Papers comprise official, personal & academic correspondence, diaries, photos, patrol reports, field notebooks, conference papers, lectures, broadcasts, articles, anthropological writings & research material, administration handbooks & ordinances, publications on anthropology, language, education & United Nations. Papers relate to Chinnery's career in Papua & New Guinea as Patrol Officer, Government Anthropologist, Director Dept of District Services & Native Affairs, Director Native Affairs & Commonwealth Adviser on Native Affairs in Aust. Papers relating to Chinnery's association with Far Eastern Liaison Office during World War II, South Seas Commission Conference 1947, United Nations missions to Africa & aspects of PNG including history, exploration, anthropology, genealogy, language, education, health, missions, crimes & discipline, native rights, mining, trade & pre-war wartime & post-war administration. Correspondents include: Staniforth Smith, John Taylor, C.L.A. Abbott, Bill Harney, A.P. Elkin, Theodor Strehlow, Camilla Wedgwood, Olive Pink, Baldwin Spencer, A.C. Haddon, Margaret Mead.