Frederick Chaney

Sir Frederick Charles Chaney was born in 1914 at Fremantle, and educated at Aquinas College. With limited job opportunities during the Depression, he applied for a position in the WA Education Department rather than pursue Engineering at the University. He was appointed to a one-teacher school at Jarrahwood, then to Malyalling, where he stayed until the outbreak of war. There the future Administrator of the Northern Territory met Les Johnson, a future Administrator of Papua New Guinea, who was at a neighbouring one-teacher school. Both enlisted. Chaney in the RAAF and Johnson in the Army.

He trained as a pilot, qualifying as a flying instructor before serving in Papua New Guinea andBorneo. He flew Auster aircraft with 16 Air Observation Flight, directing artillery fire and rescuing wounded from combat zones or behind enemy lines. ‘The courage skill and resourcefulness’ he displayed in several hazardous rescue operations in Borneo won him the Air Force Cross.

His involvement with the RSL, which he joined on discharge from the RAAF in 1945, led to him becoming the first World War II returned service man to become a State President. After three years he resigned to enter politics. Chaney was elected to the House of Representatives as Member for Perth in 1955. He later served as Administrator of the Northern Territory (1970 to 1973) and as Lord Mayor of the City of Perth (1978 to 1982). Frederick Chaney was knighted in 1982.

Photograph from NAA A1200 L41579 Obituaries Australia; National Centre of Biography, Australian National University