On a soggy Sunday morning over 130 boys from Years 7 to 12 gathered outside Centenary Hall to do their part for the environment and community. Armed with gloves, rubbish bags and the determination to take action against environmental degradation, they took to the streets surrounding the College for an event that engages local communities from across the entire nation – Clean Up Australia Day.

For the past three years, the Sustainability Committee has organised for the school to host Clean Up Australia Day. In 2011, our first year hosting the event, about forty boys gathered in Montague Gardens opposite Wyvern House and within an hour it was returned to a pristine, rubbish-free state. Learning from this experience, the Committee decided that larger areas were to be cleaned in future years, with the hope that more boys would continue to volunteer and that it would become a staple community event in the Newington calendar, akin to the Red Shield Appeal.

Needless to say, as the Committee and its various operations around the school grew and became better known, so did the number of boys volunteering to help clean up the streets of Stanmore. To account for the larger amounts of volunteers, the committee significantly increased the size of the area to be cleaned. This year we cleaned an area ranging from Trafalgar Street in the north down to Addison Road in the south, and from Shaw Street in the west to Tupper Street in the east. Naturally, an area of this size could not have been cleaned without the help of the 130 boys who were willing to give up three hours of their weekend to better our local environment.

Upon arrival, boys signed-in according to House groups, with House and School Leaders taking charge by helping organise all the volunteers into groups before they headed out into the streets to clean. A special mention of both Prescott and Kelynack House, with the largest numbers of volunteers.

After two hours of sweeping the streets the groups began to gradually return, bringing with them a vast array of unusual trash items found littered in the streets, along with the usual paper and plastic scraps. One group alone was responsible for finding a torn-up armchair, a cracked television screen, a shredded suitcase and three shopping trolleys. In fact, every group found shopping trolleys, which they craftily used to carry the heavier rubbish items. The rubbish collected was deposited on College Lane, where Marrickville Council will collect and properly dispose of it later in the week.

As the inaugural holder of the position of Captain of Sustainability, I took it upon myself to take care of the organisational matters that the Day required. However, I was soon overwhelmed by the sheer logistical prowess needed to help successfully organise an event like this. It is for this reason that I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped in organisational matters, including Sebastian Rees (12/PR) for making multiple speeches advertising the event and Louis Brosnan (8/FL) for hanging-up posters around the school.

I’d also like to thank all of the House Captains who helped increase awareness about the Day at their House Meetings, and especially to those leaders that volunteered to clean up. Two leaders had this to say about the Day:

“Clean Up Australia Day was again an enjoyable experience. The number of younger boys involved showed me how important the issue of environmental degradation is to our future, and it was great to be involved with combating it.”- Tom van der Velde (12/JN)

“This was my first time participating in Clean Up Australia Day and it was great to see boys from across all age groups come together to do something good for the environment. It was actually a really fun experience, so I’d recommend it for anyone of any age.” – Patrick Graham (12/MO)

Furthermore, I’d like to thank staff member Mr. Walsh for supervising groups on the day along with the Ground Staff, who provided us with rubbish bags and other necessary equipment.

I’m also greatly appreciative of the work of Thomas Barker (8/FL) who took photos on the day, with a sample attached to this article (the Sustainability SPACES page will have a gallery with all the photos). Naturally, my thanks are also extended to every single student volunteer who gave up their time to do something good for the environment and community.

Finally, the greatest thanks of all must go to Ms. Randell, whose dedication to bettering the environment is truly unmatched. She has been a great organiser, leader, teacher and mentor, guiding me, the committee and indeed the entire school to achieving the goal of a more environmentally friendly Newington. I know that with her guidance the committee will continue to grow and organise events such as Clean Up Australia Day, as well as creating our own events to carry out throughout the year.

In summary, this year’s Clean Up Australia Day was a great success for the committee, and it was the individual dedication and motivation of each student volunteer that made this so. I ask that all members of the Newington Community keep an eye and ear open for more news about the successes of the committee and furthermore that any student, parent or friend wishing to become involved within the committee does so. So, keep an eye on the Sustainability Spaces page, or email either Ms. Randell or myself.

Connor McNamara (12/MO)
Captain of Sustainability and Moulton Vice-Captain