Awards 2021

Douglas Neil  Gillanders

The earliest recorded minutes of Doug's voluntary activities, go way back to when he was the licensee of the NTU Staff Bar, a volunteer position he held for 8 years and which took up most of his weekends. Doug and his committee organised free 'themed' family events that generated thousands of dollars which went back into the community as donations and support of other organisations.

Doug's 'other' life has embraced a number of voluntary interests including the Desert Rose Solar Car race. An activity involving much creativity and challenges. In 1955, Doug volunteered to help with staging the Arafura Games, managing the extensive communications network for the games.

A committee member of the Australian Human Resources Institute NT over a span of 35 years. After taking a long break, he's back again.

An active member of the Australian Institute of Office Professionals for 4 years. A major focus was stimulated when Doug was invited to a Board meeting of Relationships Australia NT in 2002. Having been a past client in the 1990's, Doug knew what the organisation stood for in the community and what its purpose was. On attending his first Board meeting, the then Chair announced that she was soon to stand down and asked Doug to consider taking over. Having previously been on a number of school and college boards, Doug reluctantly took the role in spite of several of the existing Board members, expressing their hesitancy to stand.

Thee organisation growth was steady and measured with accommodation challenges in Darwin as RANT grew and even more so in Alice Springs where the accommodation was within another organisation's building. This made operating in Alice Springs quite a challenge for suitable public access.

Over the years, Doug has guided at a governance level, RANT's growth from less than 8 staff to over 80 staff today, distributed through permanent Presences in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs. Further developments have been program delivered on the Tiwi Islands and Tennant Creek. Doug has worked with 4 different CEO's along this journey and represented RANT at a National Level.

As RANT has grown, Doug has stood down as chair for short periods as others have passed through and on. In all of the 19 years with RANT, Doug has been the Board Chair for near 16 years while still remaining a Board member for the past 19 years. Doug is passionate about the role that RANT plays in the community and sees that respectful relationships are a key to happiness, harmony and a strong community

Douglas Neil Gillanders is Nominated by his wife, Annete