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Beryl Lucy Mills (3 January 1907 – 13 July 1977), was an advertising agent, librarian and beauty queen. She was the first woman to win the Miss Australia quest in 1926
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Early life
Beryl Lucy Mills was born on 3 January 1907 at Walkaway, Western Australia, the fifth child of parents Frank Ernest Mills and his wife Kitty, née Gibbons. After winning a scholarship to the University of Western Australia in 1924, and studying languages, she was admitted to Claremont Training College.
Beauty queen
Beryl Mills was an entrant in the inaugural 'Miss Australia' contest run by Smith’s Newspapers Ltd, owners of Smith’s Weekly and The Guardian. After initial success as 'Miss Westralia', she entered and won the national competition in June 1926 in Sydney. Her winnings included 1000 pounds, two cars and a promotional tour of the United States. She was accompanied by her mother and Sir Frank Packer and was a guest of the Miss America pageant at Atlantic City.
Advertising agent
In Sydney in 1928 she established the Beryl Mills Advertising Service before moving to Melbourne in the 1930s.
Librarian
Beryl Mills returned to Sydney by 1941 and became librarian at Frank Packer's Consolidated Press Ltd. By now she had met an American, Major Leslie Garland Calder, whom she later married in the United States.
Personal life
Beryl Mills married journalist Francis Keith Davison on 19 March 1928 at St Michael's Anglican Church, Vaucluse, Sydney. They moved to Melbourne where daughter Judith was born in 1935.
Returning to Sydney in 1941 she met American, Major Leslie Garland Calder. They moved to the United States and married on 19 December 1946 in Virginia. She became a naturalized American and moved to Florida in her husband’s retirement. She died there at Punta Gorda on 13 July 1977.