On Wednesday18th December 2019, we lost one of Australia’s leading advocates for early childhood in education and care – Associate Professor June Wangmann, former Head of School of the Macquarie University Institute of Early Childhood - now part of the School of Education.

June’s story is one of strong commitment to early childhood education, particularly in the area of policy for quality provision. June originally enrolled in a medical degree at the University of Sydney in the 1950s. But after studying for two years she took some time-out to go back to the rural community in which she grew up. During this period, she volunteered in an Indigenous community and became alert to the plight of Aboriginal children and their forced removal from their families. Borne out of these experiences - and especially her conviction about the positive changes that could be wrought for children if they have access to high quality education – began June’s life-long commitment to advocating children’s right to high quality early childhood education. Instead of completing her medical degree, June went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Philosophy at University of New England. This lead her, in her mid-thirties and with two young daughters, to enrol to study early childhood teaching at the Sydney Kindergarten Teachers’ College (SKTC) at Waverly – she was one of the first cohort of mature aged students at SKTC. After completing her teaching qualification, June became Centre Director at Kindergarten Union’s Marrickville pre-school - before being offered a lectureship at SKTC in the late 1970s.

SKTC eventually became the Institute of Early Childhood (IEC) at Macquarie University. June was elected Head of School of IEC, overseeing the transition of IEC from its premises in Waverley to Macquarie University campus under what were very trying circumstances – not least that the building hadn’t yet been completed, meaning that lecturers ran their offices from the boot of their car!

Amongst June’s many contributions to IEC was her commitment and support for a diverse research culture within IEC (including arguing for the first professor of early childhood in Australia - Professor Alan Hayes), making IEC one of the leaders in research into early childhood education in Australia. The legacy of this research culture has without doubt contributed to shaping Australia’s early childhood research agenda – with several of today’s Australian professors and associate professors in EC, directly hailing from June’s term as Head of School. June also introduced an Indigenous Program within IEC, the first of its type supporting Indigenous students gain an early childhood teaching degree. She was also instrumental in the establishment of Mia Mia Child and Family Centre.

Always concerned with the politics of early childhood – which became the focus of her PhD – and her commitment to the ideal that the needs of children should come first and foremost when considering EC policy - June’s own research and advocacy was highly influential in shaping Australian EC policy. Her work included leadership at the highest levels, across multiple EC advocacy organisations, and State and Federal Government organisations and committees, she influenced policy, championing children’s right to high quality ECEC. Perhaps most significantly, June was instrumental was in the development of Australia’s Early Childhood Quality Improvement System - the world’s first national quality accreditation and improvement system for early childhood services.

June was one of early childhood education’s formidable women: She was an inspirational leader and advocate of early childhood and argued that children should “be given what they need and deserve and have a right to expect”. She will be sorely missed.