Guide to the Benjamin Francis Helpman Map Collection

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MFC 42

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Helpman, Benjamin (Benjamin Francis (Frank))
Title
Benjamin Francis Helpman Map Collection
Date Range
ca. 1845
Collection Number
MFC 42
Extent
7 items in 1 map folder
Language of Materials
English
Repository
Special Collections (Maps)

Introduction

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/7857888).

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of map item], Benjamin Francis Helpman Map Collection, National Library of Australia, [item number]'.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased by the National Library from Brighton Antique Prints and Maps in October 2018.

Biographical Note

Benjamin Francis Helpman (Frank Helpman) was a Devonshire-born sailor and harbourmaster. Born in 1814, he entered the navy at the end of 1829, serving in the West Indies and North America before being posted to HMS Beagle in 1837, the period of surveying the north-western coast of Australia. In 1840 he was appointed captain of Western Australian H.M. Colonial Schooner Champion, with which he was associated until it was taken out of service in 1852. In 1842 he married Mary Ann Pace, daughter of Captain Walter Pace, who had worked for the East India Company. Ann Pace, with some assistance from her daughters, ran businesses in Perth and Fremantle. Helpman retired from colonial service in 1854 and the family moved to Victoria the same year, travelling on a vessel also named Champion. In 1857, just one month after Helpman gave evidence to a Select Committee upon Westward Harbors, this vessel collided with another Henty steamer off Cape Otway, leaving 32 dead. Helmpan was exonerated in an enquiry, but this was to be his last command. From 1861-1868 he served as Harbour Master at Warrnambool. Frank Hempman died in 1874. Sir Robert Helpmann was his great-grandson.

Item Descriptions

Plan of an anchorage under Kangaroo Island, Scale approximately 1:145,920 (Item 1)

Sketch in pencil and ink. On sheet 27 x 20 cm.

[Untitled sketch of unidentified channels] (Item 2)

Sketch in pencil and ink. Shows ships and buoys and indicates water depths. On sheet 32 x 41 cm.

Port Elliot, Scale approximately 1:3,168 (Item 3)

Sketch in pencil and ink. Shows jetty. On sheet 35 x 49 cm.

[Sketch of Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot] (Item 4)

Sketch in pencil and ink. On sheet 33 x 44 cm.

[Calculations for navigating in unidentified waters] (Item 5)

Notes in pencil on blue paper. Shows Britannia watermark. Headed 'Thursday' and 'Friday' on recto. On sheet 20 x 32 cm.

[Pages 181-182 from The South Australian Government Gazette, including text 'Sailing Directions for Gulf St Vincent' by Thomas Lipson, R.N., Naval officer and Harbour Master of the Province of South Australia. Port Adelaide], 5 July 1845 (Item 6)

Annotated on page 181.

Adelaide sailing directions [transcribing 'Sailing Directions for Gulf St Vincent' from The South Australian Government Gazette, page 181], 24 July 1845 (Item 7)

Handwritten double sided page largely in pen, with last line and marking toward lower edge of verso in pencil.


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