Damian Miller

Ronald Nevill Damian Miller known almost exclusively as Damian Miller (10 February 1915 - 20 May 1990) was an Australian pilot and pastoralist who spent much of his life in Alice Springs. Miller helped found Connellan Airways as well as Argadargada and Hamilton Downs Stations.

Early life

Miller was born in 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of Septimus and Helen Miller and he attended Xavier College as a young man where he became friends with Sam Calder whom he would remain friends with for the rest of his life. After he left college he made friends with Edward Connellan, another man who would become a huge part of his life and he introduced him to Calder.

When World War II broke out Miller and Calder immediately volunteered for the RAAF but first flew to Alice Springs to help Connellan establish Connellan Airways; which Miller helped finance (on a secured loan basis), with the assistance of his wealthy grandfather Henry Miller. Miller, with the other staff, helped build the Connellan hangar and construct the airstrips and flight paths.

Life in the Northern Territory Post-war Miller moved to Alice Springs to work again with Connellan, where he flew the Wyndham mail runs.

In 1947, on a trip to England to purchase two Rapide aircraft's, Miller met and married Anne Fletcher at Yeovil in Somerset and following their marriage the two flew the planes home. This was a difficult trip as fuel had to be left a aerodromes apart across Europe and Asia and the planes had no radios. They reached Alice Springs on 6 May 1948. Miller also bought a share of Hamilton Downs Station in 1952 and built a new homestead, he eventually acquired sole ownership in 1968. In 1972 Miller donated the ruins and site of the old Hamilton Downs homestead to the Apex Club of Central Australia, who turned it in to Hamilton Downs Youth Camp, which officially opened on 11 March 1978.

Miller Road in Alice Springs is named for Miller.