William Edwin Chapman (16 December 1934 – 25 July 2005) is a former Liberal

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 member of the Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of South Australia

The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government....

 and Minister.

Chapman represented the district of Alexandra

Electoral district of Alexandra

Alexandra was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia from 1902 to 1992. The district included the Fleurieu Peninsula, to the south of Adelaide.Alexandra was renamed Finniss at the 1993 state election....

 in the South Australian House of Assembly

South Australian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...

 between 1973 and 1992. He served as Minister for Agriculture when David Tonkin

David Tonkin

Dr David Oliver Tonkin AO was the 38th Premier of South Australia, serving from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982. He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1970 election, serving until 1983. He became the leader of the South Australian division of the Liberal Party of...

 was Premier taking a lead in promoting Australian dry-land farming in the Middle East.

The following text is a quote from pollbludger.com:http://www.pollbludger.com/sa2006/finniss.htm

Alexandrina (today's Finniss) was long held by moderate factional stalwart Ted Chapman, recently deceased father of current leadership aspirant Vickie Chapman, who agreed to surrender it in 1992 to facilitate Dean Brown's return to parliament. Brown had been a leading figure among the moderates since entering parliament in 1973, and was at one stage a member of Steele Hall's Liberal Movement, a faction of which formed the nucleus of the Australian Democrats

Australian Democrats

The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...

. In 1985 he lost his seat of Davenport to Stan Evans, a Liberal MP and factional enemy who stood as an independent after failing to win a preselection showdown that followed a tough redistribution. Brown's return in Alexandrina was part of a plan by moderates to install him in the leadership in the stead of John Olsen, who was then planning a negotiated takeover from Dale Baker (who had replaced Olsen as leader when he moved to the Senate after his second election defeat). Olsen also faced the hurdle of not being in state parliament, which he was negotiating through the voluntary retirement of Roger Goldsworthy in Kavel. Brown and Olsen both won by-elections held on 9 May 1992 and a leadership showdown followed immediately, at which Brown extracted revenge for his defeat in the previous bout after the Tonkin government's election defeat in 1982.

Since 2002

South Australian legislative election, 2002

State elections were held in South Australia on 9 February 2002. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia Rob Kerin was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...

, his daughter Vickie Chapman

Vickie Chapman

Vickie Ann Chapman is an Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bragg for the Liberal Party since 2002. She was Deputy Leader of the South Australian Opposition from 30 March 2006 until 4 July 2009.-Early life:Chapman was born in Kangaroo Island...

has also been a Liberal member of the South Australian parliament.

Chapman died in hospital in July 2005 after incurring a brain hemorrhage two months earlier.