Millions of Australians have been cleaning up Australia each March for more than three decades, and one family dynasty has led the charge since the beginning.

Clean Up Australia Day has been held on the first Sunday of March since 1989, founded by yachtsman Ian Kiernan and entrepreneur Kim McKay.

Mr Kiernan chaired the organisation behind the event until his death in 2018, and his daughter Pip immediately took her father’s position which she has held since.

“Because the founder was so instrumental in starting it … it did need a family member to look after it for a little bit,” Ms Kiernan told AAP.

“So I just jumped in, best decision ever.”

The event began life as Clean Up Sydney Harbour, which the yachtsman and property developer organised after visiting the Atlantic’s Sargasso Sea where he was shocked by the amount of floating litter.

“He had always wanted to visit that part of the world, and when he got there and saw how polluted it was, he was just so angry,” Ms Kiernan said.

But she recalls her father was a practically minded man who was driven to make a difference, and it resonated with the community to an unexpected degree.

“It just tapped into what we were concerned about, we weren’t looking after the harbour as we should, and we weren’t looking after the environment the way we should.”

The 1989 event was a roaring success, attracting more than 40,000 people, which the chair attributes to her father’s hands-off approach to organising, giving participants the freedom to manage their own involvement.

“It wasn’t lecturing, it was inviting people to get involved, and they did.”

The day became a national event the very next year with the support of then-prime minister Bob Hawke, and the organisation launched the UN-supported Clean Up the World campaign in 1993.

“I just remember Dad being so excited about it, he just loved … that sense of community, that spirit to get involved,” Ms Kiernan said.

“Now that I’m more involved as the chair, I really understand that better, and I feel that same excitement.”

Since inheriting the chair, the organisation has expanded from arranging clean-ups to focus more on waste prevention, following her father’s advocacy around phasing out plastic bags towards the end of his life.

It has also increased its involvement with schools, developing education plans for both primary and high school students.

“Kids have influence in the household, and they really get excited about caring for the environment,” Ms Kiernan said.

Clean Up Australia on Wednesday launched a first round of community awards to coincide with its 35th anniversary in 2025, which will be given to the event’s most frequent and active participants.

“We’re just very grateful that the community continues to get behind it and trusts us,” she said.

 

Nyk Carnsew
(Australian Associated Press)