John Courtenay Chanter (17 February 1881 – 23 February 1962) was an Australian politician and a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

between 1943 and 1947. He was a member of the Labor Party (ALP).

Early life

Chanter was born in Panoomilloo near

Rochester, Victoria Rochester is a small town in rural Victoria, Australia. It is located north of Melbourne with a mixture of rural and semi-rural communities on the northern Campaspe River, between Bendigo and the Murray River port of Echuca. At the , Rochester ...

and was the son of

John Chanter John Moore Chanter (11 February 1845 – 9 March 1931) was an Australian politician, farmer and commission agent. He was a member of the Protectionist Party, as well as the Australian Labor Party and the Nationalist Party of Australia. Ear ...

and Mary Anne Clark. His father was a farmer and politician who represented the seats of

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

and

Deniliquin Deniliquin () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area. Deniliquin is located at the intersection of the Riverina ...

in the Legislative Assembly between 1885 and 1901 as a

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

. He held ministerial office as the Secretary of Mines in the government of

George Dibbs Sir George Richard Dibbs KCMG (12 October 1834 – 5 August 1904) was an Australian politician who was Premier of New South Wales on three occasions. Early years Dibbs was born in Sydney, son of Captain John Dibbs, who 'disappeared' in the sa ...

. John Chanter, sr. was also the member for

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

in the Australian House of Representatives at various times between 1901 and 1922. He was a member of the Protectionist Party until 1909, the Australian Labor Party and, after the Labor Party split of 1916, the Nationalist Party. John Chanter Jr. was educated at the State Primary School

Moama Moama ( or ) is a town in the Riverina district of southern New South Wales, Australia, in the Murray River Council local government area. The town is directly across the Murray River from the larger town of Echuca in the neighbouring state of Vi ...

. He established a sawmilling business in Barham and a wheat farm in

Tongala Tongala is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of northern Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Campaspe local government area, between Kyabram and Echuca, north of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Tongala had a population of ...

. In 1927 he moved permanently to New South Wales and became a prominent wheat farmer in

Lake Cargelligo Lake Cargelligo () is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on Lake Cargelligo. It is in Lachlan Shire. At the , Lake Cargelligo had a population of 1,479 people. Its name is said to be a corruption of the Aboriginal ...

. Chanter was involved in local organizations in Tongala and Lake Cargellico including the show societies, Wheatgrowers Union and Freemasons. He was elected to the position of councillor for Deakin Shire in Victoria between 1919 and 1926 and was the shire president in 1925–26. He was also elected to Lachlan Shire Council in New South Wales between 1928 and 1945 and was the president in 1940–1.

Military service

In 1901, Chanter served with the 'D' Squadron, NSW Citizen's Bushmen Regiment during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

. He also served with the

Light Horse Regiment The Johannesburg Light Horse Regiment (formerly the Light Horse Regiment), is a reserve armoured car reconnaissance unit of the South African Army. History Anglo Boer War The Imperial Light Horse was raised by the British in Johannesburg ...

of the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...

during the Gallipoli and Damascus campaigns of the First World War. He attained the rank of Major and was awarded the DSO in 1919.

State Parliament

Chanter was elected to parliament as the Labor member for Lachlan at the September 1943

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

caused by the death of the incumbent Country Party member

Griffith Evans Griffith Conrad Evans (11 May 1887 – 8 December 1973) was a mathematician working for much of his career at the University of California, Berkeley. He is largely credited with elevating Berkeley's mathematics department to a top-tier research d ...

. His victory represented a 10% swing to the governing Labor party in a traditionally conservative area. Chanter defended the seat at the 1944 state election, but he was defeated by the Country Party's

Robert Medcalf Robert George Medcalf (17 July 1887 – 9 June 1963) was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

. He then retired from public life and resumed farming. He did not hold party, parliamentary or ministerial offices.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chanter, John 1881 births 1962 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian farmers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Sawmillers