In news from Australia, the Blacktown City Council recently won the Community Based Initiative Award from the NSW Branch of Parks & Leisure Australia for their section of The Great West Walk.
The Great West Walk connects Parramatta in the western suburbs of Sydney to the foothills of the Blue Mountain National Park. It includes a total of 375 kilometres that were initially proof-walked and mapped by The Walking Volunteers. Our good friend and original board member for Walk21 Ian Napier was central to this effort.

The Great West Walk was delivered by Blacktown City Council, Parramatta City Council, Penrith City Council, National Parks & Wildlife Service, Western Sydney Parklands Trust and Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils.
We are delighted to hear from Peter McCue (host of Walk21 Sydney in 2014) that the Great West Walk project, initiated by a group of volunteers, “certainly gained a hefty push from Sydney’s Walk21 Conference and the process of having local Mayor’s sign up to The International Charter for Walking”.
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