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Geoffrey, born on the 29th February, ‘24 was the sixth child and fourth son of John Hedley (Hedley) and Mary Isobel Chapman. A four-year-old brother John Lincoln (Bill) had died in August 1917 before Geoffrey’s arrival and was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery. To add poignancy to young Bill’s death was the arrival of a daughter the following month. Geoffrey’s siblings included Hedley Douglas, John Lincoln, William Glanville, Shirley Wrathall, and Alison Mary.
Their father, Hedley was originally a banker before becoming a respected farmer, purchasing the ‘Cooyamoolta’ property at White’s Flat out of Port Lincoln where he raised stud merino sheep and grew wheat. In the years before Geoffrey’s birth Hedley was part of the group called South Australian Farmers’ and Settlers’ Association, formed to improve conditions for farmers. This evolved into the Country Party with Hedley as the party Whip.
Three years before Geoffrey’s birth, the farm property was sold, to enable Hedley to live in the Adelaide area during parliamentary sittings. The year of Geoffrey’s birth, Hedley lost his parliamentary seat, but the family continued to live at Northgate Street in Unley Park and by ’26 Hedley was part of a committee chosen to form the Australian Country Party Association’ and sat in the Senate where he was a diligent and informed member, particularly in relation to the plight of farmers.
Geoffrey had just turned 7, when a fortnight later his 51-year-old father, still serving as a senator, died early in March ‘31. He was interred alongside his young son Bill.
From an early age, Geoffrey was intrigued at the unique and quirkiness of his birthdate on the 29th February. At the time, newspapers were a medium through which included pages specifically for children, including the Possum Pages of the Sunday Mail. As a nine-year-old Geoffrey wrote “Four-yearly Birthday: I wonder if there are any other Sunshiners with a birthday on the same day as mine? I was born on February 29, and only have a birthday once in four years. Geoffrey Chapman. 42 Northgate street Unley Park”. (For this effort, he was awarded a Yellow certificate and in ensuing years the paper acknowledged the names of members and their date of coming birthdays.) He earned a pink certificate the following month with a charming letter about his kittens. “Two Kittens We have a black kitten called Pavvy. He Is quite nice to play with, and gentle. We also have another called Yo-yo. She is black and white, and not so gentle as Pavvy. Pavvy usually sleeps on my cousin's, sister's, or my bed; while Yo-yo sleeps on mother's bed.” Geoffrey Chapman (9).
Despite living in the suburbs, Geoffrey’s passion followed that of his father in the field of agriculture and he began advanced studies at Roseworthy Agricultural College.
In the meantime, a talented and popular musician, Monica Broderick was enchanting locals on the West Coast at Minnipa at the end of year school concert. She began the program with an overture, followed soon after with a popular solo which earned her an appreciative encore. She was pivotal in the finale, a Cantata, called "Dame Burden's School," where Monica played Dame Burden, training the ‘imps’ who were brought to her. Post school, Monica was also a very capable secretary for the Catholic Young Ladies who organised dances to raise funds for the Church. She was also generous in giving her time and effort in ‘39 to represent Minnipa contesting the Ambassadorial honours in the County of Le Hunte district. The two contestants were outstanding in raising £80 for the Central Eyre Peninsula Hospital at Wudinna. Councillor Broad announced at the Ball that this amount would also be subsidised by the Government.
Monica worked as a telephonist at the local post office for several years and was well recognised as a leader in the local Minnipa Community, including as a Red Cros Aid. She was also one of the community’s permanent "spotters." Early in ’42 she applied to train as a nurse and by June ’42 received a call to Whyalla Hospital.
With the outbreak of WWII, Geoffrey’s older brother, 26-year-old William, a talented engineer, was the first of the three brothers to enlist on the 1st December ’40 as SX10577. He rose to the rank of Major in the 2/4 Army Field Workshops, serving in the Middle East and New Guinea. Geoffrey’s oldest brother, 31-year-old Hedley Douglas a journalist, was next, enlisting on the 20th January ’43 as SX19101 in the 2/3rd Australian C.G.S. Two months later, 19-year-old Geoffrey enlisted on the 15th March at Wayville and was allocated the number SX19253.
While overseas, Geoffrey’s brother, then Captain William Chapman had written to the family (via Hedley) in February ’42 giving an insight into army life and the shortage of Australian uniforms and equipment. He wrote “At present I am in the Western Desert and things are fairly quiet. We have been issued with nice new English uniforms, as we are now attached to the English Army, and Australian clothing is not available. The jacket is something after the style of the Eton jacket with buttoned up front and a big collar. The back buttons down on to the trousers. All buttons are on the inside and none show when the uniform is done up. I have just remembered that today is Sunday. One usually finds out when someone asks someone else what day of the week it is. Otherwise, one day is much the same as another. The German planes have a peculiar drone about them, the noise fading and strengthening at about two second intervals. Conditions out here are not too bad except for the dust. We are now getting potatoes on the menu again. For a while we had them tinned, few and far between, but quite good to eat. I had two glasses of beer in January. The dust is still our main worry. The weather is not quite warm enough yet for swimming.”
