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The papers comprise official, personal and academic correspondence, diaries, photographs, patrol reports, field notebooks, conference papers, lectures, broadcasts, articles, anthropological writings and research material, translations of German and French texts, administration handbooks and ordinances, publications on anthropology, language and education, United Nations reports and publications and other papers.
The papers relate to Chinnery's career in the territories of Papua and New Guinea as a Patrol Officer, Government Anthropologist, and Director of the Department of District Services and Native Affairs, and a Director of Native Affairs and Commonwealth Advisor on Native Affairs in Australia. There are also papers relating to Chinnery's association with the Far Eastern Liaison Office during World War II, the South Seas Commission Conference (1947), United Nations missions to Africa, and all aspects of Papua New Guinea, including history, exploration, anthropology, genealogy, language, education, health, missions, crimes and discipline, native rights, mining, trade and pre-war, wartime and post-war administration.
Among the correspondents are many notable anthropologists and administrators such as Sir Staniforth Smith, John Taylor, C.L.A. Abbott, Bill Harney, A.P. Elkin, Theodor Strehlow, Camilla Wedgwood, Olive Pink, Sir Baldwin Spencer, A.C. Haddon and Margaret Mead.
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn461080).
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Ernest William Pearson Chinnery, National Library of Australia, MS 766, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
The Chinnery Papers were purchased from Chinnery's daughters in 1994 and 1997. One of Chinnery's daughters, Mrs Sheila Waters, extensively listed the papers, describing their order before they were transferred to the Library. These lists, annotated with citation numbers for the present arrangement, are located in box 56. Some lists were also interspersed with the papers.
Diaries of Sarah Chinnery are held at MS 8974.
The series have been arranged broadly into five sections: personal correspondence and photographs (Series 1-2); material arising directly from Chinnery's various positions (Series 3-14); anthropological material (Series 15-22); publications (Series 23-28) and family letters, diaries and notebooks (Series 29-30). The anthropological material may be seen as subsets of the contemporaneous administrative material.
Maps have been transferred to Map Collection (list available). Duplicate negatives of the Chinnery photographs are held in the PictURES Collection.
The two principal elements in this series are correspondence with anthropologists and correspondence regarding changes in Chinnery's career. Includes some copies of Chinnery's letters.
Including Victoria, 1916-65; New South Wales, 1917; Territory of New Guinea, 1939; Queensland, 1949; South Australia, 1964-68.
Including Cambridge, 1927; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 1929; Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 1932, 1937; Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1968-69.
Correspondents include Herbert Brookes, Admiral Goodenough, W.E. Dunk, W.D. Forsyth, and Hortense and Florence Powdermaker.
Correspondents include R. Halligan, G. Townsend, W.B. Fagg, W.C. Klein, J.K. Murray, M.J. Herskovits, T.N.M. Buesst, Harold J. Coolidge, J.T. Gunther, T.V. Lowney, W.C Groves, H.E. Maude and Sir Brian Freeston.
Correspondents include H. Laurent, Ralph Bunche, H.B Manderson, F. Rose, Kathleen Rishbeth, Ron Berndt, F.F. Degenhardt, G. Heaton Nichols, N.H.M. Bowden, Paul Hasluck, H.G. Barnett, Anita Pritchard, J.B. Watson and Jacques Rapoport.
Correspondents include Captain M.B. Pears, Valerie Austin, Paul Hasluck, Miss B. Dalle, Mrs P.M. Greenop, Dorothy Rolph, J.K. McCarthy, G.G. Burton-Bradley, Helen Nurton, P.J. Clay and Marion Hearnshaw.
Other photographs are included in Series 7 (Morobe District Administration and Exploration), 12 (United Nations, 13 (Congresses and Conferences) and 20 (Anthropological Research).
(Original at Folder 6).
(Original held in folio run).
This file was added in 1997.
Documenting Infant and Maternal Welfare Services, goldmining, fishing and other topics. This file was added in 1997.
