Beechworth makes tidy winners

Indigo Power, Beechworth Heritage and Beechworth volunteer Amy Schilling were named category winners in the Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria 2026 Tidy Towns and Cities Sustainability Awards in Melbourne on September 30. Indigo Power won the state towns energy category, with KABV describing how Indigo Power's BEECH01, part of the ARENA-funded Community Batteries for Resilience Project, pairs a 339kWh battery with new rooftop solar at Old Beechworth Gaol. It enables local solar generation to be stored and shared with participating households through the Beechworth Community Energy Hub and provides backup for the community where the historic former gaol can become a relief centre in an emergency. “That meant designing around heritage constraints, existing solar infrastructure and a genuine emergency-resilience need, not just picking the easiest site,” KABV said. Beechworth Heritage was named towns winner of the heritage and culture category for its 'Dig into Beechworth' one town, four walks, big stories project in autumn. KABV said what Beechworth Heritage found from its Ching Ming commemoration at Beechworth Chinese cemetery and National Trusts’ Australian Heritage Festival program, limiting participation to small numbers of people, was “a real appetite for history told in person, on the ground, by someone who knows the story, not through a museum panel”. “The X-factor is intimacy. Four walks, one town and a genuinely wider story than most locals knew they had,” KABV said. Beechworth teenager Amy Schilling was named towns ‘Young Legend’ for her commitment to volunteering and helping others. “In 2025 she founded Teens Who Care, a youth-led volunteering program she built almost entirely herself, partnering with the Beechworth CFA, Landcare, Indigo Shire Council and local health services to run hands-on sessions for teenagers who wanted to give back but had nowhere structured to start,” KABV said. “Four sessions ran in the end (six were planned), covering everything from cleaning CFA vehicles and replanting degraded clay-banks by Lake Sambell to cooking and serving the Beechworth Community Christmas Lunch, which Amy now calls her favourite Christmas ever.” Ms Schilling in 2026 also took part in the National Schools Constitutional Convention in Canberra, the Global Women Deliver Conference, National Youth Parliament representing the electorate of Indi and continued as an Indigo Shire Council youth advisor. Numerous Indigo organisations, including Indigo Regen, Quercus Beechworth repair cafe, Share the Dignity Beechworth, Friends of the Stanley Athenaeum, Indigo Shire Council and Tourism North East were also finalists in this year’s award categories. Mornington Peninsula Shire won the Tidy Towns award and the City of Maribyrnong the Tidy Cities award. Beechworth Heritage president Jamie Kronborg said the Beechworth community owed much to the work of local tidy town advocates Iris Mannik and Anne Wilson. “Year-on-year Iris and Anne make sure that our local communities' projects are put forward to the KABV and its assessment panels for consideration,” he said. “Our gratitude also goes to KABC Victoria CEO and awards host Josh Reid Jones, board members and staff for their strong advocacy and work to encourage tidy and sustainable communities.”

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