Members of Goomalibee Landcare organised a Cleanup Australia Day event on the morning of Sunday 5 March 2017. Twenty six enthusiastic Goomalibee and Tarnook locals gathered at the corner of Goomalibee and Basin Roads with their gloves, hats, sunscreen and water bottles. They were then disbursed in various directions with their rubbish bags to collect the waste in the area.

The volunteers cleaned up a total of 24 kilometres of roadsides and collected about 24 bags of rubbish, as well as advising Council of larger hard rubbish to be collected.

The areas that were covered were 5kms of Basin Road, Goomalibee Road between Faithful Street and Burness Road, Kealy Road, Porters Lane, Nursery Lane, Four Mile Road, 2kms of Kelleher Road and part of Burness Road.

“The roadsides were much cleaner than in past years and we hope that’s because more people are taking their rubbish home to their bins, but we know that on some roads people take the time to clean up as they’re out walking which is fantastic” said organizer Louise Armstrong. “It’s disappointing though when we find rubbish deliberately dumped because someone is too mean to pay tip fees. Garden waste disposed of on country roadsides and reserves is also a problem as this can quickly create a weed and pest problem and is so unnecessary when it can be taken to the Council landfill free of charge”.

At the end of the clean up, the volunteers met up for morning tea supplied by local families and discussed any unusual items that were found! It was a great morning and well worth the effort to keep our local area clean and tidy. An added bonus was welcoming some newer residents to the area and we hope they enjoyed meeting some new friends. Well done to all involved.

Debbie Rees, Goomalibee Landcare Secretary