Maggi Barnard

Ellie Hawkins, Scheduling Engineer at CMOC-Northparkes Mines is a finalist in the NSW Mining Young Achiever of the Year category of the NSW Mining Industry and Suppliers Awards.

She started at Northparkes in 2017 as a graduate mining engineer, became drill and blast engineer after 12 months, and was promoted to scheduling engineer in mid-2019. She is also completing a Master of Research at the University of Wollongong, and is an active member of the Northparkes Emergency Response Team (ERT). The awards will be announced at NSW Parliament House in Sydney on Thursday, 2nd April.

At the awards ceremony were (L-R) Kevin Werksmen, Global Water Leader, Aurecon (award sponsor); Andrew Francis, Director Infrastructure, Parkes Shire Council; Julian Fyfe, Infrastructure Technical Manager, Parkes Shire Council; and Paul Freeman, NSW President of the AWA. (Photo: AWA)

The Parkes Recycled Water Scheme won the Program Innovation Award at the 2020 NSW Australian Water Association Awards last Friday.

Parkes Shire Council’s Technical Infrastructure Manager, Julian Fyfe said that while many utilities reclaimed water, Parkes achieved something unique within the Australian water industry, designing a system that had a small footprint and a big impact.

“The Scheme is designed to work within the solar window, is supported by renewable power and has an optimised and integrated distribution system.”

The Parkes Recycled Water Scheme is now a finalist in the National Australian Water Association Awards which will be announced at the Ozwater conference in May.

The women behind the scenes at Parkes Services Club are (L-R) Reanna McGuire (Finance Manager), Cindi Murphy (Club Manager), Lara Messiter (Finance Assistant) and Chloe Dean (Admin Assistant/Bar Person).

After almost 15 years at the Parkes Services Club, Cindi Murphy became Club Manager in October last year.

With a staff complement of around 50 people, Cindi is very grateful for developments in the business environment and support offered to women. She has so far received a lot of encouragement in her new position.

“You still come across a minority of mostly older generation men who think that a man would do a better job,” says Cindi. “They find it hard to take direction from you and to change their mindset that the position is only suitable to a man.”

Cindi is not discouraged by these attitudes and says to the contrary it only makes her more determined to do a better job and prove them wrong.

“I am also very lucky to be working in the Clubland environment where there is a lot of support and training for women, perhaps more than in other places.” She says colleagues and managers have given her a lot of encouragement. “They value my opinion as much as theirs.”

After four months in the ‘hot seat’, Cindi really enjoys the teamwork. “We are like one big family!” She also likes all the different challenges that comes across her desk every day.

“The club is here for the community and it is important to run it successfully, not only to maintain the jobs of our staff, but also to keep on supporting the communities in the Parkes Shire through donations to clubs and schools.”

New Owner/Manager of the Royal Hotel Alison Reaburn with staff member Jodie Phelan in the Royal’s beergarden.

Alison Reaburn is a woman who is not daunted by a challenge. Not only did she move here from Dubbo, but she took on the mammoth task of re-opening the Royal Hotel on the very first day of this year’s Parkes Elvis Festival.

After six years of running a café in Dubbo, the opportunity came up to become Owner/Manager of the Royal and she jumped at it.

“It went very well during Elvis and everyone has been very friendly and helpful.”

Alison has many ideas for her new venture, but her biggest aim is to promote the Royal’s central location and friendly atmosphere as the ideal spot for after work drinks, business lunches and a meeting place for women, young mums and anyone else looking for good service and great prices.

She wants to offer something for everyone with plans to make it a venue for live music featuring local artists, running regular competitions, like the footy tipping that has started, and sponsoring sports teams.