Kae Miller | |
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.jpg) Miller in the 1980s | |
| Born | Katrine Fearon Hursthouse 30 December 1910 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Died | 19 June 1994 (aged 83) Wellington, New Zealand |
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| Years active | 1940s–1990s |
| Known for | Creation of View Road Park and the Alice Krebs Lodge |
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Kae Miller (also known as Kae Hursthouse, 30 December 1910 – 19 June 1994) was a New Zealand conservationist, mental health activist, and cooperative housing advocate. She grew up in the Wellington area, attending local schools. At the age of thirteen, she went abroad to study and attended a private girls' school in Hertfordshire, England. Returning to New Zealand, she earned a Bachelor of Science in 1932 from Victoria College and the following year completed a master's degree with honours from Massey College. Returning to England, Hursthouse obtained a teaching certificate with an emphasis on child psychology at the Institute of Education in London. After a brief marriage in 1936, she spent almost two years travelling, before returning to England to engage in support work during World War II. Having become a committed pacifist, between 1939 and 1942 she worked with a group to rescue Jews from Germany and served as a nurse's aid in the Civil Nursing Reserve and at two hospitals.
Returning to New Zealand in 1942, Miller worked at the Anglican Boys Home in Lower Hutt, worked as a child welfare officer, and ran a home for maladjusted children. She also gave radio lectures about child welfare. Back in England, from 1947 she spent several years working in children's homes until she again moved back to New Zealand in the early 1950s. Concerned for the well-being of people who struggled with mental illness, she created the Box Trust for Mental Health in 1969. Miller initiated a recycling scheme at the Porirua tip (or landfill) in 1977. She attempted to create an eco-friendly cooperative housing project on land she owned. Unable to secure approval from the Wellington City Council, in 1980 she changed her plans and founded the View Road Park Project Society. Through her efforts, the View Road Park and Reserve (Te Rae Kaihau Park) was developed to conserve the natural environment. The Alice Krebs Lodge was opened both as accommodation for caretakers managing the park and as a spiritual retreat.