ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collections

HMSS 0409 Cooleman and the Champion Family

Scope and Content Notes
Call Number	HMSS 0409
Collection	Cooleman and the Champion Family
Date Range	1904-1971
Quantity	0.02 (1 wallet)
Access Conditions	open
Copying Conditions	with attribution
Related Collections	HMSS 0462 Bibaringa Homestead Photographs - Before and After the 2003 Bushfire

The property was originally named ‘Allawah’. It was a Soldier Settlement block from the divided ‘Yarralumla’ property, located in the Weston Creek district. Ken Anderson, who purchased the lease in 1926, sold it in 1936 to Philip and Katherine Champion.

The Champions renamed their new property ‘Cooleman’, and built a modern homestead with bricks made on the property. The house, on the southern slopes of Mt Arawang, was situated about where Bertel Crescent now intersects Neil Place in Chapman, and the property covered much of the present suburbs of Chapman and Rivett. The Champions ran sheep and cattle and grew lucerne. The property was resumed in the late 1960s, and about 1970 Philip moved to 17 Adinda Street, Waramanga, the first suburb in the new Weston Creek development.

Philip Hulburd Champion was born in Scotby, England, on 20 February 1890, and died on 4 November 1976 in Canberra. He and his wife Katherine, who died on 30 January 1968, are buried in the Anglican section of Woden Cemetery. Beatrice Katherine Robertson was the daughter of a District Commissioner in India, and met Philip while he was serving there in the British Army. They married in 1919 and had three children in England: Philip Alistair born 28 June 1920; Heather Marjorie born 18 January 1924, and Benjamin, born 13 June 1925.

The family emigrated to Canberra soon after Ben was born and farmed at ‘Pine Range’ in Belconnen from about 1927. The children attended Canberra Grammar and Canberra Girls Grammar schools. Phil was a member of the Canberra Grammar School Council 1941-1951. Philip junior became an engineer in Sydney, Heather married John de Salis of ‘Soglio’, Michelago, and Ben, having served in the RAAF 1944-1946, seems to have worked on ‘Cooleman’ until its resumption.

The collection as received consisted of a collection of 30 photographs dating from 1904 to 1971. Some captions have been enhanced by later information provided by Ben Champion, and location information relating to later Canberra roads and places included. To these has been added a short biography compiled by Library staff, and copies of research notes on the family and the property provided in part by Ben Champion but drawn mainly from the collections of the ACT Heritage Library.

Box List
Image Number	Description	Size (cm)	Black and white or Colour	Date
1	Yarralumla homestead	16 x 21	Black and white	1904
2	Katherine Champion, studio portrait by Sweatman Hedgeland, Maidstone, England	12 x 17	Black and white	1911
3	Philip Hulburd Champion, studio portrait by Sweatman Hedgeland, Maidstone, England, inscribed ‘C.B.’ Xmas 1911	10 x 14	Black and white	1911
4	Phil Champion with a Murray cod caught at Childowla on the Murrumbidgee River below Burrinjuck Dam, with Mr Brackenreg and possibly also with Evie Harvey, dentist at Kingston	11 x 16	Black and white	1940s
5	Phil Champion holding his son Philip, and Phil’s father Philip; possibly taken in England prior to leaving for Australia	14 cm diameter	Black and white	Ca 1926
6	Cooleman homestead	7 x 11	Black and white	1938
7	Philip H Champion preparing the gardens at Cooleman, using a Howard tractor	8 x 11	Black and white	1938
8	Droving cattle through the Long Paddock on Cooleman; photograph taken from the corner of Perry Drive and Namatjira Drive looking south	7 x 11	Black and white	1937
9	Heather, Ben and Philip Champion on the site of the War Memorial; the boys are wearing the Canberra Grammar School uniform	7 x 11	Black and white	1938
10	Stacking lucerne on Cooleman; photograph taken from below Streeton Drive	7 x 11	Black and white	1942
11	Bulldozing on Cooleman; photograph taken looking south from corner of Perry Drive and Namatjira Drive, Chapman	7 x 11	Black and white	1952
12	Katherine Champion and Heather at Canberra airport; the aircraft is a De Havilland Rapide	7 x 11	Black and white	1939/1940
13	Heather Champion skiing at Cooleman	7 x 11	Black and white	1943
14	Cattle on Cooleman; photograph taken looking west from corner Bangalay Crescent and Streeton Drive, Rivett	7 x 11	Black and white	1957
15	Snow at Cooleman homestead, Chapman	9 x 13	Colour	1960
16	Ben Champion rabbitting on the site of the Tuggeranong Parkway, western side of Mt Taylor	6 x 9	Black and white	1952
17	Visiting delegation at Cooleman, looking south from the corner of Bangalay Crescent and Streeton Drive, Rivett	7 x 11	Black and white	1957
18	Lucerne paddock on Cooleman; site is opposite Chapman School, off Streeton Drive	7 x 11	Black and white	Ca 1936/1937
19	Philip Champion dagging sheep at Pine Range, Weetangera	8 x 10	Black and white	Ca 1930
20	Woden Valley, suburb of Pearce in the foreground, from Mt Taylor	9 x 13	Colour	June 1970
21	Woden Valley from Mt Taylor; photographer Ben Champion	9 x 13	Colour	1963
22	Dog in the garden and sheep grazing in the paddock, Cooleman homestead, Chapman	9 x 13	Colour	1965
23	Sheep grazing near Cooleman homestead, Chapman	9 x 13	Colour	1965
24	Cooleman homestead, Chapman	9 x 13	Colour	1963
25	Cooleman homestead, Chapman, with stockyards in front and Cooleman Ridge behind; photograph taken from corner Kapunda Street and Namatjira Drive, Fisher, looking west	9 x 13	Colour	1965
26	Driveway and Cooleman homestead, Chapman	9 x 13	Colour	Ca 1965
27	Crop-spraying aircraft on Cooleman, top of Namatjire Drive; Ben Champion beside the plane; aircraft owned by Aerial Agriculture, spreading superphosphate	9 x 13	Colour	1965
28	Homestead at Cooleman, Chapman, with Mt Arawang behind; photograph taken from corner of Carbeen and Tristania Streets, Rivett	9 x 13	Colour	October 1969
29	Canberra from Mt Ainslie, looking southwest	9 x 13	Colour	1969
30	Philip Hulburd Champion and dog at Cooleman, Chapman	10 x 13	Black and white	1971