Edward Millen

Edward Davis Millen (7 November 1860 – 14 September 1923) was an Australian journalist and politician.

Millen was born in Deal, Kent, England and educated in England. He worked as an adjuster of marine insurance before migrating to New South Wales in about 1880. He worked as a journalist in Walgett, where he married Constance Evelyn Flanagan in February 1883—they subsequently had two daughters. Soon after, they moved to Brewarrina, where he became a grazier. In about 1887, he moved to Bourke and worked on and possibly partly owned the "Central Australian and Bourke Telegraph" and from 1889 to 1901, he edited and partly owned the "Western Herald and Darling River Advocate". In the late 1890s, he became a land, mining and financial agent with offices in Sydney and a house at suburban Burwood from 1902.Australian Dictionary of Biography
last=Rutledge
first=Martha
authorlink=
year=1986
id=A100490b
title= Millen, Edward Davis (1860 - 1923)
accessdate=2007-10-11 ] cite web
title =The Hon. Edward Davis Millen (1860 - 1923)
work =Members of Parliament
publisher =Parliament of New South Wales
url =http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/1fb6ebed995667c2ca256ea100825164/8fb00ae82af6f22dca256e4900820ad3!OpenDocument
accessdate = 2007-10-11 ]

Political career

Millen stood unsuccessfully for Bourke in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1891, but won the seat as a free trader in 1894. He was strongly opposed to the draft federal constitution on the grounds that it was undemocratic, particularly the nature of the Senate, and unfair to New South Wales. He campaigned for a 'No' vote at the 1898 referendum and narrowly lost his Bourke seat in the process. In April 1899, he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council and pledged to support Federation.

In 1901, Millen resigned from the Council and was elected to the Senate in the first federal election, where he was skilled debater. He was Opposition leader in the Senate in 1907 to 1900 and Vice-President of the Executive Council in Alfred Deakin's Fusion ministry from 1909 to 1910. He was Minister for Defence in Joseph Cook's ministry from June 1913 to September 1914. With the outbreak of World War I, Millen supervised the recruiting and equipping of 20,000 men for the First Australian Imperial Force and by 19 August 1914 the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force was dispatched against German New Guinea. When the subsequent Australian Labor Party government split over conscription, he joined Billy Hughes' Nationalist government, and was again appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council in the ministry.

In May 1917, Millen was appointed Minister for Repatriation, where he was responsible for creating a government department to support the return of 160,000 after the Armistice until they could be absorbed into the workforce, for vocational training and the supply of housing and medical services and for the support of widows and their children. He was trenchantly attacked for the incompetence of some of his officials. He was acting Prime Minister in July 1919 and dealt effectively with the 1919 seamen's strike. In November and December 1920 Millen represented Australia at the first meeting of the General Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva and insured the transfer of German New Guinea, as promised at Versailles mandates despite Japanese opposition. He also visited war graves in France and went to London to promote government-assisted immigration and to arrange the funding of the Commonwealth's debts. He returned to Australia in March 1921.

Millen died of chronic nephritis in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, survived by his wife and his daughters.

Notes

Persondata
NAME = Millen, Edward Davis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Australian journalist and politician
SHORT DESCRIPTION =
DATE OF BIRTH = 7 November 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH = Deal, Kent, England
DATE OF DEATH = 14 September 1923
PLACE OF DEATH = Caulfield, Victoria