Senator Edward Davis MillenPrint Page

The monument erected by friends, commemorates Senator Edward Davis Millen who died in 1923. 

Edward Davis Millen (1860 – 1923) was an Australian journalist and politician who served as the first Minister for Repatriation. 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.

A memorial erected over the grave of Senator E. D. Millen, who died in 1923, was unveiled yesterday at Rookwood Cemetery by Mr. W. M. Hughes, M.P.  Mr. Hughes said that the story of Senator Millen's life was intertwined about the history of his country. Those who knew him, when they read the simple words on the memorial, saw the figure take shape and substance, and saw again the man who, for nearly 30 years stood in the forefront of the public life of this State and of the Commonwealth. No man ever served his country with greater diligence. His interest in public affairs was never casual or half-hearted. He was a great fighter for 30 years on the platform and in Parliament he was among the very few counted in public life. The memorial bears the inscription: — "Edward Davis Millen, 1861-1923. Senator 1901-1923. Minister for Defence at the outbreak of the Great War. Minister for Repatriation. "This stone records the patriotic service of one whose life was devoted to the Commonwealth and Empire, and who died in the performance of his duty.  "We live in deeds, not words." 
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), 26 September 1927.

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