Guide to the Benjamin Francis Helpman Map Collection
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.
[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.