Williams Clinches Top Australian Environment and Tidy Towns Award

LauncestonAUNCESTON - In a major victory for grassroots sustainable development, Williams, a small community of just over 1,000 residents in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region, has been crowned the national winner of the prestigious 2026 Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns Awards.

The announcement was made at a high-level national ceremony hosted in Launceston, Tasmania, where judges praised the town’s holistic approach to civic responsibility.

Williams secured the absolute national title alongside three distinct category awards, namely Behaviour Change and Engagement, Heritage and Culture as well as Young Legends.

The comprehensive victory arrives exactly six months after Williams Primary School narrowly missed the top spot in the related Paint Australia Beautiful awards, demonstrating a sustained commitment to community excellence.

Speaking on the evaluation process, Keep Australia Beautiful Chief Executive Officer, Valerie Southam said the awards require concrete evidence of community transformation rather than superficial compliance.

"Williams is a powerful example of what happens when a community decides, together, to take care of its place," Southam said.

She added that the tangible results of this collective decision are highly visible across multiple local initiatives.

"That decision shows up everywhere, from children planting along the river, to volunteers preserving local history, to young people helping older residents at community events.

"This award isn’t just about one town. It’s a celebration of every community working to build a cleaner, kinder future, and we’re proud to support that mission," Southam noted.

A central pillar of the town's success is the Williams Community Resource Centre, which administers the Williams Wildlife Warriors initiative.

Provided entirely free of charge to local families, the programme engages children from pre-primary up to Year 6 in direct environmental conservation.

Participants study local flora, fauna and soil structures while conducting active weed control, tree planting and litter eradication along the critical Williams River ecosystem.

In the Heritage and Culture category, the town was highly rewarded for the Williams Historical Records Project.

The monumental archival preservation initiative was driven by two dedicated volunteers who contributed over 2,000 hours of intensive labour to salvage, clean, and restore vital municipal records previously compromised by fire, water and rodent infestations.

The youth demographics also dominated the proceedings, with the local Little Helpers programme securing the Young Legends category.

The initiative actively mobilises children as young as seven years old to participate in holiday programmes, civic events and structured support frameworks for the town's elderly demographic.

Corporate partners of the event said that such local interventions feed directly into broader macroeconomic circular economy goals. TOMRA Cleanaway Chief Executive Officer, James Dorney, stated that his enterprise remains committed to supporting sustainable regional initiatives that champion waste management at scale.

"These awards shine a spotlight on the extraordinary work happening in communities right across the country, from major regional centres to very small towns doing big things," Dorney said.

He further noted that the broad geographical distribution of the contestants reinforces environmental protection as a core societal baseline.

"The fact that communities from every state and territory are represented shows that caring for place is a shared national value, no matter where you live.

As an organisation focused on improving resource recovery and reducing waste at scale, TOMRA Cleanaway is proud to support a program that recognises practical action, local leadership and long‑term environmental responsibility," Dorney said.

The competition for the 2026 title was intensely contested, featuring six elite shortlisted regional final candidates representing the best ecological actions from their respective states and territories.

These included the cities and regions of Orange in New South Wales, Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Huon Valley in Tasmania and Cloncurry in Queensland.

Notably, the remote Northern Territory community of Ikuntji, which possesses an official population of approximately 150 residents, received a special High Commendation from the adjudicating panel for its exceptional community-led response frameworks in remote territory.

Reflecting on the long-term outlook for regional centers, Southam maintained that smaller administrative zones are currently setting global standards for sustainable human settlements.

"Regional towns are stepping up in powerful ways.

"They’re not just protecting their environments, they’re showing what’s possible when resilience, purpose and local leadership come together for a better future," Southam said.