Bart was selected as the winner from a list of 2021 Young Legends state winners.
The year-12 student is Horsham College captain, a Horsham Rural City Youth Council member, West Vic Business executive member and a committee member of Minyip-Murtoa Football Netball Club, Horsham Fishing Competition and Natimuk and District Field and Game.
He said having people put their hands up to run events and projects benefitted the whole community, which inspired him to contribute.
“The reward for me is the outcomes from what I do,” he said.
“My late grandfather was a big community figure who always told me you have to be proactive to create change rather than sitting still and complaining about it.
“If you see an issue or a problem, you have to do something.”
Bart’s entrepreneurial endeavours began in 2014 when he started his first business selling worm castings to his neighbours for their gardens.
As the business grew, he started the ‘Worm King’, selling worms and expanding to also include a merchandise line.
‘Worm King’ ceased operations in 2020, but Bart was not one to be idle, and Bart Maxwell Photography began.
Through the use of equipment such as drones, Bart has combined his love of photography and film with a business.
Bart’s Clay Target Adventures is another business he operates, where he runs educational programs and social media accounts to promote the positives of shooting sports and to encourage juniors and women into the sport.
Bart said he enjoyed working and volunteering in Horsham because it was a unique and tight-knit community.
“This has been proven to me with the number of people who have offered me congratulations, even if they aren’t people who I interact with day to day,” he said.
“In some ways, Horsham is just a small town, but it’s big enough to have plenty of networks who all work together, which is really positive.”
Horsham was the Victorian nominee for the major prize after winning the overall Tidy Towns award in 2021, and also nominated in all nine categories for the national awards.
King Island, Tasmania, was crowned the winner at an event at Hastings.
Horsham was highly commended at the national awards for the community health, wellbeing, and interest award.
Horsham Agricultural Society was nominated for the award as a key driving force for Horsham’s community events and programs.
Horsham Tidy Towns chairman David Eltringham said while it was disappointing the Horsham delegation did not bring home the major prize, the overall competition was excellent.
“Young Bart, who was entered in the Young Legends category, spoke and it was a highlight of the night. Everybody was most impressed,” he said.
“One of the great things is you learn from other people about what they’re doing.
“What King Island, out there in the middle of Bass Strait, is doing is quite remarkable. They were a very worthy winner, and I can only take my hat off to them.”
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