Adair Blain

Adair Macalister "Chill" Blain (21 November 1894 - 28 April 1983) was a long serving independent member of the Australian House of Representatives.

Born in Inverell, New South Wales, Blain was educated in Perth, Western Australia and the University of Adelaide and worked as a surveyor in Western Australiaed. Carment, D., Maynard, R. et al. (1990) "Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography" Vol. 1, Northern Territory University Press: Casuarina.] .

Following the outbreak of World War I, Blain served as a corporal in 32nd Battalion of the First Australian Imperial Force in France from 1916 to 1919 ["World War I Nominal Roll", [http://www.awm.gov.au/nominalrolls/ww1/] Accessed 21 November 2007.] . Returning from Europe, Blain worked as a surveyor in Northern Queensland before moving to the Northern Territory in 1929 to become the Darwin area surveyor.

Blain's work took him throughout northern Australia, giving him the opportunity to gain a high profile, which he used at the 1934 federal election, when, standing as an independent for the Division of Northern Territory, Blain defeated the incumbent Labor member Harold Nelson.

During the 1934 election campaign Blain promised to resign from parliament if the Northern Territory representative was not granted full voting rights in parliament. He reneged on this promise but continued to campaign for greater Territory control of Northern Territory affairs.

After changing his year of birth to 1897, Blain enrolled in the army during World War II and served as a sergeant in the 2/12 Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers and sent to Malaya ["World War II Nominal Roll", [http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/] Accessed 21 November 2007.] . Captured by the Japanese following the Fall of Singapore in 1942, Blain was a Prisoner of War, first in Singapore and later Borneo, until his release in September 1945 [Lumb, M., Bennett, S. et al. (2007) "Commonwealth Members of Parliament who have served in war", Research Brief, Australian Government Department of Parliamentary Services. 26 March 2007, no. 10, 2006–07] . Blain remains the only serving member of the House of Representatives to have been a Prisoner of War. Blain returned to Australia, and upon re-entering the House, wearing his uniform, was the subject of a standing ovation from his fellow members [Lumb, M., Bennett, S. et al. (2007) "Commonwealth Members of Parliament who have served in war", Research Brief, Australian Government Department of Parliamentary Services. 26 March 2007, no. 10, 2006–07] . He was then ordered to return to hospital where he spent the next two months recovering before returning to parliament [Kemp, R. & Stanton, M. (2004) "Speaking for Australia: Parliamentary Speeches that Shaped Our Nation", Allen & Unwin: Sydney. ISBN 1741144302.] .

Although officially an Independent, Blain worked closely with the Country Party [Souter, G. (1988) "Acts of Parliament: A Narrative History of the Senate and House of Representatives", Melbourne University Press: Melbourne. ISBN 0522843670.] and while he was absent on wartime duties, Blain asked the Country Party member for Barker, Archie Cameron to act on his behalf. [Lumb, M., Bennett, S. et al. (2007) "Commonwealth Members of Parliament who have served in war", Research Brief, Australian Government Department of Parliamentary Services. 26 March 2007, no. 10, 2006–07] .

While serving as a POW, Blain was re-elected unopposed to his Northern Territory seat at the 1943 election [Lumb, M., Bennett, S. et al. (2007) "Commonwealth Members of Parliament who have served in war", Research Brief, Australian Government Department of Parliamentary Services. 26 March 2007, no. 10, 2006–07] , and elected again in 1946 before losing his seat at the 1949 election to Labor challenger Jock Nelson (the son of Harold Nelson, who Blain defeated in 1934).

Following his defeat, Blain moved to New South Wales to work as a surveyor.

The Northern Territory Electoral division of Blain is named for him.

Brian Blain, the Australian actor and the engineer Milton Blain are his nephews.

References