Edward Millen
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The Honourable Edward Millen |
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Millen in the 1910s
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| Vice-President of the Executive Council | |
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In office 2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910 |
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| Preceded by | Gregor McGregor |
| Succeeded by | Gregor McGregor |
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In office 17 February 1917 – 16 November 1917 |
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| Preceded by | William Spence |
| Succeeded by | Littleton Groom |
| Minister for Defence | |
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In office 24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914 |
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| Preceded by | George Pearce |
| Succeeded by | George Pearce |
| Minister for Repatriation | |
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In office 28 September 1917 – 9 February 1923 |
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| Preceded by | New title |
| Succeeded by | Title abolished |
| Senator for New South Wales | |
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In office 29 March 1901 – 14 September 1923 |
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| Succeeded by | Walter Massy-Greene |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
7 November 1860 Deal, Kent, England |
| Died | 14 September 1923 (aged 62) Caulfield, Victoria |
| Nationality | English Australian |
| Political party |
Free Trade (1894–1906) Anti-Socialist (1906–09) Liberal (1909–17) Nationalist (1917–23) |
| Spouse(s) | Constance Evelyn Flanagan |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
Edward Davis Millen (7 November 1860 – 14 September 1923) was an Australian journalist and politician who served as the first Minister for Repatriation.
Millen emigrated to Australia from England around 1880 and established himself as a journalist, subsequently serving in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1894 to 1898, during which time he fiercely opposed the proposed Federation despite supporting the principle. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1899 until his election to the Australian Senate as a Free Trader from New South Wales at the first federal election in 1901. Millen led the conservative parties in the Senate from 1907 until shortly before his death in 1923.
He served as Vice-President of the Executive Council (1909–10) and Minister for Defence (1913–14) in two short-lived Liberal governments before his appointment as the first Minister for Repatriation in 1917. He organised the new department and co-ordinated Australia's repatriation effort, and was briefly acting Prime Minister in 1919, when he settled a seamen's strike. Millen resigned from the ministry in February 1923 and died later that year, his illness attributed to his heavy workload in the post-war years.
Millen was born in Deal, Kent in 1860 to John Bullock Millen, who was a pilot of the Cinque Ports, and Charlotte (née Davis). He migrated to New South Wales in 1880, having been educated in England and employed in the marine insurance business. On 19 February 1883 he married Constance Evelyn Flanagan at Bourke; they settled as graziers in Brewarrina. Millen, who had worked as a journalist in Bourke and Walgett and wrote for the Central Australian and Bourke Telegraph (of which he reputedly became part-owner), became editor of the Western Herald and Darling River Advocate around 1889, part-owning the business together with Philip Chapman until 1901. During this period he also worked as a land agent, acquiring an office in O'Connell Street in Sydney and a house in Burwood by 1902.
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