While times are trying with the drought and downturn in the agricultural and retail sectors, the Parkes economy has been given some reprieve thanks to government and private sector investment.

Parkes is experiencing unprecedented investment by State, Federal and Local Government injecting millions of dollars into infrastructure projects such as Inland Rail, the proposed Parkes Special Activation Precinct, the Newell Highway Bypass, the Parkes Main Street Revitalisation, Cooke Park Multipurpose Centre, Parkes Library upgrade and Central West Family Daycare expansion.

This investment wave has given the private sector confidence with Pacific National investing in a $35 million Parkes Terminal Development and the recent approval of a $23 million advanced food manufacturing facility.

In addition to investment in the Parkes National Logistics Hub, further projects over the next 12 months include a new solar farm, the $200 million expansion of Northparkes Mines and progression of Clean TeQ’s $2 billion Sunrise Mine project.

Parkes Shire Council’s General Manager Kent Boyd PSM said a total of 165 development consents were issued by Council in the 2018-19 year at a value of $66 million, an increase of 176% based on the previous year.

“It has been a long-term vision of the Parkes Shire community to develop Parkes as a national logistics hub and inland port. The Special Activation Precinct will provide a step change towards this vision,” Kent said.

Working Together For 25 Years

Spinifex Recruiting – still known to locals as GWS Personnel – is renowned for having a mutually beneficial working relationship with Northparkes Mines.

What is lesser known is that Northparkes Mines was Spinifex Recruiting’s very first client some 25 years ago.

“I founded GWS Personnel in April 1994 and negotiated the Northparkes contract. We are very proud that they continue to be a prestigious client of ours after 25 years and that our strong relationship continues as Spinifex Recruiting,” said Peter O’Donnell.

Spinifex Recruiting can be found in many departments of Northparkes Mines and have been heavily involved in various projects.

Some of these include the Employment Program with Greencorp, and working on both the Tunnel Boring and Open Cut Projects.

Spinifex is also proud to have been involved in assisting in the Integrity Project that advocated in supplementing the gender percentage ratio on site, the ongoing relationship with the Wiradjuri Executive Committee and more recently the Ventilation Project.

“It is great to see many of our placements successfully transitioning to Northparkes gaining full time employment. Many commenced with GWS on site and continue to be still at Northparkes!” said Recruitment Consultant Wendy Cheney.

The entire Spinifex team, past and present, would like to congratulate Northparkes on their milestone – “… here’s to 25 more!”

Commitment To Improvement And Community 

Northparkes is the world’s most automated  underground block-cave mine. This achievement has been five years in the making and takes people out from underground allowing them to control the loaders from an airconditioned room on the surface.

“We are committed to continuous improvement. We embrace technology, adapt quickly and find new and smart ways of doing things,” said Managing Director Hubert Lehman. “We will also continue to focus on our commitment towards our local communities as we strive towards achieving our vision of a century of mining together.”

For over two decades, Northparkes has helped with the growth of the Parkes and Forbes Shires. Through salaries, funding programs, Northparkes has been able to deliver improved outcomes that have made a lasting difference to the communities of Parkes and Forbes.

“The support and encouragement of our community, in particular both Parkes and Forbes Shire Councils, has been instrumental in our success. We are extremely proud of the positive and supportive relationships that have been built over the years. I would like to formally extend my thanks to both the local communities of Parkes and Forbes for their continued support over the past 25 years,” said Hubert.

“I have always been incredibly impressed with the passion and the drive of the people who come to work here each and every day. To all the people who work here today and to those that have come and gone, each and every one of you have played an integral part in what we are celebrating.

The people are what make Northparkes the place it is today!”

Earlier this year, Northparkes announced the approval of the E26 Lift 1 North Project and the Expansion Project. A total of $300M will be invested in Northparkes over a threeyear
period to support these projects. This investment demonstrates CMOC’s confidence in the sustainability and longevity of Northparkes.

 

A large number of Fitzgerald descendants will converge on Burcher and Forbes on 14th September to celebrate the proud pioneering heritage of their family.

Edward aka Thomas Fitzgerald came from Dublin to Sydney on the Tyne as a 15-year old convict in 1819 and was buried in the Forbes cemetery in 1878. Thomas’s surviving children with wife Mary Gorman were Ann, Margaret, Richard and Mark.

“Mark Fitzgerald was my great-grandfather,” said Beth Thomas of Parkes who is looking forward to the reunion. “He was a pioneer of note in the Forbes District, building the first timber bridge over the Lachlan River on the Newell Highway and later opening the hotel at Moonbi in the roaring days when two Cobb and Co coaches travelled daily from Condobolin to Forbes via Moonbi.”

“He was a thorough bushman,” said Beth’s sister, Susan Harvey of Gosford, “After following the gold diggings of Bathurst, Grenfell and Forbes he selected his property, Uplands, of Wamboyne.”

Mark married Annabella Thorpe, who was the first schoolteacher of a school in Parkes. They had 16 children, three of whom drowned one tragic day in the care of their nursemaid, whilst their mother was confined in late pregnancy with a son, who died a year after.

The immediate descendants of Mark and Annabella were Harrisons of Condobolin, Rileys of Goolagong, Andersons of Clear Ridge, Joneses of Girral, and Fitzgeralds of Wamboyne and Sydney.

Offer and acceptance is the critical factor when considering what is a valid contract. If person A offers to do something and person B unconditionally accepts that offer and communicates the acceptance to A, then there is a concluded agreement. However, if A makes an offer and B responds with a counter-offer, there is no agreement and neither party is bound.

Every day we enter such simple contracts at the supermarket or newsagency or on the internet. Most contracts are not written but are verbal. There are some contracts which, by law, must be in writing (such as an agreement for the sale of land), but agreements can, in certain circumstances, be oral as well as written. An additional facet is what is called “part performance,” which is where one party performs or partly performs an agreement, and the other party accepts those actions. In this case there is a contract. Some essential ingredients of a contract are:

• a concluded agreement between the parties
• an intention that the agreement be legally binding
• some benefit must be given by one party to the other (this is called consideration)
• the consent of the parties must be genuine, that is not mistaken nor under duress
• the parties must be legally capable of entering into the agreement
• the purpose of the contract must be legal.

Generally, anyone over 18 has legal capacity to enter into a contract, but there are limitations regarding people with intellectual disability or mental illness. Credit contracts and agreements regarding land must, by law, be written. Otherwise, valid verbal agreements will be enforced by the Courts.

Contact us at Matthews Williams on this or any other legal matter.