Robert 'Bob' Henry Miller (born 12 March 1941) is a former Labor Party politician. He was also an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) during the early 1960s. Miller, who was used mostly as a ruck-rover or defender, was recruited to the Melbourne Football Club from Horsham. He made his debut in 1961, for a

Norm Smith Norman Walter Smith (21 November 1915 – 29 July 1973) was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After more than 200 games as a player with and , Smith began a twenty-year coaching career, inc ...

coached team which had appeared in the previous seven VFL Grand Finals. Although Miller contested finals in his first three seasons, including a Preliminary Final loss in 1963, he never got to play in a premiership decider. Melbourne did make the

1964 VFL Grand Final The 1964 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 19 September 1964. It was the 67th annual Grand Fi ...

, which they won, but Miller was not selected. He retired at the end of the 1965 season, having played 69 senior games with Melbourne. In 1966-67, Miller was an assistant professor of law at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

, Canada, and between 1967 and 1970 he was a human rights officer at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in New York. He became a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in 1971, signing the

Victorian Bar The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australian State of Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley KC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 30 June 2020, there were 2,179 counsels ...

Roll on 11 November 1971; he also lectured in law at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

between 1971 and 1979. He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1970 and nine years later was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

for the

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...

. Miller served two terms. When his second term ended in 1985, Miller contested the seat of Monash in the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Co ...

but lost to the Liberal's

Reg Macey Reg Macey (9 December 1936 – 30 January 24) was an Australian politician. Life and career Macey was born in Melbourne to Reginald George Gordon and Nelly Gwendoline Macey, and trained as a teacher. He taught in technical Schools from 1957 unt ...

References

*
Victorian Parliament: Miller, Robert Henry

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Bob 1941 births Living people Melbourne Football Club players Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Victoria (state) state politicians Australian sportsperson-politicians Horsham Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Academic staff of Monash University Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario Australian expatriates in the United States University of Melbourne alumni Lawyers from Melbourne University of California, Berkeley alumni