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{{Short description|Australian anthropologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ernest Chinnery
| image = Middle Sepik anthropologist.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Australian anthropologist Ernest Chinnery at work in the middle Sepik, 1920s
| birth_name = Ernest William Pearson Chinnery
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1887|11|5}}
| birth_place = [[Waterloo, Victoria]], [[Australia]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1972|12|17|1887|11|5}}
| death_place = [[Prahran, Victoria]], [[Australia]]
| nationality = Australian
| other_names = Chin
| known_for =
| spouse = {{marriage |[[Sarah Chinnery]]|April 1919|March 1970|end=died}}
| occupation = Anthropologist
}}
'''Ernest William Pearson Chinnery''' (5 November 1887 – 17 December 1972) was an [[Australians|Australian]] [[anthropologist]], [[Ethnography|ethnographer]], and public servant.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chinnery-ernest-william-pearson-5583 |title=Chinnery, Ernest William Pearson (1887–1972) |last=West |first=Francis |chapter=Ernest William Pearson Chinnery (1887–1972) |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |access-date=2020-03-18}}</ref> He worked as a senior colonial official and held many appointments throughout his career, such as Government Anthropologist in the Territory of Papua and Director of the Northern Territory Department of Native Affairs.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chapter 17. E.W.P. Chinnery: A Self-Made Anthropologist |url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p22891/html/ch17.html |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=press-files.anu.edu.au}}</ref> He worked extensively in [[Papua New Guinea]] and visited communities along the [[Sepik]] river.

== Early life ==
Ernest Chinnery was born on November 5, 1887 in [[Waterloo, Victoria]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chinnery Collection {{!}} National Library of Australia (NLA) |url=https://www.library.gov.au/research/guides-and-resources/guides-selected-collections/c-d/chinnery-collection |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=www.library.gov.au |language=en}}</ref> to John William Chinnery, a miner, and Grace Newton (née Pearson).

== Career ==
Ernest Chinnery began working in public service administration in the Australian territory of [[Territory of Papua|Papua]] at the age of 22. After a year as a clerk he was appointed to be a patrol officer in lands yet unexplored by the Australian settlers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Gray |first=Geoffrey |date=2003 |title=There Are Many Difficult Problems: Ernest William Pearson Chinnery: Government Anthropologist |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25169656 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=313–330 |doi=10.1080/0022334032000154065 |jstor=25169656 |issn=0022-3344|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1917, he entered the [[Australian Flying Corps]] and served as Lieutenant, Air Mechanic 2nd Class, in [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lieutenant Ernest William Pearson Chinnery |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10678910 |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=www.awm.gov.au |language=en}}</ref> After Chinnery was demobilized in England he attended [[University of Cambridge]], where he was mentored by [[Alfred Cort Haddon]], and obtained a degree in anthropology in 1919.<ref name=":1" />

Chinnery returned to Papua in 1921 as a native labor supervisor in the [[Mining in Papua New Guinea|mines]] at New Guinea Copper. During this time he appealed to the Australian government to fund [[anthropological]] and [[Ethnography|ethnographic]] study of the Papuan people.<ref name=":1" /> This was part of an ongoing debate during the [[interwar period]] about the efficacy of anthropology and ethnography in governance and [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] of Native peoples.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Chapter 17. E.W.P. Chinnery: A Self-Made Anthropologist |url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p22891/html/ch17.html |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=press-files.anu.edu.au}}</ref> As a result of these debates, the position of Government Anthropologist was created, and Chinnery assumed the position in April of 1924.<ref name=":1" />

As Government Anthropologist, Chinnery was sent on [[Field research|fieldwork]] missions to "uncontrolled" and "uncivilized" areas to study their societies and attempt to establish amicable relationships between the Australian [[Settler|settlers]] and native Papuans. Chinnery is known for spearheading the effort to train [[Cadet|cadets]] and [[Officer|officers]] in anthropology and ethnography at the [[University of Sydney]] to learn how to study the culture they sought to supersede.<ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=West |first=Francis |title=Ernest William Pearson Chinnery (1887–1972) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chinnery-ernest-william-pearson-5583 |access-date=2025-04-12 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref> He advocated for the application of anthropology to colonial governance and was a proponent of the function of the anthropologist as a mediator of [[cultural conflict]] as the Australian government pushed for control over the Territory of Papua.<ref name=":02" />

In 1932, Chinnery was promoted to Director of District Services alongside his Government Anthropologist appointment.<ref name=":02" /> He used this opportunity to conduct more surveys of Papua's indigenous population to extend control.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> By 1939, Chinnery was appointed Director of the Native Affairs Branch in the [[Northern Territory]] administration.<ref name=":02" /> He retired to [[Melbourne]] in 1947.

== Personal life ==
Ernest Chinnery married [[Sarah Chinnery|Sarah Johnston Chinnery]] (née Neill), a photographer, in 1919. Together, they had four daughters: Sheila, Patricia, Prudence, and Mary. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Chinnery Collection {{!}} National Library of Australia (NLA) |url=https://www.library.gov.au/research/guides-and-resources/guides-selected-collections/c-d/chinnery-collection |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=www.library.gov.au |language=en}}</ref> Chinnery died in [[Prahran|Pahran]] on December 17, 1972.<ref name=":1" />

==Bibliography and sources==
*Chinnery Papers (Australian National Library)
*E. J. B. Foxcroft, Australian Native Policy (Melb, 1941)
*C. D. Rowley, The Destruction of Aboriginal Society (Canb, 1970);
*Northern Territory, Annual Report, 1938–39; New Guinea, Report on the Administration of the Territory, 1938–39;
*Government Gazette (Commonwealth), 14 Sept 1939
*D. J. F. Griffiths, The Career of F. E. Williams, Government Anthropologist of Papua, 1922–1943 (M.A. thesis, Australian National University, 1977)
*Gilbert Murray papers (National Library of Australia); A56, A73, A452 59/6066, 6067, A518 C828/2 (National Archives of Australia).

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinnery, Ernest}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian anthropologists]]

Ernest Chinnery - Revision history

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