West Arnhem communities including Jabiru, Gunbalanya, Maningrida, Warruwi and Minjilang are all in the running to win at the 2018 Northern Territory Tidy Towns Awards.
West Arnhem Regional Council (WARC) has continued to be a leader in environmental sustainability over the years with Jabiru picking up numerous Tidy Towns awards and Maningrida winning the Litter Management Award (North) and the Geoff Finch Memorial Cup which is awarded to the ‘Most Improved Community’ in 2017.
Judging of all five communities has taken place over the last few weeks’ with each community celebrating their collective efforts in the lead up to the Tidy Towns events.
The WARC works crew in Jabiru received letters of appreciation from the Chief Executive Officer Heimo Schober of the Keep Australia Beautiful Council (NT) at the judging, for their efforts in maintaining a positive and rubbish-free atmosphere in the township.
This was followed by a barbecue and awards presentation which was supported by Jill Grant.
WARC Jabiru Services Manager Jerry Pena said the works team continue to do a great job with the tasks they undertake daily and should be proud of their efforts.
Meanwhile, WARC’s Youth, Sport and Recreation team in Gunbalanya have worked with the young people in the community over the last few weeks to create awareness about littering and keeping a tidy town.
As part of the October school holidays, the youth spent a day doing the ‘right thing’ around the community and picked up rubbish to assist to keep their country and people strong.
The group sat down and discussed the Territory Tidy Towns program and what it means to the community, and the youth came up with their own meanings and desired outcomes for the program. This was used as a driving force to keep the youth inspired to continue making a positive change.
To showcase all the hard work of the Gunbalanya youth, a video was put together which was driven, filmed and directed by the youth centre participants.
Gunbalanya’s Senior Team Leader Youth, Sport and Recreation Page McMillan would like to thank Demed Aboriginal Corporation.
Meanwhile, the Tidy Towns celebrations in Minjilang were well received and it was great to see community members show up in numbers and take part in the event.
There were many things throughout the day and night including face painting, local food and a live local band.
The locals also traditionally welcomed visitors to country and prepared a cultural dish freshly from the land.
There was also a huge barbecue for all community members and sport and recreation opened the complex and prepared a variety of ball games.
The Warruwi Tidy Towns event was also a huge success with different agencies involved and Yagbani also presented a huge banner of art designed by the community.
A community barbecue also took place and later on in the evening the sport and recreation team organised a movie night outdoors for all community members.
Maningrida’s larger than life Tidy Towns celebration was based at the pool. In a magnificent display of teamwork, the pool, YSR and works teams came together to cook up one of Maningrida’s biggest barbecues. The menu included fresh fish, Kakadu plum, magpie goose, snags, buffalo ribs and potato salad for the 150 plus attendees.
The inflatable slip ‘n’ slide made an appearance and provided amusement for all.
Big thanks to Hasty Tasty, the Bawinanga fishermen and nursery crew, WARC Mayor Matthew Ryan, Karl from Bawinanga, the chefs on duty from the works team and RSAS for their supervision support. And congratulations to all those who won an award and indeed the whole community.
Source: https://www.westarnhem.nt.gov.au/news/west-arnhem-heads-tidy-towns