- Entry type: Person
- Entry ID: AWE0654
Miller, Emma
(1839 – 1917)- Born 26 June, 1839, Chesterfield Derbyshire England
- Died 22 January, 1917, Toowoomba Queensland Australia
- Occupation Suffragist, Union organiser, Women's rights activist
Summary
Emma Miller was foundation president of the Woman’s Equal Franchise Association between 1894 and 1905. The vote for women in Queensland State elections was finally won in 1905; women had had the right to vote in Federal elections since Federation, and voted for the first time in the 1903 Federal election. On 2 February 1912, known as Black Friday, at the height of a general strike, Miller led a contingent of women to Parliament House, avoiding police with fixed bayonets. The women were charged by baton swinging police on their return from Parliament House. Miller reputedly stuck her hatpin into a horse ridden by the Police Commissioner, Patrick Cahill. Cahill fell from his horse and claimed to have been permanently injured. Direct political action was not Miller’s only cause. She was anti-militarist and opposed conscription in World War I. She believed that ‘those who make the quarrel should be the only ones to fight’. As vice-president of the Women’s Peace Army, Miller attended the Peace Alliance Conference in Melbourne in 1916. She also fought hard for free speech and civil liberties. During the First World War, Miller preached equal pay to those fearing that women would take the jobs of men away at the war.
Events
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1970 - 1970
Married Jabez Mycroft Silcock (dec.), they had four children
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1970 - 1970
Married William Calderwood (dec. 1880)
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1970 - 1970
Migrated to Brisbane
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1970 - 1970
Married Andrew Miller (dec. 1897)
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1970 - 1970
Helped to form a female workers’ union
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1970 - 1970
Gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Shops, Factories and Workshops
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1970 - 1970
Marched with shearers’ strike prisoners when released
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1970 - 1905
Foundation president of the Woman’s Equal Franchise Association
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2012 - 2012
Led a contingent of women to Parliament House on ‘Black Friday’
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1903 - 1903
President of the Women Workers’ Political Union
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1908 - 1908
Delegate to the Commonwealth Labor conference
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2017 - 2017
The flag at Brisbane’s Trade Hall flew at half mast when Emma Miller died
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2022 - 2022
A publicly funded marble bust was unveiled in the Trades Hall
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1916 - 1916
Delegate to the Australian Peace Alliance conference
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1916 - 1917
Campaigned against the conscription referendums
Published resources
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Resource Section
- Miller, Emma (1839-1917), Young, Pam, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100497b.htm
- Women in Australia's Working History, 2003, http://www.australianworkersheritagecentre.com.au/07_education/working_women.htm
- Miller, Emma (1839 - 1917), Elford, Ross G., 2002, http://www.atua.org.au/biogs/ALE1200b.htm
- Family rediscovers grandma suffragette, Jones, Chris, 2001, http://www.thecouriermail.com.au/extras/federation/CMFedMiller.htm
- Book
- Book Section
- Edited Book
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Resource
- Trove: Miller, Emma (1839-1917), http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-729057
- Worth Fighting For!, Fryer Library with research by Yorick Smaal, 2005, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20050708180233/http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/worth_fighting/
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Site Exhibition
- The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Smart, Judith and Swain, Shurlee (eds.), 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders
Archival resources
Related entries
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Related Organisations
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Presided
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Related Exhibitions
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Membership