16th Annual Harbour Clean-Up Day
On Wednesday 17 September 2025, the Larrakia Nation Land and Sea Rangers held the 16th Annual Harbour Clean-Up Day at various locations around Darwin’s coastline including the Hornibrook’s Wharf, which is part of the Frances Bay Marine Facility managed by Crown Land Estate.
The event was founded in the early 2010s by the Northern Territory Seafood Council after commercial fishermen noticed increasing amounts of rubbish in the harbour and has now grown to become a major community initiative supported by Darwin organisations to protect Darwin Harbour’s waterways.
Harbour Clean-Up Day brings together community members, schools, businesses, and environmental groups to volunteer time and resources to remove rubbish from our waterways and raise awareness about marine pollution to encourage the community to keep our harbour clean, healthy and thriving for generations to come.
The Frances Bay Marine Facility contributes to the event by covering the bin and waste removal costs, and providing a safe, central, and accessible (by land and water) location for vehicles and vessels to drop off all collected rubbish for recording, sorting, and disposal.
The 2025 clean-up day saw more than a tonne (1178kg) of waste removed from waterways and sorted into bins at the Hornibrook’s Wharf location and the marine debris data is compiled by type and quantities by Tangaroa Blue Foundation and added to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database for monitoring and analysis.
Well done to Larrakia Rangers and all participants and supporters of this admirable and important environmental event.
