Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"Melville Ernest Chinner was born at Angaston SA to Alfred and Edith Chinner (née Batten). His father was a horticulturist and his mother was the daughter of a horticulturist. It seems likely that a combination of genetic and environmental influences played an important part in his particular interests outside medicine. He was an expert in growing the camellias and old-fashioned roses which adorned his garden in suburban Adelaide and he was a president of the Orchid Club of South Australia. These interests extended outside the floral world. He was an authority on Australian finches and bred many varieties of these birds in the aviaries at his home. His love of beauty extended further, to fine paintings of a conservative style, fine porcelain and glassware, fine silver and certainly fine wine. He delighted in controversy and discussion on these subjects and on sharing his interests with his many friends from many walks of life. An evening spent at 'Chin's' home was always a delightful and educational experience. Were it not for his excellence as a physician and his devotion to the practice of internal medicine, he could well have been the director of an art gallery..." - READ MORE LINK (members.racp.edu.au) by the late Dr Alan Kerr Grant 

CHINNER Melville Ernest MD FRCP FRACP FACP (Hon)

1902-1985

Melville Ernest Chinner was born, on 17th June 1902, at Angaston. He was the son of Alfred Ernest Chinner, a horticulturalist, and Edith, nee Batten whose father was also a horticulturalist. Edith was Alfred's second wife and the daughter of Mark Henry Batten and Elizabeth Thorn. Educated at St Peter’s College, Chinner studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1925. He married Helen Gwynda Margaret Weymouth, the daughter of Henry Matthew Weymouth and Adelaide Elizabeth, nee McBeath, on 26th August 1926, in St Peter’s College Chapel. He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1928 and was considered a good mediator and adjudicator. He entered general practice for ten years, but his abiding desire was to become a physician. He took up positions in teaching hospitals before WW2. Chinner had many appointments which included Honorary Assistant Physician at the ACH and Visiting Physician at Northfield Infectious Disease Wards. He was also a Tutor at St Mark's College. He found time to complete the work for his Doctorate of Medicine which was awarded, by the University of Adelaide, in 1938. He was also elected MRACP. He played Australian Rules Football, which was later replaced by golf.

Chinner became an honorary captain in the AAMC in 1939 and was called up for full-time duty on 27th June 1942 with 10 CCS at the rank of Captain, and returned to civilian practice on 21st July 1942. He was again called up for full-time duty, on 4th August 1943, and posted to 32 Camp Hospital. He transferred to the 2/AIF on 5th August 1943 and undertook the Australian Chemical Warfare Course. Chinner reported to 2/8th FdAmb on 2nd September 1943.  He was promoted to major on 2nd August 1944, and left Townsville for Buna, PNG, on the Duntroon, on 22nd November 1943, serving as a physician in 106 CCS. He remained in PNG for a year with 106 CCs and returned to Australia on 3rd September 1944. He was allocated to 121 AGH and then returned to SA to undertake locum tenens for Dr Edmund Britten-Jones, in November 1944, and was appointed to 105 AMH at that time. Apart from some minor attachments to other SA units, and admissions to hospital for minor illnesses, he remained with 105 AMH until his appointment was terminated on 6th August 1946, and he was placed on the Reserve of Officers.

Postwar, Chinner gained his FRACP in 1947. He was Honorary Assistant Physician at the RAH from 1946-1954 and Honorary Physician from 1954-1967 after which he retired from the public hospital service and continued in private practice. He was also an Honorary Visiting Physician at the RGH from 1946 to 1955 and 1962 to 1968. His years in general practice had given him an understanding of family medicine and the work of general practitioners which enable him to relate closely with patients and colleagues. He was a member of the BMA and President of the South Australian Branch of the BMA, from 1956 to 1957. He was elected a member of the Federal Council of the RACP in 1957. He was Vice-President of the RACP from 1965 to 1968, and President from 1968 to 1970. He was a member of the Medical Board of South Australia from1964 to 1975, and its President from 1970 to 1975. Chinner was a lecturer of medicine at the University of Adelaide from 1965 to 1962. He was also a lecturer in medical ethics from 1970 to 1974. He was considered a good teacher and tended to see things in black and white with only rare varieties of grey, yet his colleagues and former students liked him. He married a second time to Louise Furner Blake, daughter of H. M. Blake, a dentist, on 8th March 1941. They had two daughters. He had interests in orchid culture, camellias and old-fashioned roses probably an inherited interest from his and his mother's families. He was also an authority on finches, and he bred many varieties of these birds. He also had other interests in paintings, fine porcelain and glassware, fine silver and wine. While chairing a Board meeting, in 1975, he had a stroke which left him with left-sided hemiplegia and consequently confined him to a wheelchair and institutional care. His intellect and speech remained sound. Melville Ernest Chinner died on 30th November 1985, survived by his two daughters. His wife, Louise had predeceased him.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD