Born in
Colac, Victoria on 20 October 1932, Mildren attended the
University of Melbourne and then
Texas A&M University. He became a teacher, later rising to senior lecturer and head of department at
Ballarat College of Advanced Education. In 1980, he was elected to the
Australian House of Representatives as the
Labor member for
Ballarat, defeating
Liberal MP
Jim Short. He held the seat until his own defeat in 1990 by
Michael Ronaldson. Mildren was awarded the
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the
2018 Australia Day Honours, "for service to the Parliament of Australia, and the community of Ballarat." Mildren died on the night of 25 April 2024, at the age of 91. ==References==