Chinnery first went to Papua in 1909, and became a patrol officer in 1910, working in the Mambare and Kumusi Divisions. This series contains files of correspondence, patrol reports, expedition reports, diaries, notes, sketches, maps and annual reports.
Correspondents include Atlee Hunt, A.M. Campbell, P.O. Jackson, W. Bowden, W. Beaver and H.W. Champion. These files were added in 1997.
Chinnery was Labour Adviser, New Guinea Copper Mines Ltd., 1921-24. The papers include correspondence, a chronology of Chinnery's movements in Papua from November 1920 to September 1921, notes and a booklet and article on the company. Other papers relating to this period on Chinnery's career are in series 16 (Native Labour), 18 (Native Languages) and 30 (Diaries and Notebooks).
Chinnery was appointed Government Anthropologist in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea in 1924. The papers in this series include correspondence, copies of letters by Chinnery, reports, Chinnery's reports and recommendations to the Government Secretary, observations made on trips, notes, conference proceedings, annual reports of the Government Anthropologist and census data. Major correspondents include the Administrator Evan A. Wisdom, the Government Secretary, the District Inspector John Walstab, Professor A.R. Radcliffe-Brown and Cecil Anderson.
Other papers relating to this period on Chinnery's career are in series 15 (Native Rights), 16 (Native Labour), 18 (Native Languages), 19 (Depopulation), 20 (Anthroppological Research) and 30 (Diaries and Notebooks).
Chinnery was director of the Department from 1932 to 1938. The papers include monthly and annual reports to the Administrator in Rabaul on the Department's activities, notes, copies of letters to the Administrator (T. Griffiths), extracts of patrol reports, an interview and cuttings.
Other papers relating to this period on Chinnery's career are in series 7 (Morobe District Administration and Exploration), 15 (Native Rights), 16 (Native Labour), 17 (Native Education), 18 (Native Languages), 19 (Depopulation) and 30 (Diaries and Notebooks).
A series of files covering especially the time just prior to and during Chinnery's period as Director of the Department of District Services and Native Affairs in the Mandated Territory, 1932-38. The papers include patrol reports, correspondence, reports to the Administrator in Rabaul, manuscript maps, extracts of diaries of M.J. Leahy, photographs and a press statement.
See also series 6 (Department of District Services and Native Affairs).
The Native Affairs Branch of the Northern Territory Administration was created in 1939. The Branch assumed responsibility for Aborigines after the split of the Medical Service, Health and Aboriginals Branch. The Native Affairs Branch moved from Darwin to Alice Springs in 1942, returning to Darwin in 1946.
The papers mainly comprise reports to the Administrator of the Northern Territory, C.L.A. Abbott; correspondence with J.A. Carrodus of the Department of Interior, V. White (Deputy Director of Native Affairs) and others; and other material including policy documents, legislation, memoranda, cuttings, extracts of Cabinet minutes and annual reports.
Other papers relating to this period on Chinnery's career are in series 16 (Native Labour), 19 (Depopulation), 20 (Anthropological Research) and 30 (Diaries and Notebooks). A typescript item list of most of this series, produced by Chinnery's daughter, Mrs Sheila Waters, is located at the end of the collection.
Chinnery's advice and experience of working in Papua New Guinea were sought by FELO on matters such as use of native carrier transport, treatment of natives, and travel in New Guinea for the purpose of training and equipping soldiers and re-establishing administrative activities in the outlying areas of the country which had been disorganised by enemy action. The papers include correspondence, reports, cuttings and publications.
Files relating to Commonwealth external territories including typescript reports by Chinnery, printed reports, cuttings, legislation, notes, meeting papers, press releases, lectures, printed material, syllabus papers, correspondence with officers of the Department of External Territories, and reports by the Department and others on external territories.
The South Seas Commission was established in 1947 by Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and the United States to promote the economic and social welfare of the people of the South Pacific. The South Seas Commission Conference preceded the establishment of the South Pacific Commission. Chinnery was secretary of the conference held in Canberra on 28 Jan - 6 Feb 1947.
