Hawaiian culture comes to Sydney’s Brighton Le Sands for coastal clean-up effort

Hawaiian culture comes to Sydney’s Brighton Le Sands for coastal clean-up effort
By Travel Weekly


Over 50 Hawaiian Airlines volunteers from Australia, Hawai‘i, Tahiti, and American Samoa came together last Friday to remove debris from the popular coastline between Sydney’s Brighton-Le-Sands Beach and Monterey.

In partnership with Australian non-profit organisation Tangaroa Blue Foundation and the Bayside City Council, Hawaiian Airlines employees and local industry partners recovered some 50 kilograms of litter from the shore, including single-use plastics, fishing line and cigarette butts.

The Hawaiian visitors were welcomed by local Gadigal woman Louise Adermann, who offered a Welcome to Country. Hawaiian Airlines’ director of community and cultural relations, Debbie Nakanelua-Richards, responded with a moving Hawai‘ian Oli chant.

The volunteer initiative was organised in recognition of the Hawaiian’s 90th anniversary (11 November 2019) as the largest and longest-serving airline in the state of Hawai‘i.

Andrew Stanbury, Hawaiian Airlines’ regional director for Australia and New Zealand, said: “We see this milestone as a great opportunity to further invest in the communities we serve, but this initiative at Brighton-Le-Sands is just one of many.

“We’ve been doing beach clean-ups throughout the Pacific, in Japan, Hawai‘i, New Zealand, et cetera, and working with our different partners around our network to give back. It’s been a great privilege and, to us, a great way to recognise 90 years of service.”

Hawaiian has been committed to the Australian market since 2004. The airline recently recognised 15 years of flying between the Aloha State to Sydney in May, and will complete its seventh year of service between Honolulu and Brisbane this month.

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