Captain Arthur Phillip. Bathampton

On Maps and Chaps  (Bathampton and Arthur Phillip)

There's that old aphorism which says that geography is about maps and history's about chaps. It does not tell the whole story but gives the general idea. Clearly the two are related - an event (involving one or more chaps) takes place in some location (on a map). A situation in which the time axis and the space axis intersect unexpectedly can leave some lasting memories.

This happened for my wife and me. She has always been a history buff and my interest has been in geography. (And yes indeed, it was a memorable occasion when her time axis and my space axis intersected at our marriage many years ago.)

But I am thinking of a memorable epiphany for us which occurred when we found out how a well-known chap in Australian history is associated with a village in England which, I must admit, we had never heard of.

It was a muggy summer's day and we were driving to Bath. We planned to find a B&B there for the night and be ready next day to enjoy what that city had to offer. My navigator, map in hand, correctly orientated, mentioned that according to her calculation, we would soon be in Bath. Countryside soon gave way to urban landscape and we checked in to the first B&B that was signposted.

Oops! It turned out we were not in Bath but in a small village a few kilometres short of the larger town. Our friendly hostess soon assured us that we had made a fortunate mistake. You're Australian. Great! Go down to our St Nicholas Church in the morning and you are in for a surprise.

St Nicholas Church in the village of Bathampton near Bath in England.

We did and we were.

The outside of the church shows a solid stone building with a solid Norman tower, such as one might see in any number of English towns. Nothing breath-taking here.

The surprise was inside. Here lies Captain Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), the founder of European settlement in Australia and the first Governor of the new colony of New South Wales. And it was not just a simple slab marking his remains. The whole of the south aisle of the church has been redesigned to make an Australian chapel in his honour.

After four demanding years establishing this English outpost in the antipodes he returned to England and when he retired he settled in Bath, but before that he had lived for some time in Bathampton. It is here that he was buried.

Burial place of Captain Arthur Phillip, first Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, located in the church of St Nicholas in Bathampton.

For many years there was no interest in his final resting place. His was a simple slab at the entrance to the church. Only in 1975 was this more fitting memorial to this maker of history in Australia dedicated.

I wonder how many present-day Australians know - or even care about - this little bit of Australia's history in Bathampton? For us this was a surprising meeting of history and geography