Image with permission:- credit Charlie Bliss on behalf of the City of Darwin
Congratulations to our member June Tomlinson MAAGRA, on being awarded the City of Darwin’s 2026 Citizen of the Year!
The award recognizes June’s dedication of “more than 40-plus years of volunteer work, where she has helped countless people rediscover lost family connections and support numerous Indigenous Territorians in their quest to discover their roots.”
June’s dedication to local history is unmatched. She has served as the Honorary Secretary for the Genealogical Society of the Northern Territory (GSNT) since 1972 and has also been recognised by them as an Honorary Member for outstanding contribution. Over the decades, she built up the society’s library from scratch, indexed invaluable local records and put NT genealogy on the global map by speaking at international congresses. June was the convenor of the “11th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry Family History: “family history, the access revolution”, which was held in Darwin in June 2006 with an attendance of 400 people.
One of her biggest achievements was successfully campaigning for the right to index the first edition of the NT Births, Deaths, and Marriages (BDMs) from 1870 to 1902. This was a huge win for the Territory, finally opening up historical records that had lagged behind the rest of Australia.
As an Accredited Record Agent with AAGRA, and our only member living up in the Northern Territory, we couldn’t be prouder of June for this well-deserved recognition. Congratulations, June!
