Sir Frederick Charles Chaney (20 October 1914 – 17 December 2001) was an Australian politician. He served as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1955 to 1969, as federal

Minister for the Navy Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

from 1964 to 1966, as

Administrator of the Northern Territory The Administrator of the Northern Territory is an official appointed by the Governor-General of Australia to represent the government of the Commonwealth in the Northern Territory, Australia. They perform functions similar to those of a state go ...

from 1970 to 1973, and finally as

Lord Mayor of Perth __TOC__ The history of the City of Perth, a local government area of Western Australia is defined over three distinct periods: *From 1829 to 1838 — controlled by the Governor of Western Australia *From 1838 to 1858 — controlled by the ''P ...

from 1978 to 1982.

Early life

Chaney was born in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, Western Australia and educated in state and Catholic schools. As a result of his sporting ability he won a scholarship to attend

Christian Brothers' College, Perth Christian Brothers College (CBC), informally known as CBC Perth or The Terrace was an Independent school for boys situated on St Georges Terrace in the centre of Perth, Western Australia. The college opened in January 1894, and the college was a f ...

. He taught in state schools from 1932 and married Mavis, a fellow teacher, in 1938. In 1941, he enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

as a pilot and flying instructor and served in Australia,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...

and was awarded the Air Force Cross. Chaney and his wife had four sons (including

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...

, a deputy leader of the Liberal Party;

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

, a businessman; and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

, a judge) and three daughters.

Politics

Chaney was elected at the

1955 election The following elections occurred in the year 1955. Africa * 1955 Liberian general election * 1955 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1955 Cambodian parliamentary election * 1955 Indonesian Constituent Assembly election * 1955 Indon ...

as the Liberal member for the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Austra ...

seat of

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

. He was appointed

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

' December 1963 ministry, but not sworn in until 4 March 1964, due to the need to pass legislation to enlarge the ministry. In the interim, on 10 February 1964 the

Melbourne–Voyager collision The ''Melbourne''–''Voyager'' collision, also known as the ''Melbourne''–''Voyager'' incident or simply the ''Voyager'' incident, was a collision between two warships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN); the aircraft carrier and the dest ...

took place, and Chaney was responsible for dealing with its repercussions. He was not reappointed to

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in ...

's second ministry in December 1966 and he was defeated at the 1969 election by

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate,

Joe Berinson Joseph Max Berinson (7 January 1932 – 2 June 2018) was an Australian politician who represented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the Australian House of Representatives and the Western Australian Legislative Council. He was Minister for th ...

. Chaney was the

from 1970 to 1973 and was a strong advocate for Aboriginal

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land u ...

. He was

from 1978 to 1982. He was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in 1970 and

Knight Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mi ...

of the Order (KBE) in 1981.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaney, Fred 1914 births 2001 deaths Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Perth Members of the Australian House of Representatives Mayors and Lord Mayors of Perth, Western Australia Australian recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Administrators of the Northern Territory People educated at Christian Brothers' College, Perth Australian schoolteachers 20th-century Australian politicians