Soon after Geoffrey enlisted, he was training at Puckapunyal, where he was unfortunate to contract measles. By the end of May the following year he was allocated to the then highly regarded 2/48th Battalion. Training in Queensland followed to prepare the new enlistees for service in the humid, tropical conditions that were designed to replicate those they would experience in New Guinea. Just prior to heading overseas, Geoffrey and his fellow soldiers in the A Company of the 7th Platoon were photographed during training in the Atherton Tableland in Queensland.
Geoffrey left Cairns at the end of March ’45 for Morotai. Unfortunately, within days he had contracted an allergic nasal inflammation called Coryza. (This was probably also a similar infection his father had experienced, and which had caused on-going poor health, despite an operation.) On rejoining his battalion, Geoffrey headed to Tarakan, where on the 25th April he was wounded in action with gunshot wounds to both ankles, with the left being the more severe injury.
In his book, Tobruk to Tarakan, John Glenn explained that the attack on Tarakan was ‘to take six whole weeks of bitter fighting, with the 2/48th in the midst of it, instead of the ten days that was expected. It was to cost the 26th Brigade about nine hundred casualties including 225 killed in action.’ He added that ‘Records show that casualties suffered on Tarakan were greater than those of either the assaulting forces on Borneo itself.’
Geoffrey travelled back to Morotai and then to Australia arriving mid-June ’45. Soon after, the July ’45 issue of the Chronicle included a list of those from the 2/48th who were affected. Killed In Action. — SX18O85 L-Cpl. Linus. J. Corcoran, Millicent. Died Of Wounds.— SX7964 Lt. Thomas C. Derrick. VC. DCM, Berri; SX17803 Pte. William (Jack) Giddings, Naracoorte. Dangerously Wounded. — SX30687 Pte Steven R. Buck Seaton Park; SX15368 L-Cpl. John K. Walsh, Spalding. Wounded In Action.— SX7670 Pte. Colin R. Aplin, Mornington SX15415 Cpl. Lindsay G. Bradford, Rose Park; SX19253 Pte. Geoffrey F. Chapman, Unley Park; SX7642 Pte. Donald J. Kerin, Burra; SX15505 L-Cpl. William B. Tremain, Payneham and SX7691 Cpl. Keith Turnbull, Bowden.
Geoffrey was treated in New Guinea, eventually left Tarakan to return to Queensland in April ’46 and then on to Sydney. Of his brothers, William was discharged on the 19th February and Hedley on the 26th that year. Geoffrey was discharged on the 19th August ’46. To mark the joy of this occasion Geoffrey’s maternal grandmother, Mrs Jane Rebecca Syme, grand-niece of Governor Hindmarsh and an enthusiastic painter, painted what would become her last picture. It was of Geoff wounded at Tarakan while serving with the 2/48th Battalion. Coincidentally, that same month Monica Broderick completed her Nursing Exams at the Royal Adeliade Hospital.
Geoff returned to study at Roseworthy College where, in March ’48 he was awarded second class honours in the Dairy Diploma List, and announced as Dux topping the list of four, all of whom were ex-servicemen and holders of the Roseworthy Diploma in Agriculture, enabling them to proceed to the diploma examination in one year on the proviso they spent six months practical in a dairy factory. A photo of Geoffrey and the other Roseworthy prize winners appeared in the March edition of the Chronicle.
By November that year, he and Monica announced their engagement ‘Monica Mary, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. A. Broderick, of Hyde Park, to Geoffrey Flinders, son of Mrs. M. I. Chapman, of Unley Park, and the late Senator J. H. Chapman.’
Aged 88, Geoffrey’s much-loved grandmother, Mrs Jane Rebecca Syme, died on the 27th December ’49. She had not lived to see Geoffrey married days later on the 3rd January ’50. The Adelaide newspapers carried the announcement that ‘Monica Mary, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. A. Broderick, of Hyde Park, will wed Geoffrey Flinders, son of Mrs. M I Chapman of Unley Park and the late Senator J. H. Chapman, at St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral, at 9 a.m., tomorrow.’
The young couple then moved to Tasmania and the first delighted announcement later that year ‘On October 21, at the Spencer Maternity Hospital, Wynyard, to Monica Mary and Geoffrey Flinders; a son (Christopher John) Both Well.’ He was later followed by the arrivals of Genevieve, Catherine and Nicholas.
On his death, Geoff’s brother Hedley Douglas donated his body to the Adelaide University for research. Geoff and his sister Shirley organised for a memorial plaque to be placed in honour of his service in the Derrick Gardens at Centennial Park as a tribute to him.
Aged 64, Monica pre-deceased Geoffrey and was buried at the Central Coast Memorial Park plot S.A.R.M. 744 Aged 98, Geoffrey died on the 25th April, 2022. His life is remembered at the Central Cast Memorial Park, Ulverstone in Tasmania. His service is also remembered in the Launceston Garden of Remembrance Wall 19 Row C.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.