Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

04/06/1917

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Sydney NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Belconnen ACT

Occupation

Farmer

Next of Kin

David Miller (father), Canberra ACT

Final Rank

2 Lieutenant

Final Unit

1011 Company, Army Service Corps (British Army)

Weetangera Honor Roll, St. John's Schoolhouse Museum, Reid
Hall Memorial Grove, Victoria Street, Hall ACT
Belconnen Area Enlistments WW1, Ellen Clark Park, Smith Street, Weetangera

Selwyn Miller was born in Sydney on 16 April 1892, the son of Colonel David Miller, who became the first Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs in 1901 and Administrator of the Federal Territory in 1912. His mother Jane (nee Thompson) was born at Bungendore in 1865 and his grandfather, James Bamford Thompson was, for many years, the district surveyor in Queanbeyan. James Thompson was highly regarded amongst the free selectors of the district (including those in the Belconnen district) who helped elect him twice to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1877 and 1880.

David Miller, who commanded the New South Wales Army Service Corps during the Boer War, had departmental responsibility for the search for the Federal capital, as well as the planning, establishment and administration of the new city. He moved to Canberra in late 1912 and his wife and son followed soon after. In February 1913 Jane Miller was given the honour of naming Canbera Hill (now the site of Old Parliament House). The curious spelling of Canberra with one 'r' may have been a deliberate attempt to ensure the correct pronunciation of 'Canbra' rather than 'Can-berra'. Selwyn was present then as well as attending the official naming ceremony for Canberra on 12 March 1913. He was also a foundation member of the Canberra Rifle Club, formed in May 1914.

In 1913 the Commonwealth resumed Yarralumla and proceeded to publicly offer leases to parts of the once huge estate which had covered part of the District of Belconnen. Although only 21 years old, Selwyn Miller secured ten year leases over Blocks 1 and 2, an area of about 1704 acres, which included part of the original land grant to Charles Sturt and the Belconnen homestead. Locals thought that Miller had paid too much for the leases and Austin Chapman, MHR for Eden-Monaro and the de facto local member for the Federal Territory, raised questions in Parliament about the arrangement. "I do not impugn the honour of these officials" he said as he went about doing just that, "but it looks bad for the sons of those in high authority at the Capital to have possession of large areas." Although the first two years proved difficult for Miller, he managed to survive.

Miller's older brother David was mortally wounded during the Boer War and died in 1902. Although he was a militiaman in the light horse before the war, as the only surviving son Selwyn was exempt from military service during World War 1. In 1915 his commanding officer in the light horse, Tom Rutledge, thought that Miller was not yet suited for a commission and that while he was "nice enough", Miller was "very colourless". However, probably through his father's contacts, Miller was sworn in as an officer cadet with the British Army on 4 June 1917. He was appointed as a 2nd Lieutenant in November 1917 and served with No.1011 Company, a Motor Transport Company, in the Army Service Corps and was probably attached to a Yeomanry (Mounted) division of the British Army in Palestine. Miller arrived back in Australia in September 1919 and underwent an operation at Fremantle before returning to Canberra. While he was on active service his father, who retired from the public service in 1917, managed Belconnen.

He held the leases at Belconnen until 1924 when he and his parents moved to Wellingrove in the Glen Innes district in northern New South Wales. He married in 1926 and died near Glen Innes on 5 April 1964.

Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
G.A. Mawer, 'When Hall Answered the Call', 2015
Martha Rutledge (ed.), 'socks from Bungendore', 2015 (p.48)
National Library of Australia : Canberra Rifle Club Minute Book 1914-1939 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 3996)
National Library of Australia : Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734)
Queanbeyan Age - 8 January 1915, 9 March 1915, 3 November 1916, 28 October 1919, 31 October 1919, 16 December 1919
Queanbeyan/ Canberra Advocate - 1 March 1917
Sydney Morning Herald - 7 April 1964
Information provided by Bill Woerlee