Using the ‘pelican crossing’ they installed in Titjikala, Dougie Wells, Team Leader, with his Civil Works team showing off their 2013 Territory Tidy Towns trophies. Photo courtesy MacDonnell Regional Council.
UPDATE, October 24, 5.15pm: MacDonnell Regional Council has won in six categories of the Territory Tidy Town awards. Titjikala won Territory Tidy Town award for the second consecutive year. Titjikala also won Best Medium Community for the second consecutive year. Finke won the Community Participation award; Haasts Bluff won the Most Improved Community award; and, MacDonnell Regional Council won the inaugural Best Regional Council award.
EARLIER STORY:
MacDonnell Regional Council’s President, Sid Anderson and CEO, Jeff MacLeod, along with workers from each of their region’s three finalist communities are hoping for a win at tonight’s Territory Tidy Towns awards in Darwin.
The communities include the reigning Territory Tidy Towns winner, Titjikala, its Simpson Desert neighbour, Finke, and Haasts Bluff, from within the West MacDonnell Ranges.
When MacDonnell Council formed in 2008 many communities didn’t have a regular rubbish collection and households burned their waste in old fuel drums in the street.
Now “MacDonnell Regional Council communities just keep looking better!” said Hiemo Schober, CEO of the Keep Australia Beautiful Council NT, after visiting all MacDonnell Council communities during the judging for this year’s competition.
In recent years the Tidy Towns competition has been reinvigorated in remote communities across the Northern Territory.
Last year the entire Titjikala community embraced the responsibility to keep their community clean and proudly celebrated their win. This year there was competition for the honour throughout the council’s 13 communities, with local
Civil Works teams providing the backbone of council achievements.
Once again, Titjikala is a finalist in the ‘Best Medium Community’ category. Since its win last year, Titjikala has installed street-name signs and taken delivery of a reconditioned compactor truck to improve its regular rubbish collection service.
It has also seen upgrades to its cemetery including a shade structure, seating, wheelie bin-stands and a water tank while its family park has had a shade structure, water bubbler and reticulation installed.
Finke is a finalist in the ‘Community Participation Award’ category. As well as similar upgrades to its cemetery, Finke (known locally as Aputula) has this year completed its family park with the installation of new playground equipment, shade, seating, bin-stands and bollards.
New seating was also installed at the softball pitch with trees planted around the sports ground perimeter. It has two new pedestrian crossings and has taken delivery of a new compactor truck that will improve its regular rubbish collection service.
Meanwhile, Haasts Bluff (also known as Ikuntji) was named a finalist in the ‘Most Improved Community’ category. Its Civil Works staff commenced Certificate 2 training in Rural Operations in partnership with the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT).
It too has had upgrades to its cemetery that include a new shade structure, seating, water tank and wheelie bins, as well as to its family park.
Source: MacDonnell Regional Council media release.