‘active citizen’, but especially in her later years as a Clifton Hill resident and Collingwood Councillor. She believed in the importance of democratic local government and took representing the individuals in her ward seriously. Her contributions included initiating the Collingwood Residents Association and working for the establishment of the Carringbush Library. It was for her contribution to the community and as a councillor that she received the Australian Centenary Medal posthumously on 9 April 2003.

Marion was born in Hampshire, England, in 1913, the youngest of three daughters of Alice Lizzie and George Bertram Hartfree, an architect and town planner. At Pitman College Marion learned shorthand and typing as well as languages and English literature. Her first job was at the publishing company of Victor Gollancz, which was active in fighting fascism and pioneered publishing cheap affordable books on political and social issues.

At the age of 22, Marion came to Australia for a holiday arriving in Melbourne in 1936. She was not to set foot in England again for thirty years as her holiday became emigration.  In March 1937 she married Forbes Miller, a journalist on the Melbourne Herald. After some years living in Sydney in the 1950s Marion, Forbes and their children moved to Melbourne and Marion worked from home as an editor. She then worked part time in an administrative role at the head office of the Church of England Kindergarten Council.

In December 1969 Marion and Forbes’ lives took another direction when they moved to Page Street, Clifton Hill. They found themselves in a neighbourhood more in tune with their values than they had in more conservative East Malvern. The inner-city gentrification was under way. The three-storey townhouses on the corner of Gold and Page Streets in which they lived had been designed by the architect Albert Genser as a demonstration that, unlike the unfriendly prefabricated concrete high-rise flats being constructed by the Victorian Housing Commission, high density housing could be both attractive and affordable.

In 1971 Collingwood High School was to be moved up to the nearby Darling Gardens during rebuilding on the old site. Marion and others called an informal meeting which led in turn to a public meeting to form the Collingwood Residents’ Association in 1972, with the first item on the agenda being the defence of the Darling Gardens against their alienation.

Marion was one of 47 residents who petitioned Council to ameliorate dangerous traffic conditions around the intersection of Page Street and Gold Street. Page Street was temporarily closed in 1973 and finally permanent closure was gazetted in 1977, leading to the leafy environment which remains today.

Many young families were moving into the area and one of Marion’s successful innovations was Picnics in the Park for young families to get to know each other. She and the Residents Association also became very active in the anti-freeway fight of the mid-seventies.

Marion became a Collingwood councillor in 1976 representing the mainly residential Loch Ward and was very much a ‘grass roots’ councillor. In 1980 she was Deputy Mayor.

Marion was a member of the Carringbush Regional Library Committee from the time she was elected, and Chair in 1980-1981. As a great reader and supporter of libraries, one of her proudest achievements on the Council was her role in establishing Carringbush, a joint initiative of two councils, Richmond and Collingwood. Collingwood City Council Town Clerk, L. Dudley Cook wrote to Marion in July 1978:

I have been directed by Council to convey to you its sincere thanks and congratulations for the manner in which you have pursued the establishment of the Collingwood Library. The drive and inspiration you have contributed to this project was undoubtedly the reason that the library was opened on schedule and for the success of the opening day.

After eight years she retired from Council in 1984 when she felt her loyalties as an ALP member conflicted with their views, but her activism continued in many other directions. In 1986 she was co-founder of the Darling Gardens Action Group. She was also concerned about older residents and was involved with the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s hostel for the frail aged, Sambell Lodge, South Terrace Clifton Hill and ensuring they participated in the library’s service to housebound people. She was a Panel member of Consultative Council on Senior Citizens formed by the Victorian Minister for Health.

In her memoir Marion was able to state: ‘All my life I have been active in the affairs of the community.’ She was a forceful, articulate woman, a self-described ‘feminist for a lifetime’, forthright in expressing her views and ensuring that issues were followed through as well as a great raconteur. In later years, she was a recipient of housebound book deliveries from the library. Two librarians fondly recall their visits to Page Street at the end of the working day when Marion would whip out the wine and nibbles and the ‘drop-off’ would extend to several hours as fierce and entertaining discussions of books and world affairs ensued. Particularly entertaining were her stories of her days at Gollancz Publishing and the authors she met there.

Pre-deceased by Forbes, Marion died aged 88 and her funeral was held at St Andrew’s Anglican Church just around the corner from her Page Street home.

Marion Miller, My Sailing Away: two memoirs and a diary, copyright 2021, Buffy Press. Introduction by Jane Miller.

Meyer, Tina and Graeme Loughlin, “I should be glad if a few elms and oaks were included”: the Darling Gardens, Clifton Hill, Abbotsford, Collingwood Historical Society, 1995.

Collingwood History Collection:

Newspaper articles on Marion Miller CFC 56

Collingwood Oral History project – Marion Miller AUD. CASS LH COLL

Council minutes, correspondence, and newspaper articles on Page Street closure CFC 258

Anti-freeway protest

https://collingwoodhs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Caroline-Hogg-and-Solange-Shapiro.pdf

Women councillors at Victoria Park