Andrée Millar (ca. 1916–1995) was an Australian botanist who played an important role in the development of the botanical gardens of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

(PNG) and published a book on the

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s of PNG. The orchids, ''Dendrobium'' Andrée Millar and ''Coryphopteris andreae'', were named after her.

Early life

Andrée Norma Millar (née Manners-Sinclair) was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Various sources put her year of birth between 1912 and 1916. She studied at Woodford House in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and then at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

. Around this time, she met her husband, John William Millar (1912-1966), an engineer, and in 1947 accompanied him to his work in

Bulolo Bulolo is a town in Wau-Bulolo Urban LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It was once an important gold dredging centre in the former Territory of New Guinea,gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

centre in the former

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered League of Nations and then United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an adm ...

, in what is now the

Morobe Province Morobe is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands Province ...

of Papua New Guinea. The couple had a son and a daughter.

Interest in horticulture

Living in the area drew Millar's attention to the possibility of plant collecting as a hobby. She began by collecting ferns and then orchids and other plants. She also taught at the international school in Bulolo. Attracting the interest of Forestry Officers with her collecting work, she began collecting both live and

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

specimens for the Lae Botanic Gardens situated in PNG's second-largest city of

Lae Lae (, , later ) is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River on the northern coast of Huon Gulf. It is at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is ...

. She quickly attracted attention of the local people, who considered her somewhat eccentric for collecting what they regarded as "useless flowers". Known in

New Guinea pidgin Tok Pisin ( ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student's Handbook'', Edinburgh ; ), often referred to by English speakers as New Guinea Pidgin or simply Pidgin, is an English creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an off ...

as ''Long-long Misis bilong plaua'' (Crazy flower woman), she used this as the title of a brief autobiography, published in 1994. She and her husband moved to a cocoa plantation close to Lae and in 1956 she became a member of the staff of the Botanic Gardens. During her time there, she accompanied many collectors on field trips, including to the

Jimi Valley Jimi is a geographical area in the inlands of Papua New Guinea. It is located in the Jimi District of Jiwaka, which was previously a part of the Western Highlands Province until May 2012. It is home to the Jimi Valley. The Jimi District is one ...

and the

Kokoda Track The Kokoda Track or Trail is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs overland – in a straight line – through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The track was the location of the 1942 World War II battle between Japane ...

. She made three trips to the area of

Mount Wilhelm Mount Wilhelm () is the highest mountain in Papua New Guinea at . It is part of the Bismarck Range and the peak is the point where three provinces, Chimbu, Jiwaka and Madang, meet. The peak is also known as ''Enduwa Kombuglu'', or ''Kombugl'o ...

, PNG's highest mountain. Away from the highlands, she visited the western part of Papua New Guinea, travelling along the

Fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

and Strickland rivers to Lake Murray. She also made a trip to the

Herbert River The Herbert River is a river in Far North Queensland, Australia. The southernmost of Queensland's wet tropics river systems, it was named in 1864 by George Elphinstone Dalrymple explorer, after Robert Herbert, Robert George Wyndham Herbert, th ...

in the north of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Millar led a party down Papua New Guinea's

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

and

Sepik River The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River, Fly and Mamberamo River, Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provi ...

. Roads were few and far between and her transport was mainly by plane, helicopter, boats and canoes, and on foot. Millar also visited Bouganville,

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

and New Ireland islands. Millar later moved to the capital,

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

, to work at the National Botanic Gardens at the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

, becoming the curator in 1971, and being known as "Mum". She continued to undertake extensive collecting, particularly in PNG's Central Province. She became well-known through radio broadcasts. She would remain at the National Gardens until ill health forced her to leave. Millar is generally agreed to have had a fairly forthright and abrasive personality. It is widely reported that she quelled a riot just by shouting at the rioters. Not only rioters caused her ire: she was also reported as having shouted at

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 25 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the " father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

, at the time minister of health and soon to become prime minister of Papua New Guinea. Fiercely loyal to PNG, she was angered by an Indonesian at a conference talking about orchids in Indonesian

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region ...

, saying that he had no right to talk about "our orchids". There were also people that she took a dislike to, including the world-renowned

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Col ...

Publications

*''Orchids of Papua New Guinea'' with photographs by Roy and Margaret Mackay. (1978, revised 1998). In addition, Millar contributed journal articles, including to the

American Orchid Society The American Orchid Society (AOS) is a horticultural society for education, conservation, and research of orchids. It was founded in 1921, and has an international membership. It is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It has been called an "indus ...

Bulletin.

Awards and honours

*Papua New Guinea 10-Year Independence Medal (1985) *Orchid Society of South East Asia Gold Medal *Award of Honour, Australian Orchid Council *Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(1975). This was part of the last Queen's

Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are ...

awarded on the advice of Australia for Papua New Guinea, as the nation gained independence from Australia on 16 September 1975 *The ''Dendrobium'' Andrée Millar (''Den. atroviolaceum x Den. convolutum'') orchid was named after her.

Death

Andrée Millar died on 4 December 1995 in

, Australia. A Memorial Service was held for her in Port Moresby. Among those attending was the former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Michael Somare.

References

External links

Millar was interviewed as part of a 24-program Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) social history of the Australian occupation of PNG, called Taim Bilong Masta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millar, Andrée Year of birth unknown 1995 deaths Australian women botanists Australian expatriates in Papua New Guinea Year of birth uncertain Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire