Marjorie Millburn: Family Planning Association of Queensland founder

At a public Symposium held in Brisbane in April 1971, Lady Phyllis Cilento, medical practitioner, journalist and advocate, put forward a motion that a Family Planning Association be formed in Queensland. One of the first people to volunteer to help establish the Association was local mother Marjorie Millburn.
 
As a former British World War 2 Red Cross nurse, Marjorie had served in both a maternity unit and a children's home, but unbeknownst to the Symposium audience, after the War she had also spent several years as treasurer of a Family Planning clinic in Cobham near her former home in Surrey.

Marjorie and her young family had relocated to Brisbane in October 1968. She immediately fell in love with the weather but found Queensland's health services considerably lacking. In England, volunteer-run Family Planning clinics were located in almost every town and hamlet, but in Queensland no such organisation or service existed.
  
Queensland in the late 1960s was a socially and politically conservative state. Access to information for unmarried couples was very limited, sex education in schools was rare, abortion was illegal, and pregnancy tests and contraception were difficult to obtain. Queensland’s teenage pregnancy rate however, was the highest in Australia.

Seeing a need in the community for a family planning service, Marjorie contacted the President of the Family Planning Association of Australia (FPAA) New South Wales branch, Vimy Wilhelm, and was put in touch with others keen to establish a branch in Queensland.

The public Symposium was a perfect opportunity to meet other like-minded people, many of whom were established and well-respected medical practitioners. An ad hoc committee of volunteers was formed to draft a constitution, and Marjorie agreed to be the committee's Honorary Secretary, with Dr Alan Blunt, Reader in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Queensland presiding as Chairman.

After a public meeting to announce its formation, the first goal of the new Association was to open a clinic, and once a premise was found at 239 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, the first clinic opened on 28 March 1972.

From its first meeting, the Association's vital aim was to provide clinical services and family planning training to both medical professionals and the wider community, and to make contraceptive information more freely available.

Once established, the Association grew quickly.  Marjorie became the Association's Administrator (later Chief Executive Officer), propelling the organisation through rapid expansion and development. Her energy and foresight was matched by the Association's other founding members.  Nurse and trained counsellor June Morris established both clinical and education services. Dr John Campbell was a founding member of the Board. Doctors Pam Chick and Jane Howard both held the position of Medical Director, and Helen Draper was the Association’s first Publicity Officer.

Affectionately called ‘Mrs. M' by her staff, Marjorie oversaw the establishment of independent regional clinics open in Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and the Gold Coast, followed by clinics in Ipswich, Mt Gravatt, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast. 

Funding was scarce, particularly in the early years, but dedicated volunteers and staff continued to provide vital services throughout Queensland.  As CEO, Marjorie advocated at a state and national level, steering the Association through fluctuations in government support, developments and pitfalls in health policy and public opinion, complex grant and funding requirements, and challenging, successful and sometimes controversial media campaigns.

As services grew through the 1980s, the Association became owner-occupier of a new premise, a renovated warehouse at 100 Alfred Street, Fortitude Valley, which became the new state headquarters. Opened in July 1986, HQ was not only a clinic, but also the focus of training and promotional campaign development. As the spread of HIV/AIDs cast a shadow over the decade, information about and easy access to contraception became more important than ever.

The inspirational 'Mrs. M’ remained steadfastly at the helm of the Family Planning Queensland for an impressive 30 years before retiring in 2001. A Queensland trailblazer, Marjorie Millburn and the founding members transformed the Association from a single volunteer-run clinic to a highly professional statewide organisation which fundamentally improved reproductive and sexual health services in Queensland. 

State Library of Queensland holds the Family Planning Queensland archive, oral history interviews with the founders, and other publications and materials. See below for links to these resources. 

Further reading:

Family planning and reproductive health in Queensland - State Library blog   

Acc. 34252 Family Planning Queensland archive

Acc. OH119 Family Planning Queensland Oral History - seven oral history interviews with Marjorie Millburn, June Morris, Judy Nissen, Dr. John Campbell, Dr. Jane Howard, Dr. Pamela Chick, and Helen Draper.

Additional Family Planning Queensland resources at State Library

Birds, bees and birth control: a history of Family Planning in Queensland 1971-2001 / by Sylvia Bell Bannah 

Family Planning Association of Queensland Records - held at Fryer Library, University of Queensland

Items from the Family Planning Queensland archive are on display in the Philip Bacon Heritage Gallery on Level 4 as part of the Extraordinary Stories exhibition from October 2025 until June 2026.