Dame Mabel Flora Miller, DBE (30 November 1906 – 30 December 1978) was an Australian lawyer and politician. She was the first woman elected to the

Hobart City Council Hobart City Council (or City of Hobart) is a local government body in Tasmania, covering the central metropolitan area of the state capital, Hobart. The Hobart local government area has a population of 53,684 and includes the suburbs of West H ...

Miller, Mabel Flora
''Australian Women'' and one of the first two women to be elected to the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

Early life

Born in

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, the second child of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n-born parents, Joseph Christian Goodhart, a draper, and Alice Mary Humphries Goodhart, she was raised in Adelaide. She was educated at Girton House Girls' Grammar School and received her

LLB 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 China, People's Republic ...

from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

in 1927, going on to practice as a barrister 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 ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She married Alan John Richmond Miller (died 1965) on 24 July 1930 at St. George's Anglican Church, Hobart. They settled in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and had a daughter.

Military and community service

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Mabel Miller served in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF); from 1941 to 1944 she was stationed on airbases around Australia. After the war she was active in the

Australian Red Cross Society The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cro ...

, the Queen Alexandra Hospital, and the Mary Ogilvy Homes Society. She served as president of the National Council of Women of Tasmania from 1952 to 1954.

Political career

Miller decided to enter local politics when she heard there was mismanagement occurring in the Hobart City Council. She was elected to the council in 1952; she spent 20 years on the council her first sitting ended in 1955 when she was elected to the House of Assembly in 1955 as the member for Franklin. Amelia Best was also elected in 1955. She remained in parliament until 1964. After her time in parliament she returned to the council, serving as deputy mayor from 1964 to 1970; she unsuccessfully stood for mayor in 1970, and resigned in 1972. In 1967 she was the Australian representative on 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 ...

' Status of Women Commission, and an Australian delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Damehood and recognition

Miller was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for "distinguished public service" on 1 January 1967. In 2009 Miller was posthumously inducted to the

Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women The State Government of Tasmania in Australia established the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women in 2005 to recognise Tasmanian women who have been distinguished in their contributions to the State. In 2021 Martine Delaney Martine Delaney (born 15 Oct ...

for service to Government and to the Community.

Death

Dame Mabel Miller died on 30 December 1978, in a

New Town, Tasmania New Town is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, about north of the central business district of Hobart. It is generally considered Hobart's oldest suburb, settled just a week after Sullivan's Cove. It was historically the ho ...

nursing home, aged 72, from undisclosed causes, and was cremated.

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Mabel 1906 births 1978 deaths Adelaide Law School alumni Australian barristers Australian Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly People from Broken Hill, New South Wales Australian women in World War II Politicians from Hobart 20th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly