John Chanter

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

Chanter was born in Adelaide, South Australia,^[1] and was the son of John Chanter and Elizabeth, née Moore. He was educated at the Albert House Academy and the Collegiate School of St Peter in Adelaide, as well as at the Model Training Institution when his family relocated to Melbourne in 1856. Chanter was a storekeeper and farmer and in 1878, he became the first secretary of the Victorian Farmers' Union.

In 1881 he moved to Moama, New South Wales, as an auctioneer and commission agent where he was prominent in establishing the Australian Natives Association in New South Wales, and became its first president in 1900^[1].

His political career began in 1885 when he elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Member for Murray. He served the electorate for the next three terms before becoming the Member for Deniliquin in 1894. He held the portifolio of Secretary for Mines in the second Dibbs Ministry from 17 January 1889 to 7 March 1889.

Chanter was noted for his democratic views,^[2] and was a supporter of Edmund Barton in the lead-up to the Federation of Australia. In 1901 he was elected to the seat of Riverina in the first Australian Parliament, as a member of the Protectionist Party.

Chanter lost Riverina in 1903 to the Free Trade Party candidate Robert Blackwood, but regained it in the 1904 by-election after a petition to the High Court.^[2] Chanter opposed the Fusion of 1909, and (together with Sir William Lyne) he did not join the Commonwealth Liberal Party. Chanter instead joined the Labor Party, declaring his beliefs as closer to Labor than the Commonwealth Liberals.^[2] He again lost Riverina to Franc Falkiner, the Commonwealth Liberal Party candidate in the 1913 election, but he regained the seat for Labor in 1914.

As a result of the dispute over conscription in 1916, Chanter left the Labor Party and, together with several other former Labor members and the Liberal Party, formed the Nationalist Party. He retained Riverina until the 1922 election, when he was defeated by William Killen, candidate for the new Country Party. He was the first Member of the House of Representatives to have been defeated three times in the same seat. He was praised as a local member and, though he rarely contributed to political debate, his views were always held strongly.^[2]

Chanter married Mary Ann Clark in 1863, although she died in 1920, survived by six sons and four daughters. After his departure from politics, Chanter retired to Caulfield, Victoria, where he died in 1931 and was buried in Brighton Cemetery^[2]. One of his sons, John Courtenay Chanter (1881-1962), served in World War I and later became a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the division of Lachlan for the Labor Party.

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