Communities clean up

"Thank you from myself and the Gunbalanya community to all those that braved the heat and humidity today and picked up hundreds of bags of rubbish for Gunbalanya Clean Up Australia Day," Chrissie told The Wire on Friday. "Special thanks to the WARC staff who were key in organising this very successful event, and to volunteers from the Gunbalanya Sports and Social Club, the school, the Police and all other community members who helped. "Participant certificates will be sent out next week to those who registered. Clean Up Australia Day certificates will also be sent out to all those wonderful Gunbalanya organisations who generously donated food for the barbecue and drinks for the day. "

Cheryl-Anne Courtney, Lucy Harry, Mirjam, Thomas and Marion set out from Lake Jabiru Park on their Clean Up Australia Day mission. In Jabiru, local resident Louise Mayclair registered the Sunday 6 March event, and WARC, Jabiru Fire Station, Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel and Jabiru Foodland all pitched in to help. One of the hardest parts of holding Clean Up Australia Day in Jabiru is finding rubbish to clean up - the Council's works crew do such a great job! Louise told The Wire she wanted volunteers to focus on Jabiru's out-of-the-way areas. "We decided to head out and tidy up the laneways and walking trails around town," she said. Louise's partner Craig Owen, who has just started work in emergency response at the Ranger Mine with ERA, is also a new volunteer with the Jabiru firies. "Clean Up Australia Day is a great way to meet new people in town while doing something good for the environment, so we're happy to host a barbecue here for the volunteers," Craig said. While Louise, Craig and family coordinated a clean-up of residential areas around the school and swimming pool, WARC staff Mark Coddington and Ashley De Sair coordinated volunteers on the other side of town at Lake Jabiru Park. Crocodile Hotel General Manager Richard McArthur, his wife Barbara and son Oliver put in a great effort, with the Crocodile Hotel also supplying both venues with barbecue sausages and muffins. Meanwhile, Jabiru Fire Station OIC Mick Hutton, Fire Officer Macka Morris and his daughter Kylara did a circuit of the lake, cleaning the walk trail as they went. Three more families turned out to help, with kids hauling in two large truck tyres from the Jabiru bushland, along with the usual cans, bottles, and snack food wrappers. For those who made the effort, it was a great day out, keeping fit and keeping our environment healthy. Every year Australia wide, hundreds of thousands of Australians get stuck in and Clean Up their local environment by collecting and removing rubbish. To learn more about Clean Up Australia Day, visit the website: http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/about/