Community
27 January, 2026
Citizen of the Year’s wonderful community work remembered
For Goulburn’s 2026 Citizen of the Year, Rita Warleigh, being a part of the community is of vital importance to her.
For Goulburn’s 2026 Citizen of the Year, Rita Warleigh, being a part of the community is of vital importance to her.
She was nominated alongside two other worthy contenders, Alison Fleming of the Goulburn Pipes and Drums, and Michelle Denney for her service and leadership within St John Ambulance.
For 38 years, Ms. Warleigh has been working with International Volunteers for Peace (IVP), which she founded in Australia, and was also instrumental in establishing the Goulburn Farmers Market, now held regularly at the Goulburn Recreation Area.
“It was a total shock for me to hear that I was actually the winner of the Citizen of the Year!” she told The Southern Wire.
“It was a big surprise to be nominated, and all the nominees were just so fantastic. With International Volunteers for Peace, we bring international teams with diverse backgrounds to work on community projects, and we’ve been doing that with the Goulburn Show and various other projects around the city.
“And also under IVP, we started the Goulburn Farmers Market a bit over 2 years ago and that’s been a great success and very much appreciated by the community.”
Event of year winners recieve 'lovely surprise'
For Lauren Venables and Fiona Young from the Goulburn Inclusion Forum, it was a ‘lovely surprise’ to receive the award for Community Event of the Year for their highly successful International Day of People with a Disability (IPDwD) in December last year, which attracted over 700 attendees to celebrate diversity and inclusion.
“The win was very unexpected as there was a lot of competition,” Mrs. Young said.
“But we’re very, very happy about it – its great recognition.”
The Goulburn Inclusion Forum advocates for people with disability within the local government area (LGA) and provides social events and support at these events as well as partnering with Goulburn Mulwaree Council in improving accessibility within the community. They also consult with the council on all their events so that they can be made more inclusive.
“We put a stamp on everything that we can to support everything that we can,” Ms. Young added.
“Our catch cry is that ‘we want to put Goulburn on the map for inclusiveness and show other towns exactly what they can do’ – it’s just bit by bit – and thinking about things and making them happen – it can be done. It’s just little things – doesn't have to be major, and we just find out what the community wants. For instance we’ve recently provided feedback through the community to Council for their Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), which run for three to four years (every Council has one), and so we’re advocating really strongly this year to get some really good ‘runs on the board’ over the next four years.”
And Lauren Venables also added that the Forum is supported by the Goulburn Rotary Club for International Day of People with a Disability.
“It wouldn’t actually have been able to go ahead without their support as well,” she said.
“Also, they’ve been massive advocates for us doing what we do along with the Council.”
Read More: Goulburn, Southern Tablelands