People Australia

Beryl Effie Miller, née Blears (1926-) Communist and Socialist party organiser and women’s movement activist

Birth: 9 September 1926 at Geelong, Victoria, daughter of English-born parents Leigh Arthur Blears (1896-1974) from Patricroft, Barton-upon-Irwell, Manchester, Lancashire, a returned soldier and engine pattern maker, and Hilda Gertrude, née Fletcher (1897-1985), from Malpas, Cheshire, a shop assistant. Marriages: (1) 22 May 1946 at St John’s Presbyterian church, Essendon, to native-born Roy Talbot Jury (1916-1986), a fitter. The marriage ended in divorce. (2) 5 June 1964 to native-born Alan Charles Miller (1928-2014), Communist journalist. Death:  

• Both her parents were members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) during World War II.
• Beryl joined the Eureka Youth League in 1942 and became secretary of the Moonee Ponds branch. She attended the Youth Carnival for Peace and Friendship in Sydney in March 1952. Joined the CPA in 1952. Was active in the Progress Association in Hectorville, South Australia. Member of Association of Australian Dancers (The Wattle Dance Group) from 1952 to 1956. Active member of SA New Theatre and Treasurer from 1952 to 1953.
• In 1957 she became the first woman elected to the SA State committee of the CPA in the post-war period. In 1964 she was the first woman elected from SA to attend a CPA Congress in the post-war period, and was part of the first all-women’s delegation to visit the USSR. Member, State Executive of the CPA 1967-1968. Member, CPA SA State Women’s Committee.
• South Australian State Secretary of the Union of Australian Women from 1955 to 1978. Attended the first National UAW Conference in Sydney in 1956. Elected to the national committee, she held the position until 1981.
• She organised Child Art Exhibitions in SA in 1958 and 1959, and an International Children’s Film Festival in 1960. In the 1950s she visited workplaces to discuss equal pay, held public meetings, and had a float in Labour Day processions.
• Was involved in national campaigns on child endowment, maternity bonuses, peace and nuclear disarmament, prices and jobs. In the 1960s she was active in protests against involvement in Vietnam, including the Save Our Sons movement. Marched in every International Women’s Day march in SA.
• Foundation member of the Socialist Party of Australia (SPA) in 1971, attending its inaugural conference. Studied in the Soviet Union in 1975. Member SPA SA State Women’s Committee. Member of SPA SA State Executive for several years. Delegate all SPA/reformed CPA Congresses except 1975 (when she was in USSR) and 1984. Councilor of Women’s International Democratic Federation 1975-1980.
• Worked in German Democratic Republic in 1975 to prepare for World Conference of Women as part of UN International Women’s Year. Played a continuing role in the United Nations Decade for Women from its inception in 1975.
• In 1978 moved to Sydney to work for the Central Committee. She became secretary of South Sydney branch of SPA formed in 1982; organised at factory level and produced monthly bulletins. Elected delegate in 1984 to Sydney District Conference.
• Moved to Melbourne in 1985 and worked in the Party’s State Committee Office and became secretary of the Central Branch. Worked on the waterfront with maritime workers and sold the Guardian. Held annual Guardian festival and received concert parties of Soviet artists.
• Returned to SA in 1991, continuing as secretary of the UAW SA Branch and became president of the local SPA (reformed CPA) branch. Worked in local reformed CPA branch, produced regular bulletins and distributed the Guardian. In 1998 attended Women’s International Democratic Federation Congress in Paris.