The communities of Collie and West Arthur will be competing with four other towns to take out the Tidy Towns title after they were named as state finallists last week.
Collie and West Arthur will be competing against Port and South Hedland, Greenbushes, Margaret River and Waroona to take out the top prize in the Keep Australia Beautiful Council’s 2018 Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities awards.
In addition to being named as overall finallists, Collie and West Arthur were also named as finallists in two of the competition’s seven categories.
Collie was named as a finallist in the Young Legends and Heritage and Culture sections, while West Arthur will be competing to take out the top gong in the General Appearance and Community Action and Wellbeing categories.
Collie Tidy Towns Committee chairperson Nola Green said being named a state finallist was great recognition for the work put in by the community.
“We put in a good entry, especially with Lauren Jackson and all the work she’s doing with her charity (which aims to improve the lives of children in Kenya) in the Young Legends category,” she said.
Ms Green said she had expected Collie would do well in the Heritage and Culture section, particularly with all the work done at the Coalfields Museum over the last year.
“So many people and community groups have put in time and effort to help improve the town,” she said.
Shire of West Arthur president Ray Harrington said he was proud that West Arthur had been picked as a finallist.
“With our community stuff – particularly our CRC expansion – that’s enabled us to help the seniors get themselves a home, the sewing group get themselves a home.”
Cr Harrington also nominated the development of the youth area in the middle of town and the Sheepfest held in Darkan in February as important community projects.
“You get quietly surprised when you actually go through the list of all that has been done,” he said.
Keep Australia Beautiful Council chairman Michael Aspinall said he was impressed by the quality of the entries.
“These state finallists have demonstrated to the judges their strong community engagement, partnerships, innovation and environmental initiatives,” he said.
The state and category winners will be announced on Friday, September 21.
Collie previously won the national title in 2006 and state titles in 2003 and 2005, while West Arthur won the state title in 2011 and was a finallist last year.
