CACrown ArchivesHistory · sources · collections
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Ray Chappell

Australian politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ7297317
Source-derived summary

Raymond Francis Chappell (born 11 September 1942) is a former Australian politician. He was the National Party member for Northern Tablelands in the New South Wales Parliament from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995.

Chappell was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of Eric and Phyllis Chappell. He was educated in Armidale in New South Wales at De La Salle College, receiving his Leaving Certificate in 1959. He went on to technical college, and was an administration clerk at the University of New England from 1960. On 1 February 1964 he married Annette Mary Napier, with whom he would have five children.

In 1968, Chappell was elected to Armidale City Council, where he served until 1983. He left the university in 1977 to open a small retail business. During this period he became active in the National Party, holding positions on the state and federal electorate councils. In 1987 he was preselected as the National candidate for the local state seat of Northern Tablelands after the local member, Labor's Bill McCarthy, had died.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ray Chappell” as australian politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1942, 1987, 1999, 1993—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1942-09-11. The account is most persuasive where Chappell, Australian and politician can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as australian politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7297317. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1987, 1999 and 1993.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ray Chappell”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ray Chappell primary sources, Ray Chappell archive and Chappell research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ray Chappell”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ray Chappell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.