I wish I had known my half-brother, born Aaron James Lee to my father, Anthony Lee and his first wife Eleanore Green, in Lismore, NSW, on the 16th December, 1926. Tony and Eleanore 'Nell' separated in 1931. Nell remarried solicitor Albert James Miller in 1933. Aaron and my half-sister Lenore, were caught up in the bitter aftermath of this divorce. My understanding is that Albert would not allow the children to see Tony, to which it appears Tony reacted by not agreeing to Albert’s request to adopt the children. The childrens' names were changed by deed poll, and Aaron James Lee became Aaron James, or ‘Ron’ Miller. My father, who died in 1963, did not speak to us about Aaron and Lenore until we were teenagers, but never stopped caring about them. My mother described how upset he was in 1947 when he became aware that Ron, still in the armed forces, was to be in Melbourne on a visiting war ship and wrote to Albert and Nell asking for permission to see him. It was denied. This photograph was taken of Ron at about the time he would have visited Melbourne. Sadly, I never met Ron, who died of cancer aged 53 in 1979, many years before I met his wife and two daughters, Elle and Kathy, in 2013.
There is so much I would like to have been able to ask and share with Ron. However, I’ll focus on two things Ron and I had in common—the main focus, that we both studied Economics at university, with a minor ‘lead in’ focus, that we were both troubled, if slightly differently, by the McMahon government in the early 1970’s. I remember being in my third year of teaching economics at Yarram High School and planning a move back to Melbourne when the 1972 ‘It’s Time’ election was held. Billy McMahon’s period as Prime Minister had troubled me. Like many others, I felt ‘it was time’ for a change. According to Ron's wife Noreen, working as an economist in the Departments of Treasury and Finance during the McMahon government had proven troubling for Ron. Like me, Ron had studied economics. However, Ron had practised as an economist, with a career in economics/finance related departments at senior administrative levels for a series of federal governments. He had worked for a number of Australia's Prime Ministers (possibly seven), but his bete-noir was to be Billy McMahon, whose erratic and bullying behaviour contributed to his leaving the Federal public service after what had been a distinguished career. I wish I’d been able to visit Ron in Canberra and discuss his working life. I particularly wish I’d known him when I was studying Economics at High School and University. Twenty years older than me, with a rich experience in economic policy, what a wonderful mentor he might have been. Just knowing that I had a brother working in Canberra in the area of finance and economics could have been motivating. Perhaps he would have given me constructive feedback on my essays. That would have been wonderful! The first person in my known family to have gone to university, I always felt so alone in my pursuit of an economics degree. After leaving Canberra towards the end of McMahon’s period, Ron returned to Brisbane to teach Economics at a prestigious Catholic college. How wonderful for his students to have been taught by an economics teacher with such a rich working life in finance and economics in Canberra! I sometimes imagine a slim possibility that I may have met Ron once at a national economics teachers’ conference, as we both taught high school economics during the mid to late 1970’s. It’s a possibility which I hang on to, despite the fact that certainly by 1979 he was severely ill with cancer. There is so much I would like to have known about Ron’s life, so much I would like to have asked and shared with him. Vale, Ron. Bev Lee (Originally written for my U3A 'Memoirs' class in July 2021) Post script - June 2023: A friend of mine has a friend I suspected could, as a young economist, have worked with Ron in the late 60's early 70's. When asked, he did remember 'Mr Miller'! Comments are closed.
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The Journey ...An 'occasional blog' recording elements of my renewed family history journey. This is the second wave in my 'family history' journey. The first lasted from 2010 to 2014. with intermittent bursts since then. It's time to revisit, to share more stories, to edit, to tackle uncertainties... Categories
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