In 2012, Museums & Galleries’ IMAGinE Awards acknowledged a Special Award for Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Contribution

Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Contribution

Uncle Roy and Aunty June Barker

Uncle Roy and Aunty June Barker received this award posthumously to recognise their contribution to the collection and conservation of Aboriginal culture at Lightning Ridge.

Aunty June was a Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri woman who grew up on Brewarrina Mission on Yuwaalaraay country, where she met and married Uncle Roy, a Murrawarri man. Whilst living on-mission they benefited from the knowledge of Yuwaalaraay people who had been displaced there.

Over the years they became respected custodians of Aboriginal culture and history in the region.  After being involved in the Brewarrina Aboriginal Museum, Uncle Roy and Aunty June set up the Goondee Keeping Place in a shed on their property in Lightning Ridge in 2000, to store and protect their own cultural objects and artefacts. They made displays of artefacts and photographs which they used to educate visitors about Yuwaalaraay culture and history. They shared their knowledge of Aboriginal history and culture with locals, visitors, students, travellers, and those tracing family histories.

Uncle Roy was a skilled maker of traditional objects and artefacts, having learned from elders at Brewarrina as a boy. He was also called on to teach traditional woodworking at the local school to young boys, continuing to pass the knowledge on.

Aunty June was an acclaimed storyteller and oral histographer. ACHAA’s Steve Miller recalls her incredible memory of family histories.

This award was received on behalf of Uncle Roy and Aunty June Barker by their children, Roy Barker Jr, Les Barker, and Miah Barker.