Chandler was born in Geelong, Victoria, and began his journalistic career on The Hamilton Spectator.
He moved to Adelaide, where he found employment with both daily papers: the South Australian Register, then The Advertiser.
He joined Harry Evans as co-editor of Quiz, a satirical weekly, to which he also regularly contributed examples of his poetry.
In 1905 he left the Miner for the position of secretary to the North End Gold Mining Company Ltd.[7] Around 1911 he moved to Perth, where he joined the staff of The Sunday Times and around 1920 was promoted to editor, succeeding J. E. Webb,[8] who left for a position with The Bulletin.
[6] Around 1919 he joined the newspaper's owner, James MacCallum Smith, in a campaign to gain independence from the other States of Australia, founding the Secession League, and was active in the later Dominion League of Western Australia,[9] and its president when a secession petition was tabled in the House of Commons.