Heritage · People
J.J. Miller: gold, bookmaking and a printing press
The man behind the masthead, from the Castlemaine goldfields to the first president of the Ferntree Gully Shire.
Heritage Desk · · 5 min read
Born at Bayswater, London, on 13 May 1831, James John Miller arrived in Victoria in 1848 aged sixteen. After the Castlemaine goldfields he bought a Melbourne hotel that became a gathering place for the city’s sporting crowd.
He was a popular bookmaker, raced his own string of horses from the late 1860s, and around 1875 took over a printing business from a relative. His imprint appeared on much of Melbourne’s theatrical printing for years.
Miller was the first president of the Ferntree Gully Shire, from 1889 to 1891; the riding he represented was named Bayswater after his birthplace. He died at Hampton, Victoria, on 30 November 1922, aged 91.
