Community & Business
16 December, 2025
New group seeks to beautify town
DISSATISFACTION about how Atherton looks has prompted the local Lions Club to step up and hold a public meeting, with a view to establishing a new group that would assist Tablelands Regional Council to keep the town clean and pretty.
For many locals, Atherton is a far cry from the tidy and pretty town it was when it won the State’s Tidy Town award in 2004, leading to calls for the council to do more to return the main street and entrances to their former glory.
The Chamber of Commerce hit the streets two weeks ago to ask locals their views.
“It’s clear many people are a bit disgruntled right now,” chamber president Ghis Gallo said in their Facebook post.
“The top five concerns were:
The footpaths need to be cleaned – they’re looking dull and overdue for a good wash.
The gardens look atrocious – weeds, bare patches and no colour.
Buildings look tired and need a paint job – lots of faded and peeling shopfronts.
The bins smell – we like the recycle baskets, but they need to be cleaned inside, and
Bring back the benches – people miss having somewhere to sit and rest.”
After speaking with Con Spanos, who is a very active member with the Lions Club of Atherton and a local councillor, a community meeting was held at Hallorans Hill to see what could be done about the situation.
Mr Spanos said the thrust of the meeting was quite positive and he was confident a new group would be formed along the lines of Yungaburra’s Beautification Committee.
He said Millaa Millaa, Malanda, Herberton and Yungaburra were good examples of what could be achieved when everyone worked together.
“The Lions organised the meeting to respond to people criticising the town which is looking a bit sad,” Mr Spanos said.
“At times, we have got to do things ourselves, we can’t expect council to step up and do everything.
“The meeting was aimed at setting up a group that could do similar things as other town groups do.
“Maintenance of gardens would most likely be an area where we might be able to assist. Council’s parks and gardens might suggest a place where we could help – there’s a lot of things that our parks and gardens staff might not be able to get to.
“As a group, we could say ‘where do you need us and what can we do?’ whether it be Priors Creek, Mazlin Creek or any of the spots that are looking a bit tragic, plus the main street of course.
“But when it comes to the ‘heavy lifting’, council would be doing that, but jobs like maintaining things like gardens, that’s something a community group could assist with,” he said.
“I’m hoping the chamber will be able to get the business owners on board to keep streetscapes clean and spruce up their own buildings.”
Mr Spanos said a Facebook page could be created so that members of the group would be able to share information once the group’s name was determined.
He said Atherton, as a large commercial centre, would never have the ability to look as pretty as places like Yungaburra, but there was much that could be done.
He is urging anyone who wishes to put their hand up to help to email athertonlionsclub@gmail.com
