You might not be familiar with Scott ‘Sauce’ Towney, but chances are you would be familiar with his work. The Wiradjuri man from Peak Hill is one of our shire’s most prolific working artists. In the past few weeks Sauce has been involved in several public projects – and has plenty more already on display.

Wiradjuri Murriyang – or Wiradjuri Sky World – was his most recent exhibition. It forms part of the Big Skies Collaboration and was part of the Skywriter’s Big Gig last weekend. The works are based on his inter- pretation of the Wiradjuri constellations. The artworks have been loaded into the astrono- my software Stellarium, which positions the constellation images against the night sky.

Last Friday also saw the public installation of his work on the Parkes Community Wall. That work comes from a collaboration with

other local indigenous and non-indigenous artists, and was originally displayed in the Erratic Symbiosis exhibition that was host- ed in the Parkes Shire Library last month. This all comes just weeks after the rededication of the Peace Precinct, a totemic sculptural garden that also features his work. Sauce also has numerous national and international projects in the pipelines.

Sauce says that pyrography portraits are his favourite work. “There’s something re- ally special about burning a picture with a hot tool,” he said.

“A lot of my work is based on traditional ceremonial tree iconography. The marks are used in ceremony, so I contemporise it, to preserve the Wiradjuri patterns.”

By Raen Fraser

“It’s not all about winning; it’s about turning up, and trying your best. It’s about mates and friendship.”

This philosophy has seen the Parkes Boars Rugby Union Club endure through generations.

The Boars celebrated their 50th Anniversary with a gala dinner at the Parkes Ser- vices Club last weekend. Mayor Ken Keith officially welcomed the 185 strong crowd, which was made up of team mates young and old, as well as partners, families and supporters. Geoff Rice emceed the event, and called on former players to share their (sometimes dubious) memories of their glory days.

Special guests, former Wallaby Jon White and current Wallaby Tom Robertson helped celebrate the golden milestone. Both have a connection to the region, and an enviable career in rugby union.

Jon, who grew-up in Yeoval, agreed that country rugby punches above its weight. “There used to be pathways there for country boys,” he said, “but now country boys have to play in the cities to be seen by selectors. It really is a retrograde step.”

Tom was born in Wellington, and deferred his medical studies to focus on football. “People talk about overnight success,” he said, “but they don’t see the hours and hours of training that you put into it and all of the sacrifices that you make.”

The evening was a jovial celebration of the kind of mateship that the club has shared for the past 50 years, confirming that, for the Boars, it is more than just football.

By Raen Fraser

Anthony Lock and Lucy Stevenson from Parkes.

 

The Parkes social event of the year did not disappoint last Saturday when a crowd of around 2,000 people, many travelling interstate, flocked to the annual Picnic Races.

While the Coradgery Cup for the main race went to jockey Jamie Gibbons on Kijitsu, trained by Andrew Bourke from Boorowa, the competition on the Fashions on the Field stage was just as competitive.

Main judge Jay Fisher and his fellow judges had to make some tough choices as entries for this popular event saw an increase this year. Jay, who is a model in Sydney, said he was very impressed with the effort people had put in.

The winners in the eight categories were: Alexander Rawsthorne from Parkes (jun- ior), Emily McQuie from Parkes (teenager), Maddie Leeming from Sydney (cutting edge), Lucy Stevenson and Anthony Lock

from Parkes (most stylish couple), Josie Anderson from Cobar (millinery), Paul Cooper from Newcastle (best dressed gent) and Sally Martin from Canberra (most elegant lady).

Many people commented that the new stage made a big difference with a large crowd gathering to watch the judging.

“It was a great day,” said Mick Craft, Vice-President of the Parkes Coradgery and Diggers Picnic Race committee. “We had about the same crowd as last year and took more than $23,000 at the gate.”

He was very happy the weather, starting out windy and cold in the morning, turned and it became a beautiful afternoon with families and friends having a wonderful time.

The leaping, high-flying cow had the record-breaking young audience in stitches on Wednesday at the Parkes Shire Library’s performance for Simultaneous Storytime.

The library joined the rest of the country for the annual event with all the pre-schools in Parkes attending, as well as the regular sto- ry timers and other members of the public.

“It is our best one yet,” said Sandie Ward who directed and narrated the performance of The Cow Tripped Over the Moon. “We seem to be getting bigger each year and might have to think of doing two shows next year to fit everyone in.”

The book by Tony Wilson is a story about friendship and perseverance. It is also a sto- ry about cows smacking into meteorites and hot air balloons and sand dunes.

Simultaneous Storytime not only promotes the value of reading and literacy, but also the fun of books and celebrates an Australian writer and publisher.

Members of the Library Council of NSW were also in the audience and were very impressed with the performance and the other services offered by the library. They visited Parkes Library for the first time in more than ten years to see how the library operates.

Shellie Buckle, Manager Cultural, Education and Library Services presented plans for expansion to the team and said she hoped for the best in the next round of grants opening in September.

The abundance of sunshine in Parkes will be harvested for power generation by the end of the year.

Leading French renewable energy firm Neoen is busy erecting more than 200,000 ground mounted solar panels in a 210 hectare area approximately 10km west of Parkes.

Parkes Solar Farm, as it will be known, will produce enough renewable energy to power more than 20,000 homes per year. It will be the biggest solar farm run by Neoen in Australia with a capacity of up to 80MW, and make a major contribution to Australia’s greenhouse gas reductions.

Project Manager, Warren Woo said con- struction should be complete by October and he expected it to be fully operational by the end of the year.

“During construction, the project in excess of $100 million, would create up to 150 jobs for local people at peak times.” He said over the long-term contractors would be needed to clean panels, for vegetation management and electrical maintenance. He added the landowner, who is leasing the land to Neoen, were benefitting too.

According to Warren the site near Parkes was chosen because of superior solar ir- radiance, and the land is relatively flat with low tree density and no or manageable flood risk. The site also has good proximity to the local substation.

Neoen has there other solar farms in NSW at Dubbo, Narromine and Griffith and one operational in Western Australia, plus a wind farm in South Australia.

By Maggi Barnard