June Young is one of the greatest community volunteers of all time – and she is one of us.
Even now, when she admits to “slowing down, because I am not as mobile as I used to be’’, her work rate is by any measure just incredible.
The girl from Manly who made Liverpool her home more than 40 years ago is without peer when it comes to helping out in the community.
“Saying no is just not in June’s vocabulary,’’ says her husband Ken by way of explanation of what drives this incredible woman we are lucky to count as one of our own.
Her name is synonymous with Quota, Rotary – especially the popular Police Officer of the Year award – Legacy and the RSL, to mention just a few.
Some readers may already have started adding the word “hyperbole’’ to the above assertions, but – sorry – they would be wrong.
Just a quick list of some of the groups June Young has volunteered for would easily put such doubts to bed.
Let’s rattle off just a few: Quota Club, Rotary, Legacy, the RSL, chamber of commerce, Justices of the Peace, Miracle Babies, Autism Advisory and Support Service, Liverpool Sheppard Centre.
But under each of these, June also serves on several other activities, so in the Returned Services League for instance, she is a:
Member of the Museum Committee
Member of the RSL Women’s Auxiliary
Patron of the RSL Youth Club
President of the Fairfield RSL Memorial Club Women’s Auxiliary for the past four years
Member of the Totally and Permanently Disabled Association
Member of The Vietnam Veterans Association
Member of The NSW and Queensland Sappers Association
Member of The School of Military Engineering Heritage Committee
Member of Sunset Station Singers (previously Vietnam Veterans Choir).
June has also served on a myriad of Legacy, Rotary, Quota and Liverpool City Council committees, including the Bicentennial committee, where I first met her back in 2004.
Some of the others have included:
Liverpool Youth Needs Committee – Treasurer –
Economic Development Unity.
Member of the GROW Committee.
Member of the Heritage Awards Committee.
Member of the Liverpool Business Awards Committee.
Community Representative on the Community and Recreational Committee for nine years
Planning committees for the Growing of Liverpool over the next 12 and 20 years.
Member of the Mall Committee.
Member of the CBD Committee.
Member Tourism Committee.
If that dizzy list is not enough to convince you, wait, I have more – much more.
And that’s before we start rolling out all the awards June Young has received over the years, honours which also tell the story of how much effort this tireless woman has put into our community.
Four years ago June Young was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for service to the community through a range of women’s, local government, business and ex-service organizations.
But that was just the latest of many, many honours, which include:
• Women of Achievement award – Combined Service Clubs – for outstanding service to the community;
• City of Liverpool Heritage award – Companion of the Order of Liverpool – for service to business and the Liverpool community;
• City of Liverpool Business awards – Business Person of the Year;
• Paul Harris Fellow award – Rotary International – for service to the community;
• Federal Centenary Medal – for service to the Liverpool community;
• Wanda Frey Joinert Founder – awarded by Friends and Members of District 35 Quota International;
• Saphire Paul Harris Fellow Award – Rotary International for continued service to the community;
• 2005 Liverpool Citizen of the Year, Australia Day Council – for service to Liverpool, Quota, Rotary, and community events;
• Hughes award for service to the community – Quota and Rotary;
• Federal Volunteer award, Federal Parliament – service to the community through Quota and Greenway Rotary.
As you can see by now, if June Young were a sportsman, it would be reasonable to describe her statistics as “Bradmanesque’’.
And, therefore, sufficient enough to elevate her to immortal status.
But there are no such exalted honours for humble community volunteers such as June Young.
Helping others is its own and only reward, it seems.
“We’ve been blessed – we got more than we ever gave out,’’ says June when asked why she does what she does.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“I get a lot more back from what I am doing than I ever give out.[/social_quote]
“It’s just what I do.’’
♦ June Young was born and raised in Manly a little over seven decades ago, in a middle class family that was very comfortable.
“I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth and then I married a man that had nothing,’’ says June.
“We had a fairytale upbringing at Manly, then I met Ken who lost his father in Changi and then had a step father who beat him so much the Salvation Army had to rescue him.
“Then he was put in a home by Legacy.’’
For the first time in her life, it dawned on June Young that there were people out there not as comfortable as her and her middle class family.
“I had very giving parents; my dad was a union boss when unions meant something, he was also a ham radio operator, in fact he taught Dick Smith.
“Looking back now it had a big impact on me, meeting 17 year old Ken, getting married to him.
“Seeing what life was like on the other side, it was not anything like I’d experienced before.
“And so you just have this need to look after people.’’
June and Ken have been married for more than 50 years and have three children and five grandchildren.
Ken was in the army, which explains how they came to Liverpool.
But in the beginning they moved around a fair bit as Ken got posted here, there and everywhere – in Australia and overseas, including a tour of Vietnam.
And wherever they went June’s first task was to put her hand up to help out at whatever and wherever a hand was needed in each new place.
In Darwin, en route to PNG, June joined the Country Women’s Association and was posted to work on the local leper colony.
Once they arrived in Papua New Guinea she also joined the local CWA there, lending a hand at the hospital.
Sometimes June started new groups, such a Wives Fund, but one way or another she made sure she was an active participant in the local society.
“I held many positions, including with the Australian Wheelchair Association while Ken was in Vietnam, I was Secretary to the Area Military Commander in Darwin, and manager of a Chinese Trade Store in Popendetta,’’ June says.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”] “Back at Puckapunyal I managed the Australian Canteens Store for six years, as well as running the craft centre in the evenings.[/social_quote]
“This was a thriving business with all profits being fed back to the community.’’
And business success is the other thing June Young is synonymous with in our region.
Back in Liverpool when Ken was posted to Hammondville, she started working for legendary south west Sydney car auctioneer and dealer Morrie Muller.
When finally Ken retired from the army, June Young established Stage Struck Ballet Boutique, to later be known as Stage Struck (Australia) Pty Ltd.
Stage Struck quickly became a household name across Liverpool, Fairfield and Macarthur and went on to become one of the largest independent retail and manufacturing theatrical business in Australia.
The business was opened at the top end of Liverpool, next to Liverpool Primary School, and then later moved to the outside of Westfield’s in Elizabeth Drive.
So now June was running a hugely popular business, as well as being heavily involved in numerous community organisations.
“I am not a stay at home person, that’s all, says June now.
“And I love people, so I get out there and do what I do.
“There’s no regrets. If I had my time over again I’d do it all again, exactly the same,’’ June says.
June Young’s journey as a community worker without peer is not as hectic as it used to be, but compared to others it is still a heck of a lot of activity.
A heck of a lot of giving back to the community.
“The RSL has been so important to us,’’says June when asked about the standout organisations she has been involved in.
“Legacy is our life because it brought up Ken,’’ says June.
“And I wouldn’t be who I am without Quota.
“But we had so much given to us in Liverpool and we were better off than most and everything we have done was simply giving back.
“I am just so proud that most of the things I have been involved in like Miracles Babies and Autism Advisory and Support Service have been so successful.
“I feel pretty honoured to be invited to be on boards of such wonderful organisations,’’ June says.
But Liverpool is also surely grateful that 40 years ago it got lucky when one of the greatest community volunteers of all time made it her home.
