Joseph Chapman arrived as a 20-year-old at the port of Fremantle from Scotland on 18 October 1910 and moved to Geraldton where he worked at the Shamrock Hotel and the local brewery. A full back for the newly formed Thistle in 1913, he was promoted to captain for the 1914 season. At the end of the season he moved to Perth and by the time he had enlisted in January 1915 he had married.
In June 1915 Private Chapman landed at Gallipoli and saw action there for five months until he became ill with jaundice and evacuated to Malta. His condition worsened and he was pronounced dangerously ill with enteric fever on 14 November. Three weeks later he was out of danger and by January 1916 rejoined his unit in Egypt.
On 3 April 1916 Chapman left Alexandria for Marseilles and the Western Front. Barely two months later he was killed in action in Fleurbaix, France. He was 24 years of age. Sadly, his younger brother William, another member of the Thistle club, also served and did not survive the war. He was killed in a field in Belgium on 30 October 1917.