Dr June Factor AM

For a number of years she was Senior Lecturer in English at the Institute of Early Childhood Development in Melbourne. Since 1989, she has been a Senior Fellow at the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne.

As a writer, June has developed a special interest in the lives of children. In 1978 she co-edited Cinderella Dressed in Yella with Ian Turner and Wendy Lowenstein. Her compilations of schoolyard rhymes, beginning with Far Out, Brussel Sprout! have made her work widely known and loved among Australian children.

June is also recognised internationally as an expert on the lore and language of childhood. She has written many articles and papers on the subject, and her book Captain Cook Chased a Chook: Children's Folklore in Australia, won the prestigious American Opie award in 1989. In 1991, she published a major national study, Australian Childhood: An Anthology, co-edited with Gwyn Dow.

As well as writing for children, June has published short stories and poetry and a variety of literary reviews and essays. For more than 25 years, Dr Factor was the Director of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection, the major public archive of children's folklore in Australia. In 1999, she presented the Collection to Museum Victoria. June was a foundation Board member of the Children's Museum in the Museum of Victoria, and has initiated and planned a number of exhibitions of childhood, including Tops, Tales and Granny's False Teeth at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.

June has also been involved in many community activities. She is a past president of the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (now Liberty Victoria). For a number of years she presented a radio program for the VCCL on community radio and edited Liberty, published by the VCCL. From 1995-99 she was President of Friends of the ABC (Vic.) and the national spokesperson for this organisation.