# Ivan Champion > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ivan_Champion > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ivan_Champion.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Champion > Source revision: 1310488730 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Australian public servant}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Ivan Champion | image = Ivan Champion.png | office1 = Official Member of the [Legislative Council](/source/Legislative_Council_of_Papua_and_New_Guinea) | term1 = 1951–1963 | birth_date = 9 March 1904 | birth_place = [Port Moresby](/source/Port_Moresby), [Papua](/source/Territory_of_Papua) | death_date = {{death date and age|1989|8|12|1904|3|9|df=y}} | death_place = [Canberra](/source/Canberra), Australia }} '''Ivan Francis Champion''' {{post-nominals|OBE}} (9 March 1904 – 12 August 1989) was an Australian public servant in Papua New Guinea. He served as a member of the [Legislative Council](/source/Legislative_Council_of_Papua_and_New_Guinea) between 1951 and 1963. ==Biography== Champion was born in [Port Moresby](/source/Port_Moresby) in 1904, the eldest son of [Herbert William](/source/Herbert_William_Champion) and Florence Louise May Mary Chester Champion (née Foran).[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/champion-ivan-francis-12306 Champion, Ivan Francis (1904–1989)] Australian Dictionary of Biography His father served as Government Secretary of the [Territory of Papua](/source/Territory_of_Papua) from 1913 to 1942. He attended Port Moresby European School from 1911 to 1914, Manly Public School in Sydney in 1915, and then [the Southport School](/source/the_Southport_School) in Queensland from 1916 to 1922. Unable to fulfil his ambition to join the navy due to poor eyesight and discouraged from becoming a [patrol officer](/source/kiap) in Papua by his father, who was concerned about accusations of nepotism,[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/champion-herbert-william-5549 Champion, Herbert William (1880–1972)] Australian Dictionary of Biography he began working for [Union Bank](/source/Union_Bank_of_Australia) in Sydney. However, he was able to join the Papuan civil service following a 1923 meeting with Papua's Lieutenant-Governor [Hubert Murray](/source/Hubert_Murray), becoming a cadet clerk the following May. He was initially posted to [Kerema](/source/Kerema), before being transferred to [Kambisi](/source/Kambisi) to help run a new police post the following year. After impressing his superior [Charles Karius](/source/Charles_Karius), he was chosen as Karius' assistant for an attempt to cross New Guinea across the Central Range in 1926–27. Although the first attempt ended in failure, a second attempt in 1927–28 was successful. Following the expeditions, he served in Kambisi, [Ioma](/source/Ioma), [Misima Island](/source/Misima_Island), [Rigo](/source/Rigo_District) and the [Trobriand Islands](/source/Trobriand_Islands). In September 1929 he married Elsie May Sutherland Ross in Port Moresby. He subsequently published a book about the patrols, ''Across New Guinea from the Fly to the Sepik'', in 1932.[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-340371539/view?partId=nla.obj-340394110#page/n52/mode/1up/search/died Obituary: Ivan the Champion] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', October 1989, p53 In 1936 he led a mission to establish a patrol post at [Lake Kutubu](/source/Lake_Kutubu), where he remained as officer-in-charge from 1937 until January 1940. He was then appointed acting resident magistrate at [Kikori](/source/Kikori), before being transferred to Misima later in the year. In 1941 he was transferred to Rigo and then back to Misima. Following the [Japanese invasion](/source/New_Guinea_campaign) in January 1942, Champion joined the militia in February, before being appointed a sub-lieutenant in the [Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve](/source/Royal_Australian_Naval_Volunteer_Reserve). He became commanding officer of HMAS ''Laurabada'' and helped evacuate soldiers from [Jacquinot Bay](/source/Jacquinot_Bay) in April 1942, earning a promotion to lieutenant in June. He then became commander of HMAS ''Paluma'', surveying the north-eastern coast of Papua and dropping off [coastwatchers](/source/coastwatchers) at their stations. He was demobilised in October 1945 and rejoined the civil service as a district officer in Western District. In 1946 Champion was appointed assistant director of the Department of District Services and Native Affairs, before serving as acting director from 1949. In 1951 he was in charge of the relief operations following a [volcanic eruption at Mount Lamington](/source/1951_eruption_of_Mount_Lamington). Later the same year he was appointed to the [Legislative Council](/source/Legislative_Council_of_Papua_and_New_Guinea) alongside his brother [Claude](/source/Claude_Champion). He became chief commissioner of the Native Land Commission in 1952, and was awarded an OBE in 1953. After becoming senior commissioner of the Land Titles Commission in 1963, he retired the following year. He then became commander of the ''Laurabada'' again, now a civil ship, and took up contracts surveying the coasts of Australia and Bangladesh. He moved to [Brisbane](/source/Brisbane), [Banora Point](/source/Banora_Point) and then [Canberra](/source/Canberra), where he died in [Woden Valley Hospital](/source/Canberra_Hospital) in August 1989. ==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Ivan}} Category:1904 births Category:People from the National Capital District (Papua New Guinea) Category:People educated at the Southport School Category:Territory of Papua people Category:Australian public servants Category:Papua New Guinean civil servants Category:Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea Category:Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:1989 deaths Category:Royal Australian Navy officers Category:Australian expatriates in Papua New Guinea --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ivan Champion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Champion) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Champion?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.