The series comprises mainly papers from the 1947 conference and reports, 1950-51.
Chinnery took part in UN visiting missions to Tanganyika and Ruanda-Urundi in 1948.
Papers in this series comprise correspondence, cuttings, reports, papers read by Chinnery, photographs and resolutions, summaries of discussions, minutes and other conference papers.
Lectures and broadcasts by Chinnery on New Guinea. They also include cuttings, flyers, correspondence and lecture notes. Other lectures by Chinnery are in series 16 (Native Labour).
Files on native rights dating from Chinnery's period as Government Anthropologist and Director of the Department of District Services and Native Affairs as well as material from the 1960s and 1970s. The papers include manuscript and typescript notes, copies of correspondence and reports, and minutes. See also series 5 and 6.
Papers dating from Chinnery's period as Labour Adviser with New Guinea Copper Mines, Government Anthropologist, Director of the Department of District Services and Native Affairs, and Director of the Northern Territory Native Affairs Branch.
The papers include legislation, manuscript notes, typescript reports, addresses by Chinnery, statistical data, correspondence, questionnaires and conference papers.
See also series 4, 5, 6 and 8.
Reports, tables, syllabus' and publications mainly dating from Chinnery's period as Director of District Services and Native Affairs. See also series 6.
Printed and typescript grammars and vocabularies, articles, manuscript stories and essays dating from Chinnery's periods with New Guinea Copper Mines, Government Anthropologist and Director of District Services and Native Affairs. See also series 4, 5 and 6.
Includes 'Stories of our natives sweetheart untill marry' and 'Storyes of natives through white people.'
Files on depopulation containing material dating from Chinnery's period as Government Anthropologist, Director of the Departmetn of District Services and Native Affairs and Commonwealth Advisor on Native Affairs. See also Series 5, 6 and 8.
Patrol report extracts, correspondence, drawings, sketch maps, notes, reports, photographs, statistical data and other papers dating from Chinnery's period as Government Anthropologist and Commonwealth Advisor on Native Affairs as well as from the 1960s and 1970s. See also series 5 and 8.
Reported abortion practices in Tabar, New Guinea
Tensions affecting the indigenous population leading to shame fear
Printed reports by Chinnery in his capacity as Government Anthropologist. See also series 5.
Translations of administrative, anthropological and missionary texts, mostly from German.
Publications by or about Chinnery.
Rev. Johannes Flierl: Is the New Guinea primitive race destined to perish at the hands of European civilization? Observations and Experiences, 1936. Christ in New Guinea for young and old, 1932. 1886-1936, Ein dankbarer Rückblick ... zum Jubiläum der Lutherischen Mission auf Neu Guinea, 1936. Vom Reitochsen zum Flugzeug ... zum Jubiläum der Lutherischen Mission auf Neu Guinea, 1936. Into the land that time forgot: souvenir of the beginning of the Australian New Guinea Mission, 1951. Missionary Emil Hannemann, Keys to the Papuan's soul, n.d
This file was added in 1997
These file was added in 1997
Letters to his mother, father, sister, brother, wife and children written from Papua, New Guinea, Northern Territory, United States, Africa, and France.
This series was added in 1997. Further papers added in 1997 are found in Series 1 (General correspondence), 2 (Photographs), 3 (Administration of the Territory of Papua), 28 (Miscellanea) and 30 (Diaries and Notebooks).
Diaries, notebooks and files of statistics, arranged and listed by Sheila Waters. The diaries cover Chinnery's work in Papua, New Guinea and the Northern Territory and include additional material such as reports, notes on tribes and population statistics. Most of the diaries and some of the supporting material have been transcribed by Sheila Waters.
This series was added in 1997. Further papers added in 1997 are found in Series 1 (General correspondence), 2 (Photographs), 3 (Administration of the Territory of Papua), 28 (Miscellanea) and 29 (Family Letters).