Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/131994
communitylife Above: A community member helping to keep his town clean. C ommunity is not defined simply by geography. It encompasses the transcendence of difference, the sharing of goals and, ideally, the desire for beneficial change. Keep Australia Beautiful's Tidy Towns program not only works towards achieving environmental sustainability but also empowers individuals and embraces community. Launched in 1968 in Western Australia, the Tidy Towns awards were based on a concept adapted from an Irish undertaking, Tidy Towns and National Roadside Gardens Competition, a project pioneered to attract tourism and revenue. Inspired by the success of the Irish award, the Australian Tidy Towns program, in its infancy, focused on towncentric beautification and litter reduction rather than on big-picture environmental sustainability. Over time, however, this has changed. "The communities that participate in the Tidy Towns program fundamentally want to maintain and improve their local communities now and into the future," says Peter McLean, CEO of Keep Australia Beautiful. "This is essentially what sustainability is, so Tidy Towners have really been the silent pioneers of sustainability." While the impetus behind Tidy Towns has shifted from aesthetics to conservation, the sense of community brought about by the awards has only consolidated further. "It's all about individual and voluntary community action at a grassroots level," says McLean. In 1968 the awards attracted 59 entries from WA. Today, more than 1,000 communities across Australia participate each year. Not only does this increase the competitiveness of the title, it also heightens the significance of winning, of being dubbed Australia's tidiest town. With the stakes so high, it's not difficult to see why competition is fierce. "Winning means a great deal," says McLean. "Apart from the recognition, we regularly see award-winning communities receive better funding and support from organisations, as well as government grants. It is well documented that towns increase their tourism visitations by receiving this award, but this also depends on the ability of the town to leverage and promote itself." Winning isn't everything, however. Entrants have attributed improved standards of living and health outcomes to simply participating in 77