in poverty.
Few of Chapman’s works survive, but those that do appear to have been well circulated. His 1796 pen and wash drawing of the settlement of Sydney, Norfolk Island, inserted into John Hunter 's autographed copy of The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay (ML), was copied by Philip Gidley King, by King’s son Phillip Parker and by John Eyre . Another surviving watercolour, Water Mill, Arthur’s Vale, Norfolk Island , dated March 1796, was officially sent to London (PRO). Cascade Bay, Norfolk Island and other drawings of the settlement are in the Mitchell Library.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
