Call to clean up Chinatown

Fed-up businesses and tourism bosses want to team-up with the community to clean-up and maintain an ugly part of Chinatown that has been an eyesore for years.

Volunteers took just one hour to fill 40 bags with rubbish from a 400 metre stretch behind pearl shops, cafes and art galleries off Dampier Terrace on October 11.

The array of items removed included fishing lines, thongs, bottles, cans, broken glass and cartons - even a shopping trolley.

The land is mainly mangroves and sand fronting picturesque Roebuck Bay, which directly backs onto shops popular with tourists and thousands of cruise ship visitors each year.

The crew from Environs Kimberley and Conservation Volunteers Australia planned to take their rubbish collection all the way to Town Beach on the day.

But the amount of junk was so excessive they only managed to clean up between Streeter’s Jetty and the car park next to Pearl Luggers.

Broome Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rhondda Chappell said the time had come to protect and enhance a key retail and tourism zone.

“It’s appalling to think that this area which is so central to our business and tourism industries is being used as a dumping ground, and I think we should consider a united effort to ensure more regular action is taken to maintain these grounds in future,” she said.

“I invite Environs Kimberley to engage with the BCCI about garnering business support by way of volunteers and vehicles to contribute to this initiative.”

Environs Kimberley director Martin Pritchard encouraged a potential partnership with the business community.

"We welcome the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses supporting regular clean-ups,” he said.

“Rubbish in places like the Dampier Creek foreshore can seriously affect marine life in Roebuck Bay. The more volunteers and backers we have doing the work, the lighter the load and the more effective the effort.”

Broome Visitor Centre manager Nick Linton said litter tarnishing the landscape in the town centre was not only confined to Dampier Terrace.

“The Broome Visitor Centre is continually dealing with significant piles of rubbish from around the building and throughout the gardens, which is deposited there daily by highly intoxicated people,” he said.

Shire of Broome chief executive Kenn Donohoe said there was no excuse for the litter problem in Broome, and that the council appreciated community clean-up efforts.