Seat of Government Act 1904—he stated in August 1906 that, "I will defend Dalgety to the end. Any change from the selection already made can only be achieved over my political corpse." In early 1908, he conceded that Canberra was "the second best site, but Dalgety easily stands first." As the process finally reached its conclusion, later in 1908, Chapman was suffering ill health. In his absence, although he had been paired for the ballots so as not to prejudice the outcome, at the ninth ballot Dalgety went down to Yass-Canberra by 39 votes to 33. However, once Canberra had been selected, Chapman strenuously advocated the development of the site on the Molonglo River near Queanbeyan, which like Dalgety was in his electorate. The success of his efforts benefited many of his friends who owned land in the area, and also greatly boosted trade in Queanbeyan, the nearest town to the site. He 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. He was survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons, James Austin Chapman and John Austin Chapman who both became distinguished soldiers. The Canberra suburb of Chapman was named after him. References 1864 births 1926 deaths Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Eden-Monaro Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian federationists Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Bowral Politicians from Sydney Australian auctioneers Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Defence ministers of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Ministers for Health