COLLIE Tidy Towns Committee won two categories in the South West Regional Tidy Towns awards, held at the Collie Golf Club last Friday.
The overall title this year went to Greenbushes.
The function was at tended by about 50 people from around the South West and from the Keep Australia Beautiful WA State Council.
A Welcome to Country was performed by Wilman elder Joseph Northover and Shire president Wayne Sanford officially welcomed guests.
Guest speaker, Collie Shire executive manager of development services Keith Williams, gave a presentation on the work being undertaken to rehabilitate the Collie River.
Visitors, some of whom had not previously visited Collie, were im pres sed by the picturesque golf club venue and the delicious catering by the 2015 Anzac Tour group.
Collie was successful in the Heritage and Cul ture and Water Conserva tion categories and is now a finalist in the state awards for these categories. The finals will be held in Perth in November.
It was the second year in a row that Collie won the Heritage and Culture award.
Judges were impressed by the completion of the heritage listed railway footbridge, the tribute to Sgt Martin O'Meara, the continuing efforts of the Collie Heritage Group to restore rolling stock, along with the new artwork de picting early railway pas sengers and railway gang ers.
The Jack Mears Spring Project was noted as an important site for local Noongars, with an official smoking ceremony held there following ex tensive work to remove weeds and revegetate the site.
NAIDOC Week celebrations were highlighted, with a lunch, children's day, Yorga fashion pa rade, cultural day, Noon gar dinner and awards and school celebrations.
The competition sponsored by the Collie River Valley Marketing Group for local youth to create and upload videos to You Tube was considered a great way to promote Collie and get youth interested in a fun project.
The Water Conserva tion category win was a recognition of a range of initiatives. The high level of local participation by residents and businesses in the Waterwise Towns Pro gram being delivered by the Water Corporation was a factor.
The council partnered with the Water Corpoation to deliver a free Waterwise showerhead program.
A number of Water wise gardening workshops were held, the annual gardening competition in cludes a Waterwise category, and Our Community Garden is designed on Waterwise principles and has a newly installed rainwater tank.
Upgrades in the central business district include water wise gardens, with the planting of local species utilising the practice of hydrozoning and mulching garden beds.
The council has connected rain sensors to the automatic irrigation system, with installation to be staggered over three years.
All council facilities are being fitted to Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards star three or above. Council is steadily reducing irrigated surfaces and has a 30 per cent reduction target over the next three years.
Vandal-proof taps are being fitted to public area taps.