BRAGGING rights for beautiful beaches now officially belong to our fair state, as WA scooped two of the top three prizes in a national beach competition last week, conducted by the National Committee on Soils and Terrain. Lucky Bay, near Esperance on the south-coast, has been voted as the whitest beach in Australia, beating stiff competition from Queensland, which came second with Tallebudgerra Beach near the Gold Coast. Equal second was WA’s own Hellfire Bay, in close proximity to Lucky Bay (pictured). Judged by a panel of scientific experts with representatives from all states and territories, the competition required nominees to enter a 250g sample of beach sand, which was air-dried and sent to Geoscience Australia for judging. And it seems quartz trumps coral in the whiteness stakes, as all the contenders this year were quartz-based beaches. For those interested in knowing how our eastern counterparts fared, fourth place went to Victoria’s Squeaky Beach (near Wilsons Promontory), followed by Hyams Beach in NSW (near Jervis Bay), Tasmania’s Boat Harbour, Main Brambie Island (near Darwin) and finally a city beach at Adelaide.