Adair Blain

Who was Adair Blain?

Adair Macalister "Chill" Blain 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 Australia.

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. 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. 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. 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. He was then ordered to return to hospital where he spent the next two months recovering before returning to parliament.