Damien Patrick Miller is an Australian career

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and the first

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

to head an Australian diplomatic mission.

Early life and education

Miller belongs to the

Gangulu people The Gangulu people, also written Kangulu, Kanolu, Kaangooloo, Ghungalu and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Mount Morgan area in Queensland, Australia. Name At least one variant name for the Kangulu, ''Kaangooloo' ...

from the area of Mount Morgan, near

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

in Central Queensland. In an interview with '' ABC News Breakfast'', Miller said that his grandmother was subjected to the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 and she and many family members moved from the outskirts into Rockhampton, or later moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Miller was brought up in Brisbane and has strong ties to the traditional country of his people. In 1993, Miller was recognised as Aboriginal Scholar of the Year by the national NAIDOC committee. He graduated from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

in 1998 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

. Miller also holds a Diploma in Foreign Affairs and Trade from

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 ...

Career

Whilst studying for his law degree at the University of New South Wales, Miller worked in a commercial law firm in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. In 1995, he joined the

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations, international aid (using the branding Australian Aid), consular services and trade and inv ...

(DFAT) as an Indigenous Cadet and worked part-time at the Department during the summer holidays. After graduating from the University of New South Wales, in 1999 Miller joined DFAT full-time. As a career diplomat Miller was first posted to the High Commission of Australia to Malaysia, where he served from 2000–2003. Returning to Australia, Miller then served as a desk officer in DFAT's South-East Asia Division from 2003–2006, and then as Director of DFAT Corporate Planning from 2007–2009. In 2009, Miller was then moved to the position of Director in DFAT's Afghanistan Section. In 2010 Miller was appointed as Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Australia to Germany, where he served under

Peter Tesch Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

. On 1 April 2013

Australian Foreign Minister The Minister for Foreign Affairs (commonly shortened to Foreign Minister) is the minister in the Government of Australia who is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Senato ...

Bob Carr appointed Miller as the new Ambassador of Australia to Denmark, with concurrent accreditation to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, replacing

James Choi James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. With this appointment, Miller became the first

to become an Australian head of mission. Miller took up his appointment in May 2013 and presented his credentials to Queen Margrethe II on 14 June 2013. He later presented his credentials to

Norwegian King The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingdom ...

Harald V Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...

on 17 October 2013 and to Icelandic President

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (; born 14 May 1943) is an Icelandic politician who was the fifth president of Iceland from 1996 to 2016.Official CV. He was previously a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the People's Alliance and served as Minist ...

on 7 December 2013. On his Ambassadorial appointment, Miller noted that the Department employs 49 Indigenous staff with 12 of those employees posted at various

Australian diplomatic missions Australian diplomatic missions are posts representing the Commonwealth of Australia in foreign countries. They are mostly maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with some smaller posts being run by Austrade. There are curr ...

around the world, and that it is "great honour not only for me, but for my family and for Indigenous Australians."

Personal life

Miller is in a

same-sex relationship A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries w ...

with Neill Seeto.

References

External links

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Damien Ambassadors of Australia to Denmark Ambassadors of Australia to Iceland Ambassadors of Australia to Norway Gay diplomats Indigenous Australian people Australian gay men Living people Monash University alumni People from Brisbane University of New South Wales alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian LGBT people