Henry Challinor
Henry Challinor was a physician and politician in the Colony of Queensland.
Early life
Challinor was born in London, England. Studying medicine in London, where he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1842, he emigrated to Queensland in 1849 aboard the Fortitude, on which he served as the ship's doctor. By April 1849, he had established a medical practice in Ipswich, where he later spent much of his life.Church Life
Dr Challinor was a founding member of the Central Congregational Church of Ipswich. The church was a fiercely independent denomination refusing to accept any government subsidies or land grants.Civic life
The Governor General of New South Wales appointed Henry Challinor to be a Magistrate for New South Wales on 30 August 1858.The Governor General of New South Wales appointed Henry Challinor, Esquire, J.P. to be a coroner for the District of Ipswich on 20 October 1859.
In January 1861 Dr. Challinor J.P. conducted a magisterial inquiry into the deaths of at least three aboriginals at Fassifern Station. He found "the said Aboriginals were wilfully and wantonly murdered on the twenty-fourth day of December last by Lieut. Wheeler and the detachment of Native Police on that day under his command; and also that John Hardie, Grazier of Fassifern was cognizant of this fact, yet endeavoured to prevent a judicial enquiry into the cause of the death of the said Aboriginals by falsely attesting that no blacks had been shot on that station as had been reported."
Subsequent to that inquiry a Select Committee was established by the Qld Legislative Assembly to report on the Native Police Force and the Condition of the Aborigines generally. Dr. Challinor M.P. was a witness at the inquiry. The full transcript of the ensuing report can be read on line.
Some of Dr. Challinor's responses on the 8th of May and the 9th of May 1861 follow:-
- 44. I want to know whether you have any knowledge of their habits and pursuits—of course I want to know your general opinion of the blacks, and what can be done to ameliorate their present position ? I think that they ought to be entitled to hunt game on the runs on which they have always done so. I think they should be allowed to procure food on the grounds on which they have been accustomed to procure it ; to hunt and fish, unless the Government, in lieu of that, gave them some compensation in the way of food. I say this, because I could produce evidence of oases in which I know that quiet blacks have been molested when fishing, and also when they have been camped on alienated land. In the latter instance their dogs were shot, and blankets and opossum rugs collected and burnt; in the former, they were fishing in the Bundamba Lagoon, and were chased away by dogs and by a man or men on horseback, with stock-whips. I do not state this on my personal knowledge, but I have it from persons who observed the circumstance ; I rode fifteen miles to ascertain the correctness of the account in relation to the fishing from a person who saw the occurrence, and forwarded that information to the Sydney Government.
- By MR. FERRETT: I understood you to say in part of your evidence yesterday that you supported Mr. Ridley in some matter connected with the Aborigines—will you state what those matters were ? I subscribed, I believe, ten guineas a-year towards his support as a missionary to the Aborigines.
- 37. Have you any proposal to make on that subject ? I think it is desirable in the first place that there should be some person who is conversant with their language to act as a medium of communication between the various tribes and the Government, and to make such explanations as might be required. And I think the blacks should be protected in their rights of hunting, or be provided with some other mode of sustentation, in lieu of their hunting grounds.
- 38. Do you propose that any steps should be taken to educate the young blacks as they grow up—do you think such a course would be advisable ? I believe them to be capable of instruction.
- 40. Without reference to religious instruction—reading and writing for instance ? Yes, since the Government have adopted a system of general instruction, I think the Natives would come within its scope ; but I am one of those who are of opinion that all education should be voluntary.
- 42. For my part, I entirely object to any interference by the Government in matters of religion.
- 47. Are you of opinion that they ought to be considered credible witnesses ? I must say, the statements made by the blacks before me, in reference to the affair at the scrub leading to Dugandan, were of such a nature that I could not entertain a doubt of them. I never heard evidence given with more care, or with less exaggeration.
- 50. By the CHAIRMAN : You have stated that the evidence of a blackfellow should be taken for what it is worth—do you think the life of a white man ought to be placed in any danger whatever by such evidence ? I must say distinctly that I consider the life of a black man to be quite as valuable in itself as that of a white man. I would take his evidence, and leave it to the jury to judge of its value.
On 4 March 1863 a certificate was issued to Henry Challinor Esquire by Governor Sir George Ferguson Bowen. The certificate appoints Henry Challinor as the surgeon in the Ipswich Rifles that formed part of the Volunteer Corps of Queensland. It states that: "Know you, that I, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, the Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief aforesaid, Do, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested, under the Act of Council passed in the Eighteenth Year of Her present Majesty's Reign, and numbered Eight, hereby appoint you, the said Henry Challinor to be Surgeon in The Ipswich Rifles forming part of the Volunteer Corps of Queensland.".
Political life
He was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1861 for the three member electoral district of West Moreton only to have his election annulled in May of that year. Challinor won the subsequent election and served the seat till 1863. He then moved to the seat of Town of Ipswich, where he served until he was defeated in 1868. Following his defeat, he was assigned to manage a mental asylum at Goodna which had recently suffered from a series of scandals. When the site of the asylum was acquired by the University of Queensland in 1968, it was renamed as the "Challinor Centre" in his honour.Later life
Challinor died at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane in 1882 and was buried in South Brisbane Cemetery.Legacy
As a result of the reorganization of Queensland mental health services in 1968, the Ipswich Mental Hospital was designated as a training centre for the intellectually disabled. It was renamed Challinor Centre and remodeled. Dr. Challinor was appointed the second medical superintendent of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum at Woogaroo in 1869 to straighten out a scandal. He left that position in 1872.Challinor Street Ipswich Queensland was in existence from at least 1865, and was probably named after Dr. Henry Challinor, or his relative George Miles Challinor who also arrived on the Fortitude.