Clean up Australia Day has gone missing at Iluka over recent years, but it made a comeback over the weekend when several of the town’s community groups and organisations worked together. “Iluka’s townsfolk guard their ‘natural’ beauty and it is something they are very proud of,” the clean-up’s coordinator, Col Hennessy, said. Mr Hennessy was “very happy with how different town groups got behind the plan to tidy what is already a relatively tidy town”. “The weekend started on Friday when the school children from Iluka Primary School went outdoors in the afternoon and tidied up the local parks and the main street,” he said. He said a “good crowd of supporters” cleaned up the road into Iluka “from as far back as Shark Bay” on Saturday morning. “Close to twenty large bags of rubbish were collected,” he said. “The most significant item was a large set of keys, which was handed in to the local police. “Most of the rubbish was not visible from the car, being just beyond the mown strip, blown in over the last few years.” The Men’s Shed took care of the town’s industrial area and “were good enough to supply a trailer, as well, to accommodate the larger items along the main road”. “On Sunday it was good to see up to 10 board riders clean up the north wall road and the two car parks adjacent to the main beach,” Mr Hennessy said. “At the Bluff, the Iluka residents group, along with a National Parks’ representative, cleaned up the car park and beach.” It was a long weekend of sorts, too: “The clean up continued on Monday when the Heart Foundation walkers cleaned the new walking path and bush track to the Marine Rescue building.” Mr Hennessey said he’d noticed that drivers “using the main road had their own way of saying thanks”. “When the fingers moved above the steering wheel it was an acknowledgement,” he said. “If indeed there was a wave it was a real thanks; and if there was a toot or flashing lights it meant that [they] will be joining us next year but couldn’t make it this time.” Hogue’s Bakery made the hard work worthwhile, too, contributing to the community effort by “very generously” providing coffee and cake for the volunteers, free of charge. Mr Hennessey thanked all of the people, who led the different community groups, and the willing workers who believe in ‘Iluka Naturally’.