Miller, Mabel Flora (1906-1978)

Also known as
Miller, Mabel Flora, (Dame) (1906-1978)
Field of activity
Barrister and Politician; air force officer; barrister; liberal/conservative politician; local government councillor; Member of Lower House
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-764088

Biographies

MILLER, Dame MABEL FLORA (1906-1978), politician, was born on 30 November 1906 at Broken Hill, New South Wales, second child of South Australian-born parents Joseph Christian Goodhart, draper, and his wife Alice Mary, née Humphries. Brought to Adelaide as a child, Mabel was educated at Girton House Girls' Grammar School. She attended a finishing school in Paris before entering the University of Adelaide (LL.B., 1927). Admitted to the South Australian Bar on 17 December 1927, she pursued her profession in London and Sydney before settling in Tasmania. At St George's Anglican Church, Hobart, on 24 July 1930 she married Alan John Richmond Miller (d.1965), a 31-year-old chemist.

View the full record at Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Mabel Miller, who served in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II, was an active public figure in Hobart for twenty years. She was the first woman to be elected to the Hobart City Council in 1952 and later, in 1955, one of the first two women to be elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as the Liberal member for Franklin. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for distinguished public service on January 1st, 1967.

Daughter of Joseph Christian Goodhart, draper, and Alice Mary, née Humphries.

Mabel Miller, although born in Broken Hill, came to Adelaide as a child, and was educated at Girton House Girls' Grammar School. She later attended a finishing school in Paris, then proceeded to the University of Adelaide where she gained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1927 and was admitted to the bar on 17 December 1927. She practiced in Sydney and London before marrying Alan John Richmond Miller, a chemist, in Hobart on 24 July 1930. She had a daughter.

During World War II, from 1941, she served in the WAAAF as acting section officer and reached the rank of temporary squadron officer while serving in Melbourne from 1942-1943 as deputy director of the WAAAF. She was later posted to Townsville, Queensland as staff officer, north eastern area. She completed her war service on 3 October 1944.

After World War II, Miller was active in the Red Cross Society, the Queen Alexandra Hospital and the Mary Ogilvy Homes Society. Her decision to stand for election to the Hobart City Council was prompted by complaints she heard about municipal mismanagement when she was president of the National Council of Women of Tasmania from 1952-1954.

Miller served on the Council from 1952, chaired the finance, health, building and town planning committees, and became deputy lord mayor in 1954-1956 and 1964-1970. She stood for election as mayor in 1970, but was unsuccessful and retired from the council in 1972.

Miller was also a member of the Tasmanian State Parliament in the House of Assembly as member for Franklin from 1955 until 1964. She strongly supported proper planning measures for public housing estates, law, education, health and welfare reforms, particularly to ensure the care and protection of children.

She was elected vice president of the Liberal Party in 1961, but her state political career ceased on her defeat in 1964.

Miller was known for her stylish clothes and charming personality, and continued to be involved with the United Ex-Service Women's Homes Association and the Tasmanian Right to Life Association. She assisted in the establishment of the Women's and Children's Memorial Rest Centre, Hobart and sat on the interim council of the Australian National Gallery and the Metric Conversion Board.

In 1967, in addition to being appointed DBE, she was the Australian representative on the United Nations' Status of Women Commission, and an Australian delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

She died on 30 December 1978 in Newtown, Tasmania.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Mabel Flora Miller

Selected resources (7)

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Australian Women's Register

  1. Miller, Dame Mabel Flora, DBEWho's who in Australia 1968 615-16 : Miller, Dame Mabel Flora, DBE
    [1968]
    Published: Herald and Weekly Times
  2. Miller, Dame Mabel Flora (1906-1978)Australian Dictionary of Biography Online : Miller, Dame Mabel Flora (1906-1978)
    Petrow, Stefan
    [2006]
    Published: Australian National University
    Series: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150430b.htm
  3. MILLER, MABEL FLORAWorld War 2 Nominal Roll Department of Veterans' Affairs : MILLER, MABEL FLORA
    Department of Veterans' Affairs
    [2002]
    Series: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=R&VeteranID=1070028
  4. Faith, Hope and Charity Australian Women and Imperial Honours: 1901-1989
    Australian Women's Archives Project
    [2003]
    Published: Australian Women's Archives Project
    Series: http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/honours/honours.html
  5. Who's who in Australia 1968
    Legge, J S
    [1968]
    Published: The Herald and Weekly Times
  6. Archives Office of Tasmania: Miller papers

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  1. Mabel Forrest poetry
    Created by Perry.Middlemiss, 146 items.

    A catalogue of poems by Mabel Forrest, including those by her pennames "M. Burkinshaw", and "Reca".

  2. Miller-Reid Family History
    Created by FayM1, 10 items.

    Information, articles and notices that mention ancestors in the Miller-Reid Family Tree

  3. Flora and Fauna
    Created by narpete, 2 items.

  1. Miller, Mabel Flora (1906-1978)
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  1. Website: Australian Women's Archives Project
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  3. Website: Putting skirts on the sacred benches : women candidates for the New South Wales Parliament
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  1. remembering.(NEWS)(Obituary)
    Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
    [ Article : 2009 ]
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    [ Article : 2009 ]
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  3. June 17, 1904 Page fourEggs in exchange for golf ballsEighth grade graduates in Jefferson CountyCommencement last evening
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  1. [Biographical cuttings on Mabel Flora Miller, Dame, Deputy Lord Mayor of Hobart and politician, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
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  2. Dame Mabel Miller NG1024 [Records]
    State Library of Tasmania
    [ Unpublished : 1800-1999 ]
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  3. Dame Mabel Miller NG1024 [Records]
    [ Unpublished ]
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  1. Peter Pan
    Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew), 1860-1937
    [ Book, Audio book : 1900-2012 ]
    Languages: English, Japanese, Chinese, [10 others]
    read online at Open Library/Internet Archive
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    At 108 libraries
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  2. Australian studio pottery and china painting / Peter Timms
    Timms, Peter, 1948-
    [ Book : 1986 ]
    At 69 libraries
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  3. The garden month by month : describing the appearance, color, dates of bloom, height and cultivation of all desirable, hardy herbaceous perennials for the formal or wild garden with additional lists of aquatics, vines, ferns, etc. by Mabel Cabot Sedg...
    Sedgwick, Mabel Cabot Mrs
    [ Book : 1907 ]
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  4. A flora of California
    Jepson, Willis Linn, 1867-1946
    [ Book : 1909 ]
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  1. Peter Pan
    Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew), 1860-1937
    [ Book, Audio book : 1900-2012 ]
    Languages: English, Japanese, Chinese, [10 others]
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    At 108 libraries
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  2. Rob Roy / by Sir Walter Scott
    Scott, Walter, Sir, 1771-1832
    [ Book, Audio book, Article : 1800-2010 ]
    Languages: English, Russian, French, [6 others]
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  3. The singer's musical theatre anthology. a collection of songs from the musical stage, categorized by voice type : the selections are presented in their authentic settings, excerpted from the original vocal scores / compiled and edited by Richard Walt...
    Walters, Richard
    [ Sheet music : 1986-2008 ]
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    Walters, Richard
    [ Sheet music, Sound : 2005-2010 ]
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  1. W.A.A.A.F. OFFICERS
    Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Friday 5 September 1941 Edition: LATE NEWS EDITION p 6 Article
    ... W.A.A.A.F. OFFICERS MELBOURNE, Thursday. - Among the 35 members of the W.A.A.Fs. from all states who have begun the first administrative ministrative course for officers at the Methodist Ladies' College, Kew, is Miss Mabel Flora Miller, LL.D., of Tas mania. They are specialising mainly in cipher ... 49 words
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  2. TRAFFIC CASES HOBART. EXCESSIVE SPEED.
    The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Wednesday 2 November 1932 p 5 Article
    ... TRAFFIC CASES - j HOBART. I EXCESSIVE SPEED. In the Hobart Police Court yesterday, before the Police Magistrate (Mr. H. B' White), Inspector Bush prosecuting, Mabel Flora Miller was charged with having driven'a motor-car faster than 20 miles an hour in Montpelier Road on October 8. Constable ... 86 words
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  3. YOUNG WOMAN'S DEATH HOBART, Friday
    Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Saturday 13 October 1934 Edition: DAILY p 7 Article
    ... was knocked down by a motor car driven by Mrs. Mabel Flora Miller at Sandy Day on September 29. ... 72 words
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