Young Citizen ofthe Year, Madison Hazell pictured with Ambassador Luke Taylor.
At 10:00 am, residents of Junee gathered at the Athenium Theatre for Junee’s annual Australia Day Awards Ceremony, a yearly ceremony which shines a spotlight on the town’s best.
This year, 14 nominees across five categories were named, with the following people winning their respective awards:
– Citizen of the Year: Natalie Phillips.
– Young Citizen of the Year: Madison Hazell.
– Sports Award: Rylee Henderson.
– Team of the Year: Illabo Public School.
– Arts and Community Award: Illabo Melodrama Group.
Council said, “The Illabo Melodrama Group has been a cornerstone of the local community for over 20 years, bringing together members from Illabo, Eurongilly and Junee to deliver bi-annual performances.
Volunteers of all ages dedicate countless hours to rehearsals, costumes and logistics, creating shows that entertain and unite the community. Beyond the stage, the group supports local organisations by providing catering for fundraising events, amplifying their impact. Their performances offer rare opportunities for social connection in a rural setting, fostering cohesion, pride and cultural engagement.
More than a theatre group, the Illabo Melodrama Group strengthens the social fabric of the region.”
Illabo Public School may be small, but its teamwork and spirit are exceptional. With just 12 students, the school achieved standout results in 2025, including winning the Black Billy Cup at the local swimming carnival and claiming Gold at the Small Schools Touch Knockout for the second year in a row.
They also secured Bronze in the State Athletics Small Schools Norm and Elizabeth Austin Relay— an incredible achievement for a rural school. Beyond sport, the students hosted a morning tea for the Light Horse Brigade, represented Illabo in the ANZAC March and won the School Display at the Illabo Show. Their unity, pride and community contribution make them an inspiring nominee for Team of the Year.”
Rylee Henderson, a Year 10 student at Junee High School, has had an outstanding year across multiple codes. She has represented her school, town, region, state and even Australia in AFL, rugby league, rugby union and athletics. Rylee has played for Junee Diesels League Tag and Temora’s AFL and rugby union teams, while also earning selection in elite development pathways including the GWS Giants Academy, ACT Brumbies Academy and the Canberra Raiders development squad.
In 2025, she represented Australian rugby union in Japan and New Zealand and will travel to Europe to play AFL with the Australian Wanderers.
Balancing school, sport and work, Rylee is a committed young athlete who leads by example and inspires other young girls in sport.”
Madison has represented her community and NSW in lawn bowls for many years, achieving numerous state, regional and club titles, including NSW Inter-Zone selections, Riverina medals, NSW CHS medals, ACT Capital Pairs Champion, multiple club championships and a NSW State Team debut at the 2024 Nationals, where she earned a silver medal in pairs. Most importantly, Madison has used her success to advocate for gender equality in the sport of lawn bowls, taking it upon herself to start a petition with over 5,000 signatures and earning a position on the NSW State Junior Committee.
Beyond bowls, Madison contributes to her community through the JuneeYouth Council and has carried out her duties as School Captain in 2025. Madison consistently excels academically, achieving platinum honours and Dux in both primary and secondary school. She is recognised as a dedicated, kind and inspiring young leader in our community with a bold future.”
Natalie Phillips herself said that it was an amazing feeling to receive an award like this. “I have really got no words to describe it, but it’s really quite humbling,” she said. “It is lovely that people have thought of it that way for me. “I like that the Junee community are a very volunteer-based community, and that there are always people who want to pitch in and help to make things better within the community.
“Volunteering is very rewarding, and it can be fulfilling. “I’ve been trying to get people to volunteer for years to help with different things within the community. It’s such a hard task to achieve.
“People get to see a difference once they do actually volunteer and see what they can bring to the community. “It gives people some satisfaction and some value. Junee has many people who quietly and consistently volunteer in our community, and they do amazing things. Junee is a unique town compared to a lot of others that have a lot of volunteers, whereas some communities really struggle to find that balance.
“I’m very grateful to be nominated, and I volunteer because I believe kindness matters, and that community matters and I believe if everyone gave a little bit of themselves, together the community becomes stronger.
“I thank you all again for the nomination and support, and encourage others to be a volunteer. I’m delighted that I was recognised for the award.”
Mayor Bob Callow said it was a perfect ceremony. “We had a good turnout, despite the really hot weather, which was a good demonstration of how cool the Athenium is. It was really nice inside there. That was good for people to get an idea of if you can’t cool down at home, come down to the Athenium and see what’s on there. It’s nice and cool inside.
“We had a wonderful turnout, good roll-up of people and, of course, we had our presentation of our Citizen of the Year and all of our other awards. They went well.
We had Natalie Phillips as our Citizen of the Year and Maddie Hazel as our Young Citizen, who are both wonderful. Maddie is such a good kid and is just so clever. She’s off to uni soon to do high school teaching. That’s going to be something really good for her.
“Then we had Riley Henderson as our young sports person. She’s outstanding. When you see her bio, she’s just done so much.
“We had the Illabo Melodrama, got the award for the arts. That was good because I’m part of that melodrama, so it was really good to see them get an award.
“Our team’s award went to Illabo Public School, a great little school out there, and they’ve done so much raising money for mitochondrial disease. We had eight out of the 12 students there. It was really, reallyg ood. They were so excited. I don’t do any of the judging, so it’s a bit of a surprise for me too, and it’s great. Great to see the expression on people’s faces.
“The young award winners are not getting awards because they’re young, they are getting awards because they are young achievers. They really have achieved over the last 12 months, and for some of them, a lot longer than that. When you look down the record of their achievements, you just sit back and go, wow. It makes you really proud that they grew up here, they’ve achieved as much as they have, and they’re going to go on and achieve a lot more. They’re really going to be the up-and-coming people of the future. I see them doing great things, and it’s so good that so many young people are putting their hands up and doing things.
“Everybody says, oh, why aren’t the young people doing this? Or why haven’t we got so many more young people doing this? Yet here we are. We really have some brilliant young achievers, and I think they’re going to go on and do so much more in life.
“It’s really going to be wonderful. I’m going to keep an eye on them all. That’s for sure.“I was very proud of them.
“A big thanks to everybody that did turn out in such terrible hot weather.
“We really need to keep an eye on things when we have indications that we’re going to get very high temperatures. Just make sure everybody is looking after not only themselves, but the elderly and the young and also their pets as well. People often forget about pets. Just make sure they’ve got plenty of shade, plenty of water, and Council have put out there just what else you can do in town and some services the council have that provide cool spaces for people to go. We will probably see more about the pool being more available to people on the really hot days in the future.”
Maddison Hazel said,”I would love to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me and pushed me through not only my bowls journey, but my academic and personal journey as well. I’m forever grateful for what Junee has done for me, and will cherish the people and the uplifting attitude always.”
– Jack Murray
AUSTRALIA DAY GALLERY
Junee Shire came together for a vibrant and heartfelt Australia Day celebration, organised by Junee Council and local community groups. Residents and visitors enjoyed a full day of reflection, recognition, fun, and mateship in true country style. The morning started early with the popular Junee Junction Australia Day “Jail Break” Fun Run at 7:30am. This annual 3.2km event followed a mostly flat course from the entrance of the Junee Correctional Centre to the Junee Junction Recreation and Aquatic Centre. Entries were taken up to race day, drawing runners of all ages for a great way to kick off the celebrations. The highlight was the official Australia Day Ceremony at the beautiful Athenium Theatre on Broadway Street in Junee. The event brought the community together to reflect on Australian values, respect the nation’s history, and celebrate its best qualities—mateship, resilience, and community spirit.
