When Champion arrived in Port Moresby, the town consisted of little more than twenty buildings clustered around the harbour, home to a non-indigenous population of some 35 men and 15 women.
[2] Champion occupied a corrugated-iron cottage on the site of Burns Philps' recently constructed wharf and warehouse, and was responsible for overseeing the loading and unloading of the company’s vessels.
Their eldest son, Ivan, later won fame as a leading explorer of Papua, and with Charles Karius, undertook the two great journeys of the North-West Patrol.
[7] Although Murray, whose private correspondence with the Prime Minister triggered the call for a Royal Commission and whose deeply critical testimony was instrumental in the removal of the incumbent officials, was viewed with distrust and dislike by the local non-indigenous community,[8] in 1908 he was appointed Lieutenant Governor.
As Government Secretary, Champion was in effect the chief executive officer of the territory, responsible for day-to-day operation of an administration that was starved of funds,[1] experiencing the upheaval of the transition from a remote British protectorate to an Australian territory increasingly occupied by ambitious immigrants eager to develop the agricultural and mineral resources of the region, and led by distracted and frequently absent principals embroiled in political infighting.
[10] As a consequence, Champion was active throughout the administration of the Territory, taking on the role of commissioner of lands, registrar of titles and public curator when circumstances required.
As the head of the public service, Champion was frequently asked for advice in matters where a conflict of interest could arise between his role in the government and the small Port Moresby community,[1] which he dealt with, as Hubert Leonard Murray later put it, "with machine-like impartiality.
"[13] Impartiality was central to Champion's role as the head of the Magistracy and the Police, locally known as the "outside service",[10] the departments that undertook the practical work of implementing what became known as the "Murray policy" of colonial administration.
While he helped his step-son find a position in the civil service on the grounds that he was a returned serviceman and thus eligible for preferential treatment, Champion rejected his own sons' applications for government appointments.
[15] It was not until a chance meeting in Sydney with Hubert Murray, which led to the Lieutenant-Governor's direct intervention on his behalf, that Ivan was able to join the government service as a patrol officer.
However, after Australia's entry into World War II and military preparations in Papua against an expected Japanese invasion, it became clear that the days of the civilian administration were numbered.