Mick Miller (Aboriginal statesman)

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Mick Miller
Aboriginal Development Commission
State Tripartite Forum.
Spouse(s)Pat O'Shane, Barbara Russell
ChildrenLydia, Marilyn & Michael Miller

Mick Miller (16 January 1937 – 5 April 1998) was a notable

land rights, and improved life opportunities for Aboriginal Australians in North Queensland and the rest of Australia.[1]

Biographical details

Mick Miller was born on Palm Island, Queensland on 16 January 1937, son of Michael Miller Senior (Waanyi) and Cissie Miller (née Sibley) (Kuku Yalanji), and eldest of seven children (5 girls, 2 boys).[1]

By the early 1960s Miller had married Pat O'Shane in Cairns, and together they had two daughters, Lydia and Marilyn.[citation needed] Later he married Barbara Russell, and had a son, Michael.[1]

Mick's commitment and leadership within his own family is evident in the pride and admiration his parents, his brothers and sisters and his children had in him, together with his extended family of many aunts and uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews ...

Miller died from a heart seizure on 5 April 1998.[2] It was reported that his funeral was attended by over a thousand people.[2]

Education

Miller received his

Charters Towers, Queensland
.

By 1959 Miller had graduated from Kelvin Grove Teachers College in Brisbane, where he was one of the first Aboriginal Australians in Queensland to become a fully qualified teacher.[1]

In the mid 1960s he obtained some early political training and encouragement by joining the local Aboriginal Advancement League and later the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), during which time he attended a World Council of Indigenous Peoples[3] meeting at Kiruna in Samiland (Sweden). .

Career

After qualifying as a teacher in 1959, Miller was posted to

Cairns, Queensland to teach at the North Cairns State Primary School.[1] Some years later he resigned from this position, having encountered some resistance and difficulties within the Department of Education regarding his political activities and attendance at a World Council of Indigenous Peoples in Samiland (Sweden).[1]

Having left teaching, Miller instead became an active member of the local branch of the

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. He also helped establish the original, politically active and influential North Queensland Land Council, of which he was chair for some time.[1]

Miller also sat as a Board Member of the

Aboriginal Development Commission (ADC) and, later, Deputy Chair of the ADC, from where he sought to promote economic development as the key to getting Aboriginal people off welfare and government dependence.[1]

In 1985, the Commonwealth Government appointed Miller to head up a federal government review of employment, education and training, ultimately producing what came to be known as the "Miller Report":

Torres Strait Islander training and employment policy document that was to become an Aboriginal employment and training 'blueprint'[4] with 'pivotal impact on Government program policies for some time to come.[5]

During the 1990s Miller chaired the State Tripartite Forum (a Queensland State Government-sponsored Aboriginal health organization) and in this way he became involved in many founding State policies and programs to improve the health of the Aboriginal people in Queensland.[1]

Political dissident

By the early 1970s Miller, along with other local Aboriginal Australians in the Cairns region (including ex-

Aboriginal Legal Service to bring legal assistance to Aboriginal peoples in the North Queensland region; and, with the formation of the North Queensland Land Council in January 1976[6] were campaigning for Aboriginal land rights.[1]

It was during this period that, following national success in a 1967

Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) reserves
.

While visiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Miller and Grogan assisted people to sign onto electoral rolls,[7] so confirming their reputation with the Queensland Government, and Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen for being trouble-makers and political dissenters:[7]

"On

1967 referendum
), and both incurred the government's wrath when it was alleged that they helped their people to sign on to the electoral roll [...] So-called political dissidence like this was not tolerated in Queensland .. Grogan and Miller were dismissed. Shortly after, the NTEHP in Queensland was stopped."

In 1998 Queensland's Land Rights newspaper summarized and described Mick Miller and his life's contribution as follows:[1]

Mick Miller was a respected elder statesman and a long-time mover and shaker in the Aboriginal struggle for social justice and land rights in Australia ... From early struggles and fights for recognition of basic rights for

sense of humour
, incredible optimism against all odds and great staying power in the Aboriginal movement ...

Couldn't Be Fairer

We treat them the same as everyone else - couldn't be fairer.

Queensland Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen - 1983"[8]

In 1984 Miller wrote and narrated a film named

filmmaker Dennis O'Rourke[8] to bring attention to the social injustices that were endured by Aboriginal people. The film included television footage and clips of politicians and businessmen openly expressing racist views[9] (including Western Australian mining magnate, Lang Hancock suggesting mass sterilization; a town mayor calling Aboriginal people "savages", and a Queensland Graziers Association spokesperson dividing people into "true Aborigines" and "hybrids".[10]
)

With unflinching honesty, it depicts the problems of alcoholism, racial violence and political oppression still faced today by the

National Times (Sydney)[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Mick Miller - Champion of the Oppressed" Queensland's Land Rights Newspaper, Brisbane FAIRA (April 1998) Accessed 5 June 2010 Archived July 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Natasha Case et al (1998) "Recent Happenings" Aboriginal Law Bulletin 50 Accessed 7 June 2010
  3. ^ http://cwis.org/fwdp/International/wcip_dec.txt World Council of Indigenous Peoples
  4. Vocational Education
    Research, Accessed 9 June 2010
  5. ^ "Summary: Review of Indigenous employment programs", National Centre for Vocational Education Research Archived 4 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 9 June 2010
  6. ^ Barbara Miller (1991) "Clayton's Land Rights: The Queensland Aboriginal Land Act - An Aboriginal Coordinating Council Perspective" Aboriginal Law Bulletin 10 Accessed 7 June 2010
  7. ^ a b Steve Gray (12 December 2008) "Sir Joh 'expelled' Fred Hollows" Brisbane Time. 7 June 2010
  8. ^ a b c Camerawork Pty Ltd's "Couldn't Be Fairer" webpage Accessed 8 June 2010
  9. ^ Australian Screen's "Couldn't be Fairer" Curator Romaine Moreton’s notes Accessed 8 June 2010
  10. ^ Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's "Couldn't be Fairer teaching resource web page Accessed 8 June 2010

External links

The Chairman of the North Queensland Land Council, Mr Mick Miller, declared there would be no agreement with the

enclaves
